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See the full story · 27 sourcesWhite House press secretary Karoline Leavitt with her husband, Nicholas Riccio. Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File/AP Photo
Karoline Leavitt, 28, is the youngest-ever White House press secretary.
She worked for Kayleigh McEnany and Rep. Elise Stefanik before joining Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.
She is married to 60-year-old real-estate developer Nicholas Riccio, and they have two children.
Karoline Leavitt landed a White House internship as a college student during President Donald Trump 's first term. In his second term , she served as the youngest-ever White House press secretary before announcing her departure on Wednesday.
A former college athlete who spent her summers scooping ice cream in New Hampshire, Leavitt, 28, quickly rose through the ranks of Republican politics through communications jobs with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik.
During her tenure as the 2024 Trump campaign 's national press secretary, she traveled the country while pregnant and returned to work four days after giving birth to her son.
Leavitt has also acknowledged her "atypical love story" with husband Nicholas Riccio, a 60-year-old real-estate developer. The couple welcomed their second child, a daughter, in May.
In August, Leavitt announced that she would be leaving her role as Trump's White House press secretary at the end of the month, writing on X, "Being a mother and welcoming a new baby while working in one of the most demanding jobs in the world has been the most rewarding yet challenging season of my life, to say the least."
Here's what to know about Leavitt's background, family, and career.
The White House Press Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Karoline Leavitt grew up in Atkinson, New Hampshire, and went to a Catholic high school.
New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Karoline Leavitt after a campaign event, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, in Manchester, N.H. Charles Krupa/AP
Leavitt's parents owned an ice cream stand where she worked during the summers.
She attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
"Having a Catholic education really formed who I am," she said on an episode of The Catholic Current podcast in 2021.
She continued, "It taught me discipline, it brought me closer in my own relationship with God, and it also taught me the importance of public service and giving back to your community."
She graduated from Saint Anselm College in 2019 with a degree in politics and communication.
In this Dec. 26, 2019, photo, the campus of Saint Anselm College is shown in Manchester, N.H. Monks at a Catholic college in New Hampshire have gone to court in a dispute with the school's board of trustees over an effort to limit their power. The two sides were in Hillsborough Superior Court on Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, over the lawsuit filed against the Saint Anselm College board last year. The unusual clash was set in motion when the board moved to take away the monks' ability to amend the school's bylaws. Michael Casey/AP
Leavitt was admitted to Saint Anselm College on a softball scholarship and played as an outfielder on the women's softball team, the Saint Anselm Hawks.
Leavitt's extra-curricular activities included founding the Saint Anselm Broadcasting Club, volunteering at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, and writing articles for the college newspaper, The Saint Anselm Crier, defending Trump's travel ban and criticizing the "liberal media." She also spent a semester studying abroad at John Cabot University in Rome.
In 2018, she interned at the White House during Trump's first presidency as a presidential writer in the White House Office of Presidential Correspondence.
She was the first member of her family to earn an undergraduate degree.
After graduating, she worked with then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in the White House Press Office.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a press briefing on December 15, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House. OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
From 2019 to 2021, Leavitt worked as an assistant press secretary, helping McEnany prepare for briefings.
When Trump left office in 2021, Leavitt took a job as Rep. Elise Stefanik's director of communications.
UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 26: House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., attends a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center after a meeting of the conference on Tuesday, October 26, 2021. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Stefanik served as the House Republican Conference Chair from 2021 to 2025.
Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in 2022.
New Hampshire Republican 1st Congressional District candidate Karoline Leavitt concedes the election to U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., at Wentworth by the Sea Country Club, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Rye, N.H. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm) Mary Schwalm/AP
"I could no longer sit back and watch as our conservative principles — that make America the greatest country in the world and New Hampshire the best state in the union — fall under attack," Leavitt wrote on her campaign website of her decision to run for office.
Leavitt won the Republican primary but lost the general election to the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Chris Pappas , who is the first openly gay man to represent New Hampshire in Congress.
In 2024, she joined Trump's presidential campaign as his national press secretary.
Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt (C) and Trump adviser Jason Miller (L) arrive at the criminal trial of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's criminal trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 29, 2024. Jurors in Trump's hush money trial begin deliberating today on whether to return the first criminal conviction of a former president -- a momentous decision that cou...
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