After covering Capitol Hill for Congressional Quarterly, Ripley learned to write long-form feature stories under editor David Carr at the Washington City Paper.

She then spent a decade working for Time magazine from New York, Washington and Paris.

[1] She covered the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the anthrax investigation and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, helping Time win two National Magazine Awards.

[2] Ripley has written three nonfiction books about human behavior, including The Smartest Kids in the World, a New York Times bestseller.

Ripley writes op-eds for The Washington Post[4] and feature articles for Politico[5] and The Atlantic, where she is a contributing writer.