For over ten years she worked for the Associated Press, resigning in December 2003 from the position of executive photo editor.
She was responsible for leading the teams of photographers that covered Princess Diana's funeral, the September 11 attacks, the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1998 United States embassy bombings.
[citation needed] For the latter two events, she led a team of AP photojournalists who won a Pulitzer prize for their work.
[1][2] In 2008, Stapleton assumed the role of Assistant Managing Editor overseeing online, photo and graphics operations for The Day newspaper in New London, Connecticut.
The staff of the Post-Gazette won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting which killed 11.