April Ryan

White House Correspondent April Ryan has a unique vantage point as the only Black female reporter covering urban issues from the White House—a position she has held for over 28 years, since the Clinton era.  She is now the longest-serving Black member of the press corps. Her position as a White House Correspondent has afforded her rare insight into the racial sensitivities, issues, and attendant political struggles of our nation’s past presidents.

Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, April is the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for TheGrio. She has been featured in Essence, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Elle Magazines to name a few. April Ryan has served on the board of the prestigious White House Correspondents Association. She is one of only four African Americans in the Association’s over 100-year history to serve on its board. She is also an esteemed member of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club. In 2015, Ms. Ryan was nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Outstanding Literary Work-Debut Author) for her first book. She received the Mary McLeod Bethune Trailblazer honor from the National Council of Negro Women in 2016. In 2017, April was the Journalist of the Year for the National Association of Black Journalists.

In 2019 April Ryan became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and was recognized as the 2019 Freedom of the Press Award Winner by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.  April was nominated in 2021 for the NAACP Image Award for Social Justice Impact. April is a Baltimore native and Morgan State University graduate, and she gives back to this community by serving as a mentor to aspiring journalists and assisting with developing “up and coming” broadcasters. April considers her greatest life’s work raising her two daughters, Ryan and Grace, who are phenomenal young women.

​April Ryan is the author of the award-winning book, The Presidency in Black and White, and At Mama’s Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White (December 2016), where she looks at race relations through the lessons and wisdom that mothers have given their children. April is also the author of Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House. Her latest book, Black Women Will Save the World, celebrates Black women’s resilience and unheralded strength, reflects on the trials of 2020, and discusses African American women’s unprecedented role in upholding democracy.

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