Ashley Parker – Bio, Husband – Michael Charles Bender, Parents

Quick Facts

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Profession	Media Personalities

Regardless of whatever field of endeavor a person is in, everyone works hard in the hopes of making it to the top of their niche. For journalists, this would be in the form of jobs like being a White House correspondent or occupying top positions in elite networks and publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, or MSNBC. Ashley Parker’s career has seen her occupy all of these enviable positions and more.

The American journalist has made a name for herself as an award-winning White House reporter and political analyst. Since the inception of her career in 2001, the journalist has made some serious strides in her career that are worthy of envy and inspiration in equal measure.

Ashley Parker’s Biography

The journalist’s story begins, in Bethesda, Maryland, where she was born as Ashley Rebecca Parker, sometime in 1982.

Till date, the journalist has spent most of her personal and professional in her hometown. For her high school education, Parker enrolled at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda. During her time at the institution, which ended in 2001, she had some famous classmates such as Sputnik’s former White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg.

Ashley’s first break away from her hometown came during her junior year. She spent part of it in Sevilla, Spain. While here, she studied at LA Universidad de Sevilla. Her time here proved to be more than just academically beneficial as she also picked up the Spanish language and is nearly fluent in it.

After high school, she got into the University of Pennsylvania. Here she studied English and Communications in English with a concentration in creative writing. Ashley Parker was an exemplary student and became one of the few students to become a recipient of the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Scholarship. In her final year, she also received the Nora Magid Mentorship Prize in recognition of her writing ability. While here, the budding journalist worked at The Daily Pennsylvanian, as a writer and features editor. The publication was an independent student newspaper. Parker then graduated from the university in 2005.

Ashley’s first stab at a journalism career saw her intern with the Gaithersburg Gazette and The New York Sun. While at Gaithersburg, her job description included reporting on local government events, including city planning meetings and so on. Parker has also reprised her responsibilities from The Daily Pennsylvanian while at 34th Street Magazine.

Following her various internships, the journalist took on her first professional job. She started working for The New York Times columnist and author as a researcher. It did not take long before she started writing for The New York Times herself in October 2005.

Since then, Ashley has had a steadily increasing reputation in the world of news media. She appeared on PBS Network’s Washington Week during this period and has continued to show up intermittently on the show.

Her writing prowess has seen her pen for some notable publications such as Chicago Magazine, The Huffington Post, Life Magazine, and Glamour among others.

After her time with The New York Times, she joined The Washington Post as a White House reporter where she won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting efforts. She also started a role as one of MSNBC’s senior political analyst.

Her career has also seen her continue to report on a lot of Republican party candidates, officeholders, and a wide array of topics. Back when she was still with The New York Times, Ashley Parker also memorably covered the wedding of .

Her Husband — Michael Charles Bender

Ashley is not all work and no play though. She also has a love life that her fans are quite interested in. The journalist met her husband, Michael Charles Bender, sometime in 2015. Michael works in the news industry as well. At the time of their meeting, they were both White House reporters, with Michael reporting for The Wall Street Journal.

They started out as simply friends but their relationship soon evolved to something deeper. In 2017, the pair officially started seeing each other. At the end of the year, in December 2017, Michael popped the question and on June 16, 2018, they tied the knot.

The wedding was attended by their colleagues from the news industry as well as family and friends. Michael’s daughter from his previous marriage was also in attendance.

In 2018, Ashley Parker revealed via an Instagram post that she was expecting her first child with Michael. She posted a picture showing off her baby bump.

Who Are Ashley Parker’s parents?

The Washington Post journalist was born to Bruce J. Parker, and Betty A. Parker. During his active days, Bruce was part of a Washington trade association known as Environmental Industries Association. He served as the group’s president and CEO. Ashley’s mother, Betty, was a gardener who worked in the Washington area. Beyond that, nothing else is known about them.