When Elizabeth Ralph ’06, was invited to join a new magazine venture over coffee one morning in 2013, the Yale graduate leapt at the chance. “I barely had to think about it,” she says. Having just wrapped up an internship at Foreign Policy magazine, she was ready for her next enterprise.

The vision was to create a high quality, in-depth, long-form web and print magazine about policy and power in Washington and beyond. It defied contemporary industry trends toward leaner, more reactive digital news, and it worked. Politico magazine launched, turning heads and gaining momentum ever since.

Today, as Deputy Editor, Ralph has her hands full. She oversees web publishing, monitors the article pipeline, and does “a ton of editing and assigning.” An insatiably curious person, she’s perfectly suited for the role.

Ralph credits her mother, former Shipley college counselor and history teacher Margaret Ralph, for encouraging her inquisitive nature. “My mom is a knowledge seeker. She’s really interested in the world around her, and that seeps into my life.”

This same curiosity once led Ralph to voyage through the Alps as a summer project, retracing all of Hannibal’s famed route from Spain to Italy. It led her to study three foreign languages. It led her to teach sailing in Maine and English in Turkey and recently to take up golf. She says Shipley nurtured her drive towards discovery. “Shipley encouraged challenging conventional wisdom. My teachers were always willing to let me explore.”

As for her future, Ralph keeps an ever-open mind. “Up until this point, I’ve let life unfold. It hasn’t disappointed me.”