Sophy Ridge

Early life

Ridge was born on 17 October 1984 in Richmond upon Thames, London. Both her parents are teachers. Ridge has one younger brother. Her early education was at the selective grammar Tiffin Girls' School in London. During her time there, she did work experience at the newspaper Richmond and Twickenham Times. She continued her education at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where Ridge obtained a second-class BSc. degree in English Literature. During her final year of university she did a period of work experience at the tabloid newspaper News of the World, which led to a position on their graduate training programme.

Career

After graduation in 2006, Ridge was a trainee reporter at the tabloid newspaper News of the World. After completion of her training programmes she initially worked as a consumer affairs correspondent in 2009. She then gained a job as a political correspondent on Sky News in 2011. During her time there she covered a broad range of political stories and has travelled with the Prime Minister to Afghanistan, New York, and Brazil. She was based in Colorado for the channel's coverage of the US elections and was known for her round the clock broadcasting at the annual party conferences.

Her highest profile role was in 2015 where as a senior political correspondent she played a key role in the 2015 general election coverage for Sky News, reporting on the Labour Party's campaign and conducting interviews with party members. Ridge's exclusives during this time included, Ed Miliband's resignation as leader of the Labour Party following the result of the 2015 general election and Jeremy Corbyn's victory in the subsequent Labour Party leadership election.

From 24 October 2016, she presents Sky News Tonight from 19:00 to 20:30 every Friday.

In 2017 Ridge became a presenter on her own show Sophy Ridge on Sunday (live from 10:00 to 11:00 every Sunday, with a highlight from 21:30 to 22:00 the same day). In the same year Ridge released her first book The Women Who Shaped Politics, a non-fiction book which discussed women's contribution to British politics.

Political views

Ridge claims that the U.S. public's rejection of Hillary Clinton in the United States presidential election, 2016, is due to sexism. She states: "To put it bluntly: women can be sexist too... There are plenty of women who think mothers should stay at home to raise a family, believe girls wear pink and play with dolls and secretly would feel a little bit safer if they knew a man was flying their plane."

She adds: "Sexism is insidious, unconscious and affects women as well as men. Just because women didn't turn out in big enough numbers for Mrs Clinton does not mean we should dismiss the troubling sexism and misogyny that marred the campaign... The fact so many women in America voted for Mr Trump over Mrs Clinton is a get-out-of-jail-free card: female voters weren't bothered, so it can't be sexist. It can, and it is."

Awards

Ridge has won several journalism awards, including the MHP Communications 30 to Watch award (2012), the Headline Money rising star award, top-rated female political blogger in the Total Politics Blog Awards 2011 with her Waste Watch blogging website, and was shortlisted as Young Journalist of the Year in the Royal Television Society Awards in 2013. In 2016, she won an award for Broadcast Journalist of the Year at the Words by Women awards.

Personal life

Ridge is married to Ben, a journalist who works for a national newspaper. They are expecting their first child in August 2017.