Janna Little Ryan grew up in Oklahoma, the niece of the state's former Democratic governor and senator. She graduated from Wellesley College, the private women's college in Massachusetts whose alumnae also include Hillary Clinton, and George Washington University Law School in DC. Just a few years later, she met and soon married a freshman member of Congress, Rep. Paul Ryan. After meeting in Washington during his first term in Congress, Ryan proposed to Janna Little at Big St. Germain Lake in northern Wisconsin, reportedly the spot of one of his favorite fishing holes. They married in Oklahoma City in December 2000. Before their marriage, she was beginning a career after law school as a lobbyist/lawyer in Washington.