To celebrate Black History Month, nine black women in senior positions on Capitol Hill shared how they got to where they are.

Some careers started because they were in the right place at the right time. One woman packed her car and moved to D.C. to find work, and another simply worked her “butt off.”

They talk about what got them to the Hill and the challenges they still face every day:

Foot in the door

Jennifer DeCasper, 39, Sen. Tim Scott’s chief of staff: “I started as an intern, and God bless the fact that it was a paid internship, which is why I believe in paid internships so strongly because if I was not offered a paid internship, I would not be here today.”

Rhonda Foxx, 34, Rep. Alma Adams’ chief of staff: “Washington is so serendipitous. I go to this EMILY’s List event [and make] my one-minute elevator pitch [to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand]. The senator hands me her business card and writes her actual email on the back and says, ‘Email me your resume.’ I did it that night. At 6 a.m., the chief of staff emails me. … It takes sisters supporting sisters.”