Gianna Licari moved to the Washington, D.C., area from Chicago after taking a new job with the federal government. Maansi Srivastava for The New York Times

Gianna Licari has an epic Barbie collection and loves everything pink, but she’s tough when it comes to getting what she wants. The 23-year-old Chicago native graduated a year early from the University of California, Los Angeles, then set her sights on moving to the nation’s capital.