Ainsley covers the environment, energy and other topics as a reporter for the Arkansas Advocate. Ainsley came to the Advocate after nearly two years at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where she covered energy and environment, and Arkansas' nascent lithium industry. She has earned accolades for her use of FOIA in her reporting at the ADG, and for her stories about discrimination and student government as a staff reporter, and later as the news desk editor, for The Crimson White, The University of Alabama's student newspaper.