Virginia Professional Communicators held a Fall Meeting & Luncheon, Saturday, Oct. 13, to honor Newsmaker of the Year Del. Danica A. Roem.

Roem made headlines throughout Virginia and the nation last November with her election to the Virginia General Assembly. One of the nation’s first openly transgender elected officials, she defeated a 13-term incumbent. Of particular interest to VPC, she is a former journalist who credits that experience with preparing her for public service. “I will always be a reporter before I’m a politician,” she said in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Roem, a native and resident of Manassas, Virginia, worked as a reporter for the Gainesville Times and the Prince William Times, both in Virginia, and as the news editor of the Montgomery County Sentinel, in Maryland. After 10 years in journalism, she left in 2016 to run for office.

Roem delivered an inspiring keynote to the 30 members and guests at the VPC luncheon focusing on the role of journalists fact-checking people in power.

“You wouldn’t be in this room right now if you weren’t civically engaged. Stay engaged. Keep holding people like me accountable!” Roem encouraged.

Since her time in office, Roem has worked on legislation related to both Freedom of Information Act and shield laws. She says the skills she developed as a reporter have directly transferred to her role now.

“I do a lot more listening than I do talking, and that’s the mark of a good reporter too,” she said.

She also spoke about how her sense of journalistic integrity has transferred to politics and asked that attendees take a serious look if they see candidates who have a background in journalism on the ballot.

“If you elect more reporters into office, you will have more people to fight for holding people’s feet to the fire,” Roem said.

Roem received a standing ovation and happily engaged with audience members in a half hour Q&A.