Cherise M. Newsome

Cherise M. Newsome has spent the last eight years covering the community she grew up in – Hampton Roads. That’s rare at The Virginian-Pilot, the largest daily newspaper in Virginia. A Norfolk native, Cherise began writing at 17 for the now-defunct 757 teen section and pretty much stuck around. She completed two internships on The Pilot’s business team and also has interned at The Staten Island Advance and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

After graduating from Georgetown University in 2005, Cherise took a job as office manager for The Pilot’s Virginia Beach newsroom, one of the few positions open around the time of a hiring freeze. She later became an editorial assistant, compiling event listings and writing community news stories. In 2011, Cherise was promoted to community news reporter, covering neighborhoods and civic organizations for the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth. She also developed a mini-beat on the publicly-subsidized Virginia Zoo. A reputation for strong beat reporting and local coverage helped Cherise land a government reporting job in spring 2013 in The Pilot’s Suffolk bureau covering city hall and housing issues in the region’s fastest-growing suburb.

Cherise and her husband and toddler live in Virginia Beach.