About Lenore

Lenore T. Adkins is an award-winning multimedia journalist based in Washington. After spending more than a decade covering local news, she moved to Washington to work as a Capitol Hill reporter for Bloomberg BNA, pioneering its U.S.-Cuba policy beat. Later as a freelancer for others, she covered U.S.-Middle East policy on Capitol Hill, as well as science and food. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, the James Beard Foundation, and Eater DC, among other outlets. Lenore currently works as a public diplomacy writer for the U.S. Department of State.  

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Full-time work history

Public diplomacy writer

Jan 2020 – Present, Washington, D.C.

Lenore works in the department’s Bureau of Global Public Affairs producing digital content that explains U.S. foreign policy and American values. This content appears in multiple languages.  

Reporter

Sep 2014 – Jun 2016, Arlington, Virginia

Lenore had a hybrid beat covering U.S.-Cuba trade policy on Capitol Hill and the largest law firms in the United States. Her business of law pieces appeared on Bloomberg’s Big Law Business blog. Her Cuba policy articles appeared in various publications within Bloomberg BNA. As an expert in this field, she was booked as a U.S.-Cuba policy analyst on local, national and international media outlets.

Reporter

Jun 2004 – Jul 2014, Elgin, Illinois

Lenore covered the sixth largest school district in Illinois as well as seven towns in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. She was one of the paper’s social media leaders and led the newsroom on related initiatives. She also made live appearances on WBBM News Radio AM 780 and ABC7 Chicago television. 

Associate editor/reporter

Aug 2001 – Jun 2004, Chicago, Illinois 

Lenore edited all of the stories for both publications and oversaw a small staff of reporters. As a reporter, she covered the Chicago Public Schools in the Hyde Park, Kenwood and Bronzeville neighborhoods.