Naomi Lim (MPP’17) was a reporter in her native Australia before coming to Georgetown in 2015, wanting to cover the 2016 Presidential election and immerse herself in American politics.
Now, Naomi is a White House reporter for the Washington Examiner, and has held various roles at the Examiner since 2017. Before she came to Georgetown, she already had almost a decade of experience reporting at different outlets across Australia, and got involved with GU Politics to combine her studies with real-world experiences and connections.
“It’s what I came here to experience, and now I’ve had not only the 2016 election, but the 2020 election and the 2024 election. So it just keeps getting better and better,” Naomi said.
Today, she still comes across people she met through GU Politics “all the time” in her work, as sources or at campaign or White House events. She ran into Scott Syroka (C’16), who she attended the 2016 Iowa Caucus experiential trip with and who worked in the Biden administration, in Iowa in 2024.
It’s “this lovely little circle of worlds colliding,” she said. “Everything was so cyclical and kind of came back around. But I think that’s why you go to the Hilltop, to get that experience, that exposure and those relationships.”
Naomi was first drawn to GU Politics, then in its first semester, because of the practical application of skills learned and connections to be made. She became involved with GU Politics from its first event at the beginning of the Fall 2015 semester, when she “felt just such a kinship, not only with the staff, but also the mission,” of GU Politics, specifically with the emphasis on public service.
“I wasn’t so keen just to go back to the classroom. I wanted the synergy between the two, the practice and the academic,” she said. “That’s why I think GU Politics was really good for me, because there is a benefit of knowing these rigorous ways to analyze programs and stuff like that, but you also need to see how they apply in practice.”
Naomi served on the inaugural Student Advisory Board as the graduate student co-chair, attended numerous discussion groups and events with Fellows and guest speakers, and helped to found GU Votes, GU Politics’ student-led initiative working to enhance the voting culture at Georgetown.
“It was so scattergun and so very grassroots,” she said of GU Votes. “It was me sometimes sitting outside different food halls or cafeterias and just sort of talking to voters. And you might have gotten one person to sign up, but at least that’s one more person that might not have otherwise done it.” With the help of GU Votes, eligible Georgetown student voter participation rose over 50% between 2014 and 2018.
Naomi had internships at CNN Politics and BBC News during her time at Georgetown, saying her connections with Fall 2015 Fellow/CNN political correspondent Brianna Keilar and other reporter Fellows were valuable when applying for new roles and striving to be a better journalist. After those internships, she landed her first role at the Washington Examiner, where she still is today.
“If you’re always striving to be better, that helps us as professional journalists as well as the readers and the audience that we purport to serve,” Naomi said.
Through Georgetown and GU Politics, Naomi has been able to live her lifelong dream of covering American politics.
“I mean, I have a 3D puzzle of the White House in my childhood bedroom. So when I say it’s like my dream, that’s what I mean.”