Iowa local news reporter comes out as a transgender woman during on-air report into her transition

A local TV reporter in Iowa announced on a newscast this week that she will now publicly identify as a transgender woman.

Nora JS Reichardt, who has been reporting under a different name to Local 5 news WOI-TV since July 2021, said she did not think for a long time that she could reveal her identity on the air.

“I didn’t know if there was a place and a space for me to do this kind of work that I’ve come to really love and enjoy, while also being able to be myself while doing it,” she said.

But just over a year later, 24-year-old Reichardt reintroduced herself to the community and shared her transition experience.

Reichardt made the announcement during a news broadcast about her transition experience — which was also the same day she officially filed a name change in the Iowa courts.

Reichardt (pictured in 2019 pre-menopause) said she felt ‘I was someone I didn’t really feel like at work’ when she put on slacks and button-up shirts

Reichardt said she gradually came into her identity as a transgender woman over a number of years and began a medical transition in September 2021.

“To gradually get into a role where I feel more and more at home in my body than ever before was amazing to experience and share with people,” she said.

In an interview with a friend – Eva Andersen of KARE 11, a former Local 5 News reporter, Reichardt said she had thoughts about being transgender in high school. But she noted that her Minnesota hometown is rural and she “didn’t even have the language to describe what I was feeling.”

In an interview with Eva Andersen of KARE 11, a former reporter for Local 5 News, Reichardt said she had thoughts about being transgender in high school.

Reichardt, who has been reporting on Local 5 news WOI-TV under a different name since July 2021, said she hadn’t thought for a long time that she would be able to reveal her identity on the air.

She said that at work she felt ‘I was someone I didn’t really want to be in’ when she wore slacks and buttoned shirts.

“A little while after I was on the air, I hit a kind of personal breaking point where I thought, why can’t I like the person I see every time I go out on the field? Why don’t I contact that person? Why don’t I want to be that person?’

She is not the first journalist to announce that. ESPN journalist MA Voepel announced in a tweet in August that he is switching and using masculine pronouns.

As part of the transition process, Reichardt said he has undergone medical intervention and has had hormone replacement therapy, estradiol to increase estrogen levels and drugs that will decrease testosterone production.

Reichardt also spoke about growing hair, picking out a new wardrobe and undergoing laser hair removal.

“There was quite a span of time when everyone in my life functionally knew me as Nora, except for the viewers at home. [I felt like] I split myself in two.’

Another aspect that would be different for viewers used to seeing her on the air is her name.

“When I made exactly this jump by telling the viewers at home that everything was going to be different, that the little name under my main photo will look a little different now, and I wanted to personally feel as ready as possible to make that jump, because there are expectations that come with that,” she said.

So why the name Nora, Anderson asked.

“I had a list of about a dozen girls’ names that I thought were cute, and I kind of quietly experimented with calling them different names just to see how they felt,” Reichardt said.

“After going through it for a few weeks, I wrote out all but a few finalists, and Nora just stuck.

She went on to say that she “kind of feels like I’ve dropped the parts of me that I’m not. And process what’s left into something better. A little more like me.’

Reichardt said she felt “I was someone I didn’t really feel like” at work when she wore slacks and button-up shirts.

As part of the transition process, Reichardt said she had undergone a medical procedure, as well as growing her hair, choosing a new wardrobe and undergoing laser hair removal.

Reichardt said she’s received good feedback from the people she’s told, saying she’s been “very happy that almost everyone I’ve told has been nothing but immediately affirmative and supportive.”

‘Being trans isn’t a burden. If someone entrusts you with that information, it means that you mean something to them. And they really want to share that.’

She continued, “I hope that if anyone is ever in a position where someone tells you something like this about themselves, the best thing you can do is tell them, I’m happy. I’m glad you trust me, I’m glad you are who you are, and what can I do for you?’

Reichardt added: ‘Everyone needs something different. Every trans person has different standards about their comfort level with their dead name, or that sort of thing. Just ask. We’re not scary, I guess. There’s a feeling that because people don’t interact with people like me very often, they don’t even know where to start.’

Reichardt said she wanted the community to know she’s still the person she used to be

“I remember too many Spider-Man facts. I still play a little too many video games for my own good. I still like to read in the coffee shops around Des Moines, where you can usually find me on my days off. That hasn’t changed at all,” she says.

“I’m still someone who I think is curious, passionate about what I do… and I’d like to think I’m pretty nice.

“One of my main principles is that I hope that everyone I meet is happy that they met me, whatever the context of that interaction. I just hope that I am a positive part of people’s lives, big or small. And as long as that can say through all this, the rest is noise.’