Staff Snapshots | Rebecca Silbernagel.

Rebecca Silbernagel

Hometown: Fayston, Vt.

Role: Journal clerk, Vermont House of Representatives

Years of legislative service: Five

One thing she loves about her state: "Vermont maple everything, but especially maple creemees."

Why did you choose to work at the legislature?

I like to think that I'm helping the Legislature work to make life better for all Vermonters.

My career has circled back, in a way. In college, I served as an intern for a U.S. senator as part of my coursework for a government major. I went on to law school, then worked in legal publishing in New York. When my son was school age, I worked in nonprofit fundraising, communications and management. We moved to Vermont in 2010 but didn't intend to stay, so I didn't sit for the Vermont bar. In late 2016, I joined the Vermont House Clerk's Office as second assistant clerk, for which a law degree was required, but not bar admission. I became first assistant clerk in 2019, then journal clerk in 2021 when our office was reorganized.

What skill or talent are you most proud of?

Photography is something I'm known for in my community. I have images in a local gallery, my greeting cards are carried in a few shops, and my work has been published as well as chosen for juried shows. Most of my photos feature my dogs, but I also shoot landscapes and portraits. Since 2018, I've been working on a personal project of our House members called "The Happy Place Project," for which I take environmental portraits of members doing an activity that grounds them. The first installment hung in the Vermont State House in January 2020, and the next group is slated to show in May 2022. Read more on the...