and health reporting, which was a
perfect fit for her professional and family
background. She held advanced degrees
in medical-related fields from Vassar
College and Boston University and her
father was an oral surgeon in L.A.
Within six weeks of her arrival in 1982,
the Pan Am crash occurred. Leslie and
her photographer, Dominic Martin, were
nearby when word of the crash came
over the police radio. Ordered to the
scene by the station’s news desk, Leslie
recalled, “Dominic and I were walking
around, trying to get as many pictures
as we could. That’s when we discovered
this little girl (16-month-old Melissa
Trahan) lying under a mattress. All that
was sticking out was her arm. Dominic
walked closer and said, ‘Oh my God!
There’s a kid under here!’ We flipped
the mattress over and looked around for
medics.”
When the emergency responders
arrived the two of them directed the
personnel to the scene and the child was
rushed to East Jefferson Hospital where
she recovered. The footage of the rescue
aired all over the U.S. via the NBC
Network.
“For all the trauma that it (the plane
crash) caused everybody, that was the big
saving grace of the day,” Leslie said.
In the years that followed, Leslie
covered other major local stories,
especially those dealing with toxic waste
pollution and medical breakthroughs.
Her co-anchor position at the station,
alongside local news icons Alec Gifford
and Bob Krieger, gave her added visibility
and stature.
However, after seven years in New
Orleans, Leslie moved to New York
City and signed on with the Consumer
News and Business Channel (CNBC).
“Anchoring three hours of business
news daily and hosting a nighttime
entertainment show meant brutal
hours,” she said. “I was working from
6 in the morning till 7:30 at night, five
days a week, then heading to movie
premieres, Broadway shows, and
celebrity interviews.”
By the mid-‘90s she was back in New
Orleans again anchoring for WDSU.
She also co-hosted a live show on PBS
with then-Mayor Marc Morial, hosted a
health show on WWL-TV and reported
“people stories” for “Real New Orleans”
which ran for several years on WGNO
Channel 26.
In 2001, she returned to L.A. where
she worked in CNN’s Los Angeles
bureau. Following the attacks of 9/11,
Leslie was sent to the Middle East to file
reports about the war on terrorism. “I was
so close to the fighting and bombing that
staying alive became a primary focus”
she recalled.
After leaving the Middle East, she
returned to L.A. to work as a narrator for
“The E! True Hollywood Story” and later
hosted and executive produced her own
syndicated show, “California Kickin’”,
which aired in over 100 markets,
including WLAE in New Orleans.
In 2008 Leslie wrote, produced
and directed the documentary
America Betrayed, which examined
the levee failures during Katrina that
were attributed to U.S. government
negligence. The film premiered at Canal
Place in New Orleans and ran in movie
theaters across the U.S., and on Netflix,
winning numerous film festival awards.
Since returning to New Orleans,
largely to spend more time with her
26-year-old daughter, Leslie has been
writing medical-related stories and other
features as a freelancer for the New
Orleans Advocate while contributing
to CBS Newspath and Los Angeles
Magazine. In what little free time she
has, she enjoys attending cultural events
– ballet, opera, classical music concerts
and – especially – live musical theatre.
“When I was six years old my parents
took me to New York to see My Fair Lady
on Broadway with Julie Andrews. I was
hooked on musical theatre from then
on,” Leslie said.
So, what does the future hold for
this busy career woman who appears to
have done it all? She doesn’t have a fully
fleshed-out answer for that but the one
thing that is not in her plan is retirement.
“I don’t think I’ll ever retire,” she
answered. “If you enjoy what you’re
doing, why would you want to leave? I
enjoy what I do and I don’t plan to fade
off into the sunset.
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