Leslie received her undergraduate degree in Organizational Communication with an emphasis in Human Resources Management from Arizona State University. She held various positions of responsibility as a Human Resources Coordinator with the Samaritan Health Services system and acted as the Human Resources Director at the Mayo Clinic of Scottsdale for 10 years. After raising her young children, Leslie returned to school to get her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education and worked in the field of early childhood education for more than 20 years.
Her experience spans from teaching in a public school classroom, directing a private preschool/kindergarten, acting as adjunct college faculty, coordinating a new ASU teacher mentoring program, acting as Quality First Director at First Things First and supervising the Tempe PRE program. Her experience has allowed her to utilize all of her combined skills through policy development, coordinating efforts with the local school districts and the governments, recruiting, training and mentoring teachers, and creating comprehensive plans for equity and community involvement.
Leslie is an Arizona native and lives with her husband in the northeast valley, they have two adult children who live in Phoenix and Seattle.