Bio
As the executive director of MENTOR Georgia, Leslie is leading the Fanning Institute's efforts to grow capacity, ensure training and support, and promote the work of youth mentoring programs around the state of Georgia.
Leslie joined Fanning in 2021 as the first full-time director of MENTOR Georgia, an affiliate of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. The mission and work of MENTOR allows Leslie to braid together her passions for education, youth development, public policy and community service.
Previously, Leslie honed her social entrepreneurship chops as the first executive director of Books for Keeps, a research-based literacy nonprofit that gave 750,000 new and like-new books to Georgia students across her eight-year tenure. Leslie’s professional interests are informed by a childhood introduction to volunteering with her mother, an early career as a newspaper reporter covering education as well as state and local government, and a deep appreciation for the role of public education in shaping her own life.
Education
- 2013, MPA, The University of Georgia
- 2007, BA in Journalism, UNC Chapel Hill