Leslie Cardé is a veteran journalist who began her career in radio, working for NPR, where her award-winning investigative reporting garnered her a Golden Mike Award for coverage of Synanon, a rehab facility, turned dangerous cult. Subsequently, stints as an investigative reporter for CBS in Los Angeles, a news anchor/health and science reporter for WDSU, in New Orleans, and a medical correspondent for the NBC network led to two Emmys… one for her work covering critical health issues across the African continent, and another for her breakthrough reporting delving into the mysteries of autism. Later, becoming one of the original financial anchors and an entertainment talk show host at CNBC, Leslie won an Ace Award for hosting the nighttime entertainment show, “The Media Beat”, which focused the spotlight on Broadway, the movie and music industries, the literary scene, and the fashion industry.
Leslie has been a foreign correspondent for CNN in the Middle East, a drive-time radio talk show host in New Orleans, L.A. and NYC, and an Executive Producer for reality programming at E! Entertainment Television in Los Angeles, where she was a narrator for the “E Hollywood True Story” for over a decade. She has been a writer/director for the crime shows, “One Mission Road” and “L.A. Forensics”, and, Leslie was the writer, producer, and host of the widely syndicated lifestyle/entertainment show “California Kickin’”.
On the print front, Leslie has been a contributing correspondent for People Magazine and has written articles for everyone from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times to Movie Scope Magazine. She is currently a reporter/producer for CBS Newspath, a contributing lifestyle/entertainment/ health reporter for The New Orleans Advocate, and has hosted a weekly radio talk show, “The Pulse of New Orleans” at WGSO.
In 2009, Leslie was asked to write, direct, and produce what would become the Academy Award-nominated feature documentary “America Betrayed”. Detailing the collusion between our government and corporate America, the film, narrated by Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfuss, went on to win First Place awards at three separate film festivals. It was voted “Best 10 Films” across all categories at another, and in 2010, iTunes named it one of the Top 50 Documentaries of the decade. The movie was seen in theaters all across America and is now streaming on various platforms and is available on DVD. The script was selected as part of the permanent collection by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and is part of the American History curriculum at all 23 California State Universities.
Leslie has eclectic credentials. She has taught television reporting at both UCLA and Pepperdine University in Malibu. She is a licensed auctioneer who has presided over bidding wars in both Los Angeles and New Orleans, she is a licensed real estate agent, and she has been Tulane University’s official announcer for their unified commencement in the Superdome for the last 20 years. She has one daughter who graduated from college in 2016.