Leslie Yager

Leslie Yager grew up in Darien and attended Darien Public Schools. She graduated from Connecticut College in New London in 1983 with a degree in Urban Studies. She also earned an MS degree in Communications from Boston University in 1989. Then, while living in England, she earned a Master of Arts in “Area Studies: United States” from the University of London in 1992

Early in her career, Leslie worked in advertising and PR agencies, then found a way to work from home as a typesetter and graphic designer when her daughter was born in London. She worked for printing companies in London, Chicago and later Port Chester, NY.

For several years she volunteered in Greenwich Schools including as PTA president at Julian Curtiss School, including the year the school was cited for racial imbalance and plans began for a transition to a magnet school.

After working for Patch.com for three years, in 2014, Leslie started Greenwich Free Press, an online news site focused on Greenwich. Ten years later, she said it’s a thrill and a responsibility to have grown to a large audience of 80,000 unique visitors a month and 400-500,000 impressions a month.

She enjoys selecting the mix of hyper-local stories generated from news tips and guided by analytics that reveal readers click on stories about Greenwich Schools, town beaches and ferries, and real estate, including all the property transfers.

Leslie’s daughter Ella was born in England and attended Greenwich Public Schools. She graduated from GHS in 2010 and Wesleyan University in 2014. Today she is a Brooklyn-based author with her debut novel, “But How Are You Really,” set to be published this June by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Leslie is a passionate animal welfare advocate, and for a few years she visited Hamilton Avenue School with her dog, Buddy, who was adopted from Greenwich Animal Control and passed the training at A Good Dog Foundation to become a therapy dog.

Today Leslie has three rescue dogs: Gunnar from Florida, Georgie from Alabama and, recent foster-fail, Dwain from Tennessee.

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