{{infobox person |image = Leslie Segrete.jpg |birth_date = {{birth-date and age|February 28, 1975}} |birth_place = Bethpage, New York |occupation = Designer, seamstress, carpenter, and television personality }} '''Leslie Segrete''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɛ|ˈ|ɡ|r|ɛ|t|i}} {{respell|seg|RET|ee}}; born February 28, 1975) is an American designer, seamstress, carpenter, and television personality. She is best known for her work on the TLC show ''While You Were Out'', which concluded a four-year run in 2006. She also appeared as a designer on ''Trading Spaces'' and ''Ugliest House on the Block''. She currently co-hosts ''The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show'' with Tom Kraeutler. In 2014, she joined the television show ''Hotel Impossible'' as a designer.
==Biography==
Segrete was born in Bethpage, New York.<ref name="imdb">[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1321108/ Leslie Segrete at the Internet Movie Database.] Accessed April 29, 2011.</ref> She grew up interested in working with her hands, as her father was an architect and her mother a sewer and crafter.<ref name="star">[http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/11300171.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU "'While You Were Out' cast member shares secrets".] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016094036/http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/11300171.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU |date=2012-10-16 }} Minneapolis Star-Tribune, November 4, 2003. Accessed April 29, 2011.</ref> She studied set design at Hofstra University and graduated with a degree from the French Culinary Institute.<ref name="nytimes">[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/23peopleli.html "Ripping Out and Remodeling; for Her, a Tool Belt’s Not a Prop".] The New York Times, December 23, 2007. Accessed April 29, 2011.</ref>
She began her career as a stagehand and food arranger for ''Good Morning America'' and as art designer for the ''Ricki Lake Show''.<ref name="nytimes"/><ref name="nydn">[http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2008/01/03/2008-01-03_ugliest_house_has_leslie_segrete_pretty_-1.html "'Ugliest House' has Leslie Segrete pretty excited."] New York Daily News, January 3, 2008. Accessed April 29, 2011.</ref> She was the head set designer for the Oxygen Network when she joined the cast of ''While You Were Out'' after hearing from a friend that TLC was looking for a female carpenter to "fill in" on the show.<ref name="star"/><ref name="nytimes"/>
==Current projects==
Segrete currently writes monthly columns for two magazines, ''do!'' and ''House Beautiful.'' She also co-hosts (with Tom Kraeutler) a syndicated call-in radio show on home improvement called ''The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show'' which, in 2013, was broadcast on 300 stations nationwide.<ref name="nytimes"/> In September 2008, Segrete hosted ''Going Green Long Island'', a PBS special about anti-global warming efforts on her native Long Island, New York, airing on WLIW Channel 21. Most recently, Segrete is co-host of the A&E show ''$100 Makeover'', where she showcases her design expertise.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aetv.com/100-dollar-makeover/index.jsp |title=$100 Makeover, A&E. | accessdate=2010-07-17}}</ref>
Segrete joined the cast of the Travel Channel's ''Hotel Impossible'' for its fourth season in 2014, serving as one of the program's designers.
==References== <references/>
==External links== * [https://www.lesliesegrete.com/ Official site] * [http://www.moneypit.com/affiliate/meetleslie.php Bio page on The Money Pit site] * {{IMDb name|1321108}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Segrete, Leslie}} Category:Living people Category:American interior designers Category:People from Long Island Category:Hofstra University alumni Category:1975 births Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American women radio hosts Category:American tailors Category:American women interior designers Category:21st-century American women