Leslie Segrete ( ; born February 28, 1975) is an American

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Not ...

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

, and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

personality. She is best known for her work on the TLC show ''

While You Were Out ''While You Were Out'' is an American reality series that aired episodes on the cable channel TLC. The format of the show is similar to TLC's ''Trading Spaces'' (which, in turn, is based on the BBC TV series ''Changing Rooms''). ''While You We ...

'', which concluded a four-year run in 2006. She also appeared as a designer on ''

Trading Spaces ''Trading Spaces'' is an hour-long American television reality program that originally aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home. The format of the show was based on the BBC TV series ''Changing Rooms''. The first ...

'' 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.Leslie Segrete at the Internet Movie Database.
Accessed April 29, 2011. She grew up interested in working with her hands, as her father was an architect and her mother a sewer and crafter.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, November 4, 2003. Accessed April 29, 2011. She studied set design at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...

and graduated with a degree from the

French Culinary Institute The International Culinary Center was a private for-profit culinary school headquartered in New York City. In 2020, it merged into the Institute of Culinary Education, also in New York City. It was founded as The French Culinary Institute by ...

."Ripping Out and Remodeling; for Her, a Tool Belt’s Not a Prop".
The New York Times, December 23, 2007. Accessed April 29, 2011. She began her career as a stagehand and food arranger for ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

'' and as art designer for the ''Ricki Lake Show''."'Ugliest House' has Leslie Segrete pretty excited."
New York Daily News, January 3, 2008. Accessed April 29, 2011. 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.

Current projects

Segrete currently writes monthly columns for two magazines, '' do!'' and ''

House Beautiful ''House Beautiful'' is an interior decorating magazine that focuses on decorating and the domestic arts. First published in 1896, it is currently published by the Hearst Corporation, who began publishing it in 1934. It is the oldest still-publi ...

.'' She also co-hosts (with Tom Kraeutler) a syndicated call-in

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

show on home improvement called '' The Money Pit Home Improvement Radio Show'' which, in 2013, was broadcast on 300 stations nationwide. In September 2008, Segrete hosted ''Going Green Long Island'', a PBS special about anti-global warming efforts on her native

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, airing on WLIW Channel 21. Most recently, Segrete is co-host of the A&E show ''$100 Makeover'', where she showcases her design expertise. Segrete joined the cast of the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

's '' Hotel Impossible'' for its fourth season in 2014, serving as one of the program's designers.

References

External links

Official site

Bio page on The Money Pit site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Segrete, Leslie Living people American interior designers People from Long Island Hofstra University alumni 1975 births American talk radio hosts American women radio presenters American tailors American women interior designers 21st-century American women