Leslie Milk

Lifestyle Editor

Leslie Milk is the Lifestyle Editor of The Washingtonian. She has written about subjects ranging from caring for aging parents to Washington’s most powerful women and from managing Michael Jordan to losing weight.

Leslie Milk is also the author of the book, It’s Her Wedding But I’ll Cry If I Want To, a survival guide for the mother of the bride published by Rodale Press in February 2005.  She has concluded that managing a wedding is much harder than managing Michael Jordan.

Milk and Washingtonian National Editor Harry Jaffe were the recipients of the gold medal for investigative journalism from the City and Regional Magazine Association and  the Dateline Award from the Washington chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists.  She has been honored twice by the American Association of University Women.

Previously, Milk was a weekly columnist for the Washington Post  and the Journal newspapers.  Her columns won two awards from the American Association of University women. She was also honored for journalistic excellence by Capital Press Women.

Leslie Milk has written for national magazines including Glamour, Shape, and Woman’s Day.  She has appeared on Nightline, ABC’s Turning Point series, Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and BBC news.

Milk is popular speaker on women’s issues, disability rights, and the comedy of Washington life. “If Jane Austen was alive and well, she’d have my job,” Milk says..  She  has lectured at several colleges including at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard, Bryn Mawr, Miami Dade Community College.  She has also addressed groups ranging from the Department of Justice to the Army staff at Fort Monmouth to the Women’s Auxiliary of the Salvation Army to Hadassah.

A part-time playwright, Milk’s comedy about a senior-citizen community was produced by professional theaters in Virginia, Maryland, Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburgh.  She also wrote Woman Spends Year in Labor  based on her experiences as press officer in the Labor Department. It was produced in Washington, DC.

In 1990, she received the S. Robert Cohen Award from the Jewish Foundation for Group Homes for her ongoing work for people with disabilities.

Leslie Milk is a graduate of the Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University.