Dude.
From a very early age I loved magazines. At 19, I entered a contest with the seminal 90s teen magazine Sassy to take over as editor of their annual Reader-Produced Issue.. Using content from the zine I published at the time, my team and I won. I spent the month of August in their offices in New York City putting together their December 1993 issue. I knew then what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
My goal of working in the print industry brought me from my hometown of St. Catharines to Toronto in 1998 and by 2001, I got my foot in the door at FASHION Magazine. Starting as assistant editor, I rose through the ranks from associate editor to beauty editor and finally beauty director in 2010, a position I held until 2019 when I then decamped for Elle Canada. The pandemic ended my tenure there in October 2020 and I’ve been freelance since.
I’ve been writing about beauty for almost 20 years and my interest is less in the ‘tips and tricks’ and more in the why and how. I’m interested in exploring shifts in the industry, how a beauty trend reflects what’s going on culturally and groundbreaking innovations. I’ve interviewed perfumers, brand founders, scientists, CEOs and high profile personalities like Marc Jacobs, Francois Nars, Dick Page, Helen Mirren and Gwyneth Paltrow and travelled to Paris, Venice and Tokyo for launches.
But no matter what I am writing about, at the heart of it I love telling stories.
Photo by Nick Wong
Random Info
It’s pronounced LEE-SA. I was born “Lisa”, but then my mother took me to a party when I was a baby and someone asked if my name was spelled with an “e” or an “i”. My mother thought, “Oh I’ve never heard that before” and proceeded to spell my name with an “e” from that moment forward. But she never changed it on my birth certificate, so I finally paid the $139 fee for the “e” myself when I was 21. 🤦🏻♀️
I can’t swim. I fell in the pool in our backyard when I was two and still have a memory of my mother running to the edge to yank me out, and obviously feared the water after that. I was finally put into swimming lessons at the age of eight, but never got over the fear. To this day.
I once flew to Nantucket to interview Drew Barrymore but the weather was so horrible—I thought I was a goner—that the pilot was unable to land the plane. We had to turn back around and I slept in an airport in New Jersey and then flew home. Months later she came to Toronto for a media event but I was out of town. I guess the universe doesn’t want us to meet?
🤟🏻⚡️Current playlist: ⚡️🤟🏻
Polyester– Sunnbrella
It’s Just A Bit of Blood – bdrmm
milksugar – crushed
Pass Me By - Pool Shop
Closer – We. The Pigs
Everything – Blankenberge
Lost in the Weight – Deserta
Superstar – Beach House
Helsinki I – Martes Niebla
Small Talk– Lurve
Dreams – Color Palette
Anything – Sharon Van Etten
More – Low
Blue – Soon, She Said
Static – 4Vesta
Chloroform – Nothing
If you don’t like Breaking Bad and/or Boogie Nights, I don’t think we can ever truly be friends.
I played drums in my early 20s—I tried guitar first but could not get past the calluses stage—and was even in a band very briefly called Raising The Fawn. We played Toronto venues like The Horseshoe, Ted’s Wrecking Yard and even The Opera House opening for Mogwai. That was March 2001 and I had to miss watching the Oscars that night, which shows my level of sacrifice. But that gig was so terrifying, I quit after that night. It was way too stressful.
I’ve interviewed Marc Jacobs three times, but the first time in 2009 was the best time. It was just the two of us (no PR in sight, bless) in his Soho showroom and I had him for 30 minutes. It was in the early days of smartphones and I did not have one yet, but I still managed to get a selfie with him.
“I've had the chance to work with Lesa for the past 10 years on several projects. Her research skills and the fact that she always comes into assignments knowing what she's talking about makes her one of the journalists I've always enjoyed working with the most. She always has the question to bring the article a step further in terms of storytelling and always takes the extra step to make sure readers get a full picture, and an interesting one too."
– Geraldine Eckert, Integrated Communications Manager, Maybelline New York & essie
Honours & Awards
Best Beauty Shoot, P&G Beauty Awards 2018
Finalist, International Beauty/Grooming Journalist Of The Year, Fashion Monitor Journalism Awards 2014
Best Print Media Editorial, The Canadian Fragrance Awards 2013
Finalist, Silver, National Magazine Awards 2013 for beauty shoot “Dark Ages”
Nominee, Best Beauty Editor, P&G Beauty Awards 2013
Best Beauty Editor, P&G Beauty Awards 2012
Nominee, Best Print Media Editorial, The Canadian Fragrance Awards 2012
Lately
Browse My Work
Beauty Editorial
Beauty Profiles
Culture and Lifestyle