Professional Profile: Leslie Barnett, 2014

Name: Leslie Barnett Title: Architect Company: LAB Architecture, PLLC Location: New York, N.Y. Birthplace: NYU Hospital Education: B.S. Art & Design, MIT; M. Arch., UC Denver First job outside of real estate: Shipping & receiving. I learned assembly-line type efficiency at an early age. I strive for the same efficiency in my work today. It seems to keep my clients happy. First job in real estate or allied field: Architecture What do you do now and what are you planning for the future? I have my own architecture practice. We do residential & commercial work in N.Y.C. including filing our own projects at DOB and a fair amount of zoning analyses. We work on a lot of apartment gut renovations and townhouse enlargements as well as restaurants/stores/offices. I love zoning work because it's like working out a puzzle and I enjoy figuring out the potential of a property at the beginning stages. In the near term, I hope to buy real estate as an investment and further down the road possibly do my own development projects. How do you unwind from a busy day in real estate? On a regular basis, nothing particularly interesting - gym, dinner with friends, television. When I can, I try to get away on active vacations like skiing, my favorite sport. Favorite book or author: Frank Herbert and Frances Hodgson Burnett. I'm kind of a science geek but also a romantic girl. Favorite movie: "Heaven Can Wait" Last song you downloaded? "Agboju Logun" by Shina Williams and His African Percussionists from the album "Nigeria 70 - The Definitive Story of 1970s Funky Lagos." I heard the song at Barawine Harlem up on Lenox Ave. and 120th St. and fell in love with it instantly. One word to describe your work environment: Equitable Rules to live by in business: Always be diligent and professional about follow-up with your clients If you could invite one person to dinner (living or dead) who would it be and where would you go? That's a tough one so I'll have to pick three: The Dalai Lama for his wisdom, Madonna for her ambition and my maternal grandmother because I still miss her terribly after 25 years. What is your dream job? My dream job would be the same job I have now, only with a few more employees so I can delegate all the work and focus solely on client relations & business development. If I can't get to that threshold, I may have to give it up to go work at a shack on the beach in the Caribbean.