Peninsula Lively Arts CEO announces retirement

The San Mateo native’s passion for dance and theater never waned, even in adulthood. During her 25-year career working for multinational firms like Dell and AT&T, she stayed involved with Peninsula Lively Arts, or Peninsula Ballet Theatre as it was known at the time, whether it was taking classes or helping out with productions.

“Everything that I learned that made me successful in my high-tech career… I learned being involved in performing arts,” she said. “You learn to work as a team and you learn to make things happen on a very split second decision.”

After leaving her last corporate role, Leslie took over as the theater’s CEO and executive producer, and more than two decades later, she is ready to pass the torch to new leadership.

“It’s always wise for someone to ask, ‘What’s the best thing for this organization?’” she said. “And I just think it’s time to hand over the reins and bring in some new ideas.”

Leslie said she plans to stay involved in the performing arts in some capacity but will miss the high-energy atmosphere and witnessing audience members learning from and interacting with performers.

“It’s so thrilling to see students get up close and personal and ask questions to someone on the stage that got their imagination going,” Leslie said. “And when you see them dancing in the aisles and their smiles, it’s a joy of having shared something so wonderful, and it happens every time.”

The organization formed in 1967 as Peninsula Ballet Theatre, but it rebranded only a few years ago as Peninsula Lively Theatre to reflect the more expansive variety of classes and productions it started to offer, such as hip-hop and the International Dance Festival, which increased significantly post-2020.

The organization was fortunate enough to be in a stable financial position during the pandemic, which Leslie said gave them greater responsibility to keep productions and dance companies alive that would have otherwise folded. The International Dance Festival, for instance, was previously a San Francisco performance that PLT has been hosting since 2022.

“We felt that we were, in a way, obligated to take our good fortune and see what we could do about keeping some of these other arts alive,” she said.

The move was reflective of Leslie’s broader passion of advocating for the performing arts, which has seen a steep drop in funding compared to when she was in school.

“Getting people to stop thinking of performing arts as just a nice thing to have, I think it’s really essential,” she said. “We need to have that in our lives.”

Leslie will remain in her position until Oct. 25. Debbie Chinn and Jonathan Moscone will serve as interim executive director and producing consultant, respectively, according to a recent press release.