Leslie Ellis, Patch Staff

Email leslie.ellis@patch.com

Phone 248-303-4434

My family was a news family - we got the daily paper and discussed the nightly news over dinner. On the weekend, CBS News Sunday morning was part of our breakfast routine and we spent the first part of the day reading and swapping sections of the newspaper. With all that information floating around in our heads, you'd think one of us would have been able to beat my Dad at Trivial Pursuit. But, we never did - even when we teamed up against him! My first internship was in high school with the Rochester Eccentric newspaper. But I really caught the news bug at Michigan State University, where I studied history and journalism. I found a way to combine both subjects with jobs at The State News and the Lansing State Journal. Journalism, after all, has been called "the first rough draft of history." As luck would have it, I landed my first professional job near home at The Oakland Press and from there moved to The Detroit News. Despite its ups and downs, journalism has been a rewarding career that has allowed me to learn something new every day, meet fascinating people, be creative and serve the community!