FEBRUARY 15 2009
AMERICANWAY 61
WHAT DOES A REIGNINGWNBA CHAMP EAT
FOR BREAKFAST?
Forget Wheaties. And protein
bars too. If you’re Los Angeles Sparks’ leading lady
Lisa Leslie, mornings consist of sharing blueberry
oatmeal with daughter Lauren, 21 months. These
days, the basketball star admits, “I’m a full-time
mom and a part-time everything else. Since my
daughter was born, basketball and business come
second. She’s changed everything.”
But don’t think the three-time WNBA and All-
Star Game MVP has gone soft. If there’s one thing
Leslie hopes to instill in her daughter, it’s that, “You
can be awoman and still win in aman’sworld. And
that doesn’t apply just in basketball — it’s sports,
it’s business, it’s medicine, it’s whatever your pas-
sionmay be. That’s thefight that I’mfighting formy
daughter,” she says.
That attitude explains the title of her
memoir,
Don’t Let the Lipstick Fool You
,
which is being released in paperback this
month. The book documents Leslie’s jour-
ney from six-foot-tall sixth grader to big-
league pro, including details about her
childhood in inner-cityLosAngeles, her ro-
mantic travails, andher overcomingher in-
nate shyness. “Off the court, I can be very
shy and soft-spoken,” she says. “But when
I get on court, I call itmywonder-woman
effect. I love playing, and I love being in
charge. Iwant towin. Butwhen I step off
the court, I’m all woman.”
It’s something she learned while growing up in
Compton, California, thedaughter of a singlemother
whoworked as a truck driver. Even at a young age,
Leslie took hermother’s pioneering spirit to heart. “I
learned early on that you don’t have to look like the
boys to play with the boys,” says Leslie, who today
stands at a proud six feet five inches. “I remember
that at age seven, Iwouldpracticemy signature be-
cause Iwas so sure that oneday I’dbe signingauto-
graphs.Mymomplanted those positive seeds all the
time; she always toldme I could be or dowhatever
I wanted. After all, she was driving an 18-wheeler
across the country. But shewas alwayswearing her
red lipstick, and she had her fingernails done. She
was definitely a lady.”
Now the former Wilhelmina model —who says
shemay consider retiring frombasketball in thenext
year— is gearing up for act two of her career. The
36-year-old earned her MBA in
2006 and has been dabbling
in commercial real estate with
her husband, pilot and author
Michael Lockwood. She is in
talks to star in her own reality
show. But the most important
items on her agenda? Spend-
ing more time with her three
stepchildren and enjoying every
moment and milestone with
her daughter. “Lauren’s mom is
staying home,” she says, laugh-
ing. “I can’t wait to teach her
ABC’s and numbers. And I’m learning something
neweverydaymyself. There’s somuch left to learn. I
can’twait to get started.”
WNBA star Lisa Leslie
is a busywoman,but
as she explains in her
memoir, she always
makes time to be a lady.
By SonaCharaipotra
She’s
aLady
Lisa LesLie
by t he
Numbers
2
5,909
9
77
11
4
0
101
Number of
WNBA
championships
she’s won
Number of
career points
she’s scored, the
most of any
WNBA player
Her jersey
number
Her height
in inches
Number of
years she’s played
professionally
Number of
Olympic gold
medals she’s won
Number of dollars
won on a 2000
Olympic-themed
celebrity version
of
WhoWants to
Be aMillionaire?
(She didn’t make
it past the fastest-
finger ound of
questioning.)
Number of points
Leslie scored in a
single half of a high
school game before
the other team
forfeited. (It was
her highest single-
game total— just
four points short
of Cheryl Miller’s
high school record
of 105. It set a new
record formost
points scored in a
single half.)
