Barbara Leswing

Layer by layer, Barbara Leswing has fashioned a career in real estate from other professions, international travel and personal experience. She studied art history and languages in college, taught at a private boys school in New York City, worked for an interior design firm and lived in Japan for eight years (yes, she can converse). In 1995, Barbara and her husband tired of the fast track. They sold out and looked for a simpler life in a different place. "We tried Maine, the Rocky Mountain States – and chose Stowe. I had never even been to Stowe before,” Barbara says. She met Pall Spera, bought a fabulous piece of land, built her dream house and subdivided and sold portions of her property to friends. In the process, Barbara absorbed knowledge about site evaluation, septic design and renovation. This woman had a plan. "Some things are karmic,” Barbara says. "Other people from the world I come from have been attracted to Stowe.” Her clientele is drawn from all strata, "I have sold some of the most expensive houses and some of the least.” Cultural activities and outdoor sports, primarily snowshoeing, round out her full life. Barbara is a trained hospice volunteer as well. She calls herself organized, philosophical and an extremely hard worker. Real estate consumes her now. "I’m in this for the long haul,” she says.