Leslie Stoker is the founder and principal of Stoker Literary, a boutique agency that represents writers and photographers.  She also works as a project manager for various publishers and for Chef Marcus Samuelsson.

Her publishing career began in the College Department at Random House as an editorial assistant.  She was soon recruited to join a start-up, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, where she eventually became publisher.  In 1993 she launched Artisan, the illustrated book imprint of Workman, and was publisher there for five years before returning to Stewart, Tabori & Chang as President and Publisher.  When STC was bought by Editions de La Martiniere in 2000 and integrated into Abrams, Stoker assumed responsibility for the lifestyle list, overseeing cooking, craft, gardening, pets, and design titles.  Among the many bestselling authors she published are Jacques Pepin, Alton Brown, Rick Bayless, Yvette Van Boven, Alain Ducasse, Bunny Williams, and Jacques Torres.  Her cookbooks won numerous awards from the James Beard Foundation and IACP, including three Best Book of the Year awards. 

She is a member of Women’s Media Group and New York Women’s Culinary Alliance and lives in New York City.