Multi-Lingual Technical Writer Works All Over the World: Leslie Leigh (BS in Professional Writing, 1986)

  By Melissa Brown  

Imagine stepping off of an airplane in Africa for the first time and entering into a civil war zone. One can only imagine how intimidating and frightening this would be for most people, but Leslie Leigh had an advantage because he is multi-lingual and could communicate with the native people.

How did it all begin?

As a multi-lingual technical writer, Leslie Leigh has had many opportunities and experiences that many of us only dream about. He was born in Brazil , where he learned Portuguese, English, and Spanish with native fluency. He graduated from University of Houston-Downtown with a Bachelor of Science in Professional Writing. After graduation, he began work in the oil industry. Within a few years, he had an opportunity to work in Angola , West Africa , translating training manuals into Portuguese. Throughout his expansive career, Leigh has worked in the Gulf of Mexico, Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Venezuela, Brazil, and Houston.

What was the greatest challenge?

When I asked Leigh, “Working in the United States or internationally, what has been the greatest challenge that you have faced?” he explained that it was adapting to West African culture. When he first arrived in the country, there was a war going on. He explained the situation is like what is shown on television: extreme poverty, children's bellies swollen from hunger, and a lack of sanitation and clean water. To be there actually smelling and seeing it was a wake-up call that gave Leigh a new outlook on life. The second challenge in West Africa was AIDS—employers hired 25% more workers then they actually needed because a quarter of the men would die during training from the virus. As evidenced by Central Intelligence Agency's Fact book online, approximately 370,000 people died from HIV or AIDS in 2003, and in 2005, they counted 5 million people living with HIV and AIDS. Furthermore, the Center for Disease Control's web site states that there are approximately 1.1 million orphans living with HIV or AIDS. This large portion of the new generation will die before they are able to join the work force.

What to do now?

Although Leigh is currently working in the U.S. he is “itching” to go back overseas, because he enjoys the relaxed working conditions. He is back in school getting an engineering degree to enhance his knowledge of the oil industry. The advice he would give an aspiring technical writer? “Author as many things as you can and keep an expansive portfolio.”