Upon her recent return to everyday society, Martha Stewart has once again carved herself a niche in the entertainment world, this time with the NBC television program The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. It's a show that's essentially the counterpart to Donald Trump's cutthroat reality television competition, except with a focus on all things domestic. Among the contestants running around, trying to bake the most delicious cake, decorate a themed hotel suite and win the respect of Martha, is Hopkins' very own Leslie Sanchez, who graduated with a M.B.A. from the Hopkins School of Professional Studies in Business and Education.
Only 36 years old, Sanchez already has a list of accomplishments guaranteed to intimidate her competitors. Before becoming a contestant on the reality television show, Sanchez worked as an aide to Representative Henry Bonilla, oversaw the Republican National Committee's Hispanic voter strategy and was appointed the executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.
In 2003, she founded the Impacto Group, LLC -- a strategic communications and market research firm based in Washington, D.C. -- and currently serves as its CEO. Sanchez began the Impacto Group because she discovered a "need for somebody to help American corporations and national organizations make better connections with Hispanics, women, and other ethnic minorities," she said.
From early on, Sanchez began building her knowledge to become a businesswoman, entrepreneur, future CEO of her own company and, now, participant in the rather intense competitions presented by Martha.
While still in high school in Sugar Land, Texas, a working-class suburb of Houston, Sanchez began selling P.F. Collier encyclopedias door-to-door to help support her mother and herself.
She was eventually promoted to field manager and trainer. Her experience from selling the encyclopedia (and traveling a total of 23 states while doing so) taught her "how people live, what matters to them and how to talk to them with respect and courtesy," she said.
Later in her life, those experiences would become "the foundation of [her] political career" and help her to run "a multi-million dollar ad campaign that helped President Bush and the Republican Party reach out to Hispanics and women just like [Sanchez and her mother]."
So how did this accomplished woman come to add "reality TV contestant" to her already long resume? The idea first presented itself when some friends suggested that she try out for the show, since she was well-qualified for the nature of the competition.
Later, the Alumni Office of George Washington University, from which she obtained her undergraduate degree, offered her a private audition for the program.
But, to skeptics, the leap from successful businesswoman, CEO of her own business and one of Hispanic Business magazine's "100 Most Influential Hispanic-Americans" to a contestant on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart still seems a bit incongruous.
For Sanchez, it makes perfect sense. She said, "Nobody has a better connection with American women than Martha Stewart." That connection is what Sanchez has been striving to develop and expand throughout her various careers.
Now, with the opportunity to reach the homes of the women who view The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, Sanchez has made yet another stride toward achieving that goal.
If she wins, Sanchez said she hopes "to help Martha build connections with broader audiences in a meaningful way." This sentiment is spoken in the true spirit of a Hopkins alum.
Moreover, being on the show has been "a test of personal strength and courage," according to Sanchez.
The competitions themselves are challenging, and when added to the drama between contestats and the pressure of knowing that the program is nationally televised, it's a more difficult ordeal than it may seem to the casual viewer.
Though the tasks Martha assigns to Sanchez and the others aren't quite like the bug-consuming, skydiving challenges presented to the unfortunate contestants on other competitive reality television shows, they're still very challenging in terms of social aptitude and special skills.
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart has thus far been met with lackluster ratings.
The show has left some fans of The Donald's version of the program feeling less than impressed. The series debuted with only 7.1 million viewers, a number that even Trump himself, who co-owns the program, has publicly denounced.
Despite this, the show will still have a two-hour live broadcast finale on Wednesday, December 21.
If all goes well for Sanchez, she'll be one of the final constestants awaiting Martha's final word.
Given her background in politics and business, one would not immediately connect Sanchez with Martha Stewart and her domestic projects.
But, according to Sanchez, "doing pointless chores for impossible people under insane deadlines is what working in politics is all about."
Her sense of humor about the nature of the television competition also gives Sanchez an edge among drama-obsessed competitors.
Since the show premiered on Sept. 21st, Sanchez has managed to stick it out and remains one of the eight active contestants, whittled down from the original 16.
She is still in the running for the prize of working for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc and a $250,000 term as apprentice under Martha and other top management at the company.
Regardless of the final outcome of the show, Sanchez's presence makes her one of a select few former Hopkins students to make it on to primetime television, and without a doubt one of the most visible.
