Steven Schlesser was born in Portland in 1957 and attended public high school there.  He graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 1980 and then spent the following year as a newspaper reporter at The Valley Herald in Milton-Freewater Oregon. From 1981 until 1984 he attended Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vermont, earning his JD. Following a short stint as a law clerk, Schlesser joined his father to help run the family business, Schlesser Company Inc., which prefinished mouldings for the manufactured housing industry.  Currently, Schlesser makes his living as a supplier for this same industry and as a broker for tiny home manufacturers.  Since 1987 he has written a monthly newsletter called The Schlesser Review.