She studied as a cellist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, The Peabody Conservatory, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the University of Miami before studying musicology at the University of Cincinnati.^{[citation needed]} She received her PhD from the University of Sunderland.

She held the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s Thornton Wilder Fellowship from Yale University (2009-2010).^[2] She taught musicology at Westminster Choir College from 2009-2011.^{[citation needed]} She is the Executive Director of the Silent Film Sound and Music Archive, and librettist of Marie Curie Learns to Swim, a one act opera with music by Jessica Rudman.^[3]

She won the inaugural Judith Tick Fellowship from the Society for American Music (2013-2014) for research on Louise Talma.^{[citation needed]}

• Louise Talma: A Life in Composition, Ashgate Publishing, 2014 ^[4]

• Shakespeare, Madness and Music: Scoring Insanity in Cinematic Adaptations, Scarecrow Press, 2009
• The Conservatoire Américain: a History, Scarecrow Press, 2007^[5]

• Preston., Leonard, Kendra (2011). Buffy, ballads, and bad guys who sing : music in the worlds of Joss Whedon. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6945-5. OCLC 939935646.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)^[6]

• Preston., Leonard, Kendra (2016). Music for Silent Film : a Guide to North American Resources. A-R Editions, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89579-835-0. OCLC 960760340.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)^[7]

• Women in musicology

• Official website