Lerato comes from Johannesburg and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (wits) with a BSc in Physics and Mathematics and a BSc (Honours) in Physics.

He received a studentship from the CSIR-National Laser Centre where he carried out his experimental MSc work. His project was on using lasers to synthesis nanoparticles and thin films for the application of smart windows. He completed his MSc in 2011 at wits. His passion and knowledge for lasers and optics, led him to registered for a PhD at the University of KwaZulu Natal in 2013 were his focus was on using a LIDAR system, satellites and model data to study atmospheric aerosols and clouds over South Africa. He completed his PhD in 2017.

Upon completion of his PhD, Lerato took up a post-doc position in 2017 at SANSA were his focus was still on the study of aerosols and clouds but a local, regional and global scale. Lerato has published several papers on this topic in international peer reviewed journals.

Lerato is currently a senior scientist in the Earth Observation directorate in SANSA and holds an Honorary Research Fellow position at wits. His research interests are still on studying aerosols and Green-House Gases (GHG) emissions and their impacts on global warming and climate change.