About the author
I am the older of two daughters born to middle-class parents in India. Education and results from school performance were important; extra-curricular activities were not part of our lives.
I moved to Canada with my husband in 1994. I had no intention of becoming a librarian. I had finished my MA in English and my M.Phil. course (not the thesis) when I moved here. The Canadian economy in the 1990s was doing so badly that I had a hard time getting even dishwashing jobs. I felt lucky when one of the part-time jobs I landed was at a branch of the Saskatoon Public Library (SPL) as a page. I worked close to 15 hours a week for about $5 an hour – it was back-breaking, repetitive work and the pay was poor, but I enjoyed being in a library setting. From here I moved on to other positions within the library and later worked in three other libraries across Canada. Since I always worked as a library assistant, when I had the chance I decided to go to library school and get a degree in library science. Again I was lucky to be hired by SPL as their Adult and Young Adult Librarian for almost two years and then Virtual Reference Librarian for over two years. After this I moved to the University of Saskatchewan, an academic library.
I did not become a librarian until 2005, which is when I graduated – not because I was not interested, but due to many personal circumstances. My eventual aim had been to go to library school, which I did, but until then I was just another immigrant struggling to find my way in my new home and any thoughts of leadership didn’t occur to me. And it is only recently, after my first leadership exposure through SPL, that I became interested in the concept. There are many minority immigrants like me from different professions who either have not considered leadership as a possibility for them or who think of leadership as unattainable in their new land. I hope this book will inspire them to consider leadership positions in their organizations. Personally, I know I still have ways to go … and that there is more to learn. As the Tamil saying goes: 
(What you have learnt can fit into your palm, what you haven’t is as big as the universe).