My parents were post-war immigrants to Canada. Several years after their arrival, I was born in Toronto. As my parents worked around the clock, my grandmother cared for us in our home. I attended public schools and had my first job at the age of eleven.  From time to time I would adopt a Hollywood version of life, but otherwise I instinctively knew that everything in life would require considerable work. Eventually, I also came to understand that my failures would outnumber my successes, but with perseverance dreams can come true.

There are three foundational pillars that have shaped me as a person.  Since I travel daily between the rural culture inside the home and the mainstream Canadian culture I live outside of the home, each day I build bridges of understanding between my heritage culture and contemporary Canadian society.  Secondly, I see you in me.  When I look at you, I search for what is common between us as human beings.  When I view my life as interconnected with yours, then you and I can begin to talk and make changes. Thirdly, as a woman raised in a traditional culture, I was only expected to wed and embrace motherhood. The added dreams of higher education and an established career were niceties. As a woman I needed to ‘rewrite’ the script that had been written for me.