Your name, current work place and position (for students, please tell us what school you’re attending and if you have chosen a specialization):
I’m Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada and I’m the Assistant Manager of Adult Services at the Palos Verdes Library District in Southern California.
Where did you attend school for your MLIS degree?
I graduated from UCLA in 2009.
How long have you been an APALA member? Why did you first join? Are you currently involved as an officer/committee member/other volunteer?
I’ve been an APALA member since 2008 and joined thanks to my Children’s Literature professor Virginia Walter. My interest in the class was exploring Hawaiian Children’s Literature and once she found out I was mixed-race Hawaiian, she told me about APALA, introduced me to other APALA members, and introduced me to my faculty and thesis advisor, APALA member Clara Chu! Clara was the one who finally convinced me to send in the membership application and when I was elected president is when I became a life member.
I’ve been involved heavily in APALA since Jade Alburo encouraged me to work on the 2010 Talk Story initiative. Thanks to that work and that encouragement, I’ve served on a number of APALA committees including chairing the Family Literacy Focus, Lit Awards and Finance and Fundraising Committees, was a 2011 APALA/ALA Emerging Leader, past at-large board member, secretary, 2016-2017 president, 2018 JCLC Steering Committee representative, and am currently APALA’s Executive Director. I cannot say enough about the support that I’ve earned from my library ohana in APALA to do some really fun, great things!
We’re very interested in the diversity of ethnic/cultural heritage within APALA. Please share your ethnic/cultural heritage with us and any other background information, as desired.
I am a multi-racial Native Hawaiian, white woman (she/her/hers) born and raised in Southern California.
What aspects of librarianship are key to your personal satisfaction at work. Please share some of your professional goals and interests.
Like most people, my favorite part of work is helping others! Whether it is a patron or a colleague, I love it when I can help folks achieve their goals and grow. I love working with and supporting other librarians to find and fulfill their passions and support their work. I try to do this not only in my “normal” work life, but also my extensive association life, both in my work with APALA and ALA. So often we get stuck in our libraries and library systems and I find it so refreshing and helpful to get out, give back to the library community, and find out what other folks are doing to help improve my own work. Networking through groups like APALA has really helped me to be better at my job and see beyond my community to understand our gaps in service and ways that we can help other jurisdictions.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I cannot overemphasize the impact APALA has made both on my professional career and my personal life. APALA and it’s support structure have helped me grow, given me new experiences and skills that I couldn’t get in the workplace, and given me so many folks that I can turn to in times of need and times of celebration. I hope (and promise to work as your Executive Director) to keep that feeling of inclusiveness and opportunity for our association.