Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada

Pelayo-Lozada recently completed a term as an ALA executive board member (2017-2020) and was elected a councilor-at-large for three terms (2012-2015, 2015-2018, 2020-2023). She is an active member of the 1876 Club, the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC), Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures (Core), the Public Library Association (PLA), the Rainbow Round Table, the Social Responsibilities Round Table, and the Sustainability Round Table. She also is a member of several ALA Professional affiliates, including the Asian-Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), the Black Caucus American Library Association (BCALA), the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), American Indian Library Association (AILA), and The National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking (REFORMA). She has held an ALA membership for more than13 years.

Pelayo-Lozada has served and continues to serve on various ALA committees at both the ALA and division level, including the Constitution & Bylaws Committee (2020-2022), the Budget Analysis & Review Committee (2019-2020), the Development Office Task Force (2017-2018), the Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services (ODLOS) Advisory Committee (2016-2018) as APALA representative, the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Implementation Working Group (2016-2018), the Committee on Diversity (2012-2016), the Spectrum Advisory Committee (2013-2015), the Planning & Budget Assembly (2016-2018) as elected council representative, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Membership Committee (2014-2016), the National Organizations Serving Children and Youth Committee (2012-2014) as liaison, and the LLAMA New Professionals Section Web Team (2014).

Additional leadership roles include chair of the Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness (2018-2020) and the ODLOS Advisory Committee (2016-2017).

Pelayo-Lozada was APALA Executive Director (2019-2022) and is a past president of APALA (2016-2017). She is a past chair of the Palos Verdes (Rolling Estates, California) Library District's BUILD Team, focusing on diversity and racial equity, and a Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature (CSMCL) board member (2012-present). She also is a 2011 ALA Emerging Leader.

Pelayo-Lozada holds an MLIS and a BA in sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and an AA in philosophy from El Camino College, Torrance, California.