Leach grew up in Parksville, British Columbia, where both her father and grandfather were politicians.
[2] In 1977, she was elected to Nanaimo's board of school trustees; over the next seven years, she served as chair three times and became president of the BC School Trustees Association.
[3] Leach was also a long-time school trustee and owned a consulting firm and raised funds for both Simon Fraser University and Malaspina College (VIU).
[1][4] She was elected after defeating long-time mayor Frank Ney, with a campaign focusing on community planning.
She established the Imagine Nanaimo project, a first attempt at the city's official community plan.