Leena Kumar traces the journey of her entry into architecture by sharing poignant details of her childhood, her grandmother’s influence on her decisions and values, and the relationship they both shared. Her grandmother was an influential force who had advocated for girls’ education from the Harijan community and had opened schools for them in Kolhapur, and it was she who encouraged Leena to follow her passions. She then recalls her journey of getting into an architecture programme, her life as a student and everything she came to learn along the way, soon after which she started her practice in the mid 1980s. She shares details of her first job as a representative of Somaya & Kalappa Consultants, and recalls how she dealt with the duties of that job. She also talks about the advantages of being a part of the Indian Institute of Architects (IIA) and explains how she gained immense exposure and got to travel and meet people through the organisation. She then goes on to talk about her personal approach towards architecture design and how she chooses to focus on light, ventilation and volumes while making use of a lot of craft in her work, especially woodwork. She notes how she loves her work and never intends to retire. She mentions how when her children were younger she subconsciously put a cap on how much work she would take, and goes on to talk about managing work and the responsibilities of being a mother simultaneously. Talking about sourcing materials for their projects, she notes how her focus has shifted from sourcing internationally to nationally at the present time, and goes into detail about projects, her engagements, and her evolving approach. She also briefly recounts her childhood, family, her hobbies of painting and sketching, and her independent approach to life.