Sheila White hails from a noteworthy Canadian Black family on her father's side, and from prominent white colonists on her mother's side. Sheila is the paternal granddaughter of famed Nova Scotia Baptist minister and First World War hero, the Rev. Capt. Dr. William Andrew White. She is a niece of the iconic Black concert singer Portia White and daughter of Order of Canada recipient Bill White and Vivian Keeler, whose inspiring story is told in The Letters. Sheila won an African Canadian Achievement Award for Politics in Toronto in 2014 and a Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal in September 2022 from the Province of Nova Scotia for her work in anti-racism. Sheila also received a Canada 150 medal in 2017 and an Urban Hero Award in 2020. A lay chaplain, Sheila is an accomplished songwriter, serving as music director at Don Heights Unitarian Congregation. She and husband Alex reside in Agincourt, the Toronto neighborhood where she was born and raised.