The changing racial and ethnic makeup of Canadian society has had a dramatic impact on demands for representation in leadership positions. Policies will continue to be ineffective until a better understanding is gained of the typical experiences that minorities have in organizations, and, in particular, of the factors that impede and facilitate the promotion of minority people. The research is based on a small number of interviews (N=5) from a larger ongoing study of the socialization of male and female visible minority managers in school systems. The theoretical rationale elaborates on the organizational socialization of workers, underrepresentation, and tokenism. Methodology, results, and discussion are described; interviews were analyzed to identify emerging themes, and analyzed again according to a framework based on an adaptation of a theoretical model of organizational socialization developed by Feldman (1976). The framework suggests that anticipatory socialization, accommodation, and role management are three major stages in the organizational socialization process. The experiences of the visible minority women interviewed have been similar in many ways to the experiences of the nonminorities described in the literature and identified in this research. Six differences noted include the importance of young male mentors and the profound positive impact of female role models for those raised in a matriarchal society. Appended are the factors (descriptive terms) affecting socialization. (33 references) (RR)