Sonya grew up in a home where both parents graduated from an HBCU - Tougaloo College in Mississippi. Her mother worked at a company helping people with disabilities and father had a 30+ year career at IBM after leaving the U.S. Air Force. Sonya worked summers at both places while pursuing her bachelor's degree at the University of Massachusetts before continuing on to the University of Hartford for her MBA. She graduated in the middle of a recession which made it impossible to find a job, so she moved into her local chapter of the YWCA in White Plains and started doing temp jobs throughout nearby New York City. It was this experience that taught her how important it is to create a strong community where everyone can get the support they need to build a good life for themselves and their families. She spent nearly a decade in New York, culminating in a job with ESPN where she helped launch their first digital ad efforts. She then landed a full-time job with Cox Enterprises, bringing her to Atlanta, GA. It was here that she married her husband, Daniel Halpern, and had three beautiful children.