Name: Sophia
Current Job Position Title: Regional Coordinator
Company Name: Self Advocacy Association of NYS
Contact Information: western@sanys.org
Special skills: grassroots organizing, event planning, advocacy, advising support/advocacy groups
Describe your job story:
In my last year of college, I was helping to organize discussion panels for a diversity conference at SUNY Brockport. One of the women I had worked with years before who I kept in touch with, showed me a project she was interviewing for- Self Advocacy AmeriCorps, where people with developmental disabilities learn to speak up for themselves and teach others to do the same. I invited them to speak at the conference and they recruited me. I became and AmeriCorps member in the project, supporting people to tell their stories. I fell so in love. When my two terms were done, a position opened up as a Regional Organizer in Buffalo, NY. I interviewed, got the job, and moved to Buffalo. It was the most challenging thing I have ever done and something I will never regret.
What did you want to be when you were a child/ teenager?
As a child, a doctor and a dancer. As a teenager, an artist and an activist.
Are doing your dream job?
I love it absolutely, and parts of it are close to my dream job, but I would like to use more performing arts with storytelling to educate and work with communities on consciousness-raising projects around the country and the world. I would also like to work less hours so I can have more time for other things.
What do you like MOST about what you do? What do you like the LEAST?
I love talking with amazing people who deal with incredible challenges, prejudice, and ignorance everyday and overcome it with style, grace, and sometimes just pure gumption, people who stick to their truth despite sometimes overwhelming odds. The long hours are what I like the least.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
I just had a daughter and my focus now is on providing a good home for her. For me, that means living in community with others, living sustainably, and owning my own home.
Are you happy with where you are in life? Yes, most of the time.
What more do you want to do with your life?
I feel like I use my life to the fullest! I am involved in so many meaningful and powerful things, I can't imagine what more I would do with my life. More time to get involved in more projects and still have time for relationships and solitude!
What drives/motivates you?
People. Changing the world. Sacred states of consciousness.
What else do you do?
Dance- ecstatic dance, contact improvisation, and performance, write poetry, fold origami purses, wallets, and birds, women's empowerment talking and drumming circles, and political activism.
What is your advice to those who are seeking employment and have no hope?
Work to build a free economy. Put your all into whatever you are doing, even if it doesn't pay or doesn't pay much. Love your friends. Get involved in your world. Remember your worth- people are more than just what they produce!
