Sonia Rao began writing to survive. She grew up in an environment of terror, control, and silencing. With no outlet for what she was living through, it went into journals, songs, and poems. That early practice became the foundation of her work.
She is a multidisciplinary artist working in music, writing, and visual art. She has released three albums, performed internationally at 1,000+ shows, appeared on NBC’s The Voice, and had her original songs featured in over 40 television shows and films. Her work has been honored by the NYC Mayor’s Office, New York Foundation for the Arts, and Los Angeles City Council, exhibited at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, and featured in Forbes. She is a three-time TEDx speaker and has given artist talks at organizations including Microsoft and Disney. She is also a classically trained multi-instrumentalist.
Through creativity coaching, Sonia has worked one-on-one with CEOs, founders, senior executives, political leaders, artists, and other high-achieving people to develop their creativity. She also works with organizations to cultivate the uniquely human capacities of creativity, imagination, and original thinking in the age of AI.
Her organizational background began in management consulting, followed by organizational facilitation, designing and leading workshops for organizations. She is also the founder of Belonging Workshops, an organizational development program that combines psychology, creativity, and facilitated dialogue to help organizations build trust, belonging, and meaningful connection.
Sonia studied psychology at UC Berkeley and DEI at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is queer and first-generation Indian-American.
Across music, writing, and visual art, Sonia approaches creativity as a record of consciousness and reclamation.
Creativity Coaching
Write your book. Launch your business. Publish your essay. Change careers. Begin singing. Create your substack. Stop pushing. Start living. Find rest. Find joy.
As AI transforms work, organizations that invest in the uniquely human capacities of creativity, imagination, and original thinking will be the ones that thrive in the future.
Creativity Coaching for People
I know what it feels like to want to make a change and not know where to start. How scary it can be to voice our desires or creative dreams for the first time—to friends, family, or even ourselves. To be at the beginning of something new and feel paralyzed by the pressure of possibility. To feel the urgency of knowing this one precious life is passing you by and you're barely even here for it.
I believe everyone is creative. There is no time limit on creativity. You can start writing, singing, painting at 10, 40, 50, 70. Even sitting down at the piano or picking up the pen for a little while can create real shifts in our lives.
You might want to start (and finish) your book. Write and release your album. Launch your business. Learn an instrument. Transition out of a corporate job. Bring more creativity into your life. Find your voice. Or simply feel less numb, uninspired, or stuck.
Creativity Coaching is a space to reconnect with that voice, move through what is getting in the way, and begin.
Using breathwork, writing prompts, readings, meditation, creativity exercises, and a consistent, supportive relationship, I help clients move through blocks and repair their relationship to their art — and to themselves.
I believe we confine people to the narrow identities of “artist” and “non-artist,” and that many people end up feeling empty, numb, or like something is missing. That what we call laziness is often a loss of belief in ourselves, or a deep exhaustion. That most of us were silenced in some way — talked out of ourselves, shaped into lives we didn’t choose.
I believe we have to protect our earliest creative instincts, and learn who keeps us safe — and who doesn’t. And that each of us has an inner voice waiting to be heard.
I care fiercely about helping people find, heal, and deepen their relationship to their creativity — to their inner voice — because my own connection to my own voice was broken, and creativity is what made me come alive again. This experience informs my approach to coaching. I want to move at a pace that is comfortable for you. Working with me is a mix of practical approaches and turning inwards to our truest selves.
I work with clients on a weekly basis. All sessions are held over Zoom and confidential. Employer reimbursement may be available; I can provide documentation to make reimbursement through your professional development benefits easy.
In a typical session, we talk, we process, I ask a lot of questions, and gently encourage you to go deeper. We work directly with your creative goal—whether you're trying to write a book, make an album, start a business, find your voice, or figure out what you actually want to create. We use writing, readings, meditation, breathwork, and creativity exercises within the sessions to help you move through whatever is getting in the way.
Creativity and AI
Organizations are asking people to work alongside increasingly capable technology. As AI has transformed work, the human capacities that shape what we notice, imagine, question, and decide have become increasingly important.
Creativity Coaching helps people strengthen those capacities: imagination, connection-making, judgment, intuition, curiosity, and original thinking.
Creativity Coaching for Organizations
Creativity Coaching is one-on-one coaching that helps people develop a deeper, more active relationship with their own creativity. It strengthens imagination, intuition, judgment, and the ability to see beyond familiar ways of thinking.
Creativity Coaching follows a consistent framework, while each session is shaped around the person’s creative goals. Sonia draws from a range of creative practices, modalities, and exercises to support the coaching when they are useful to the person and what they are working on.
Sonia has spent the past seven years developing this approach through one-on-one Creativity Coaching with CEOs, founders, senior executives, political leaders, artists, and other highly accomplished people.
People are multifaceted
People are multifaceted. The person leading a company may also be a writer. The engineer may be a musician. The founder may love design. These parts don't need to compete. They can inform one another.
How it works
Organizations can book six-month engagements consisting of one to five days per week of one-on-one Creativity Coaching for people across the organization, delivered virtually or onsite. To support psychological safety, all coaching sessions are fully confidential.
Creativity Coaching for Organizations
Client Testimonials
“Working with Sonia has been the most transformational experience I’ve had as a writer. Her deep empathy and creative guidance in the form of thoughtful and tailored coaching sessions have steered me from my first tentative steps into writing to having completed drafts of a novel and a novella and a finished short story under my belt. Sonia has taken great care with bringing alive and nurturing my creative spirit. She has taught me to better understand my own work and writing process and as a result of her generous input, helped me problem solve my way out of tricky plot points, discouragement and decision paralysis! My work with Sonia has given me the gift of new daily habits to support my writing and new frameworks with which to see both the world around me (as reflected in my stories) and my own creative process. Were it not for the past 3+ years of regular coaching with Sonia there is no way I’d have completed even one, let alone 3 projects. She is an integral part of my process and is an utter pleasure to work with.” - SPD
“Tatiana Manaois has a song called 'Like You'. In the song she sings, "People will find you, but they don't define you. And you will find people who help redesign you." Sonia Rao is that person for me – she is the creative midwife to a process of personal redesign that has made my life so rich, so beautiful, and so exciting. Over the process of working with Sonia for the last 4 years, I have become a different person: I used to think I was a musician who only played other people's music; now, I have 10 of my own original songs on Spotify. I used to feel that I didn't have the stories or skills to be a singer-songwriter; now I'm sharing what I've learned and made at music workshops from the United States to Sierra Leone. I used to idolize musicians whose songs I heard in published channels; now my kids and their friends add my songs to their playlists. Sonia is the facilitator of this change: her open, non-judgmental, and practical attitude toward creative work; her deep lived experience and training as a creative; and her lifelong learner attitude make her the best of coaches. I'm so grateful that our paths have crossed in this lifetime, and that I'm one of the privileged people to experience Sonia's gifts to the world.” - Kate Krontiris
“I have been doing Creativity Coaching sessions with an artist and coach named Sonia Rao. My life had been feeling chaotic with balancing a variety of projects. I felt overwhelmed and didn’t know how or when to split my time. Sometimes I would just sit down in my studio and start to spiral with anxiety because I couldn’t decide what to work on. And if I was working on one thing, I felt like I was neglecting another. She helped me organize my work schedule, map out exactly what was required of each project and plan a day for each one. It sounds so simple, but it felt really overwhelming to do by myself. And now that I’m in this new schedule, I feel 10x more productive and relaxed! It’s kind of a miracle.” - Bess Rogers
“Sonia helped me navigate a career transition and the process of negotiating my salary and ultimately securing the compensation I was looking for. Her guidance was invaluable.”
“I’d been in a creative slump for eight months by the time I began working with Sonia. After years of making music I became disenchanted in the process. The anxiety I developed about what this meant for my future felt palpable. I desperately wanted to find the joy and wonder I had seemed to have lost. Sonia approached things slowly—helping to guide me through understanding my relationship to my creativity and my own thoughts, values, and feelings. She challenged me when it mattered, and opened my eyes, mind and heart to appreciating my own unique voice and perspective. She reconnected me with why I had started to create in the first place.” Everytime we meet, Sonia is able to create a safe and open space to share ideas, celebrate wins, and explore new creative opportunities. Each session feels specifically catered to me and my own creative needs. Her guidance has been invaluable to my life over the last year. I’ve found new ways to express my creativity, and joy at the possibility of what’s next.” - Sabrina S.
“Sonia Rao is a musician who's not only seriously talented but also extremely productive and because of these two factors, very successful. At the beginning of COVID, when we all hunkered down and tried to navigate working from home, I was only ever: a) procrastinating b) getting annoyed with myself about this and c) telling people I was procrastinating and annoyed with myself about this. I had a head full of projects and managed about three hours a day on a good one. While wearing the same dressing gown covered in drippy eggs and very drippy almond butter.
When I learned Sonia was offering Creativity Coaching, I had to look it up because it doesn't sound like a thing. But it is. In one-on-one zoom sessions, she helps people get creative or already creative people get more so. Sessions are individually tailored to each person's needs. We talked about my creative history, structured my work day from waking up to going to bed, came up with a morning routine, got my inbox down to zero, organized my projects, unpicked a lot of my creative blocks, did breathwork exercises and journalling and all sorts of fun artist dates.
In the one month since I started with her, I've written every weekday for six hours, which is huge for me. I've got such a great routine and a better work life balance. I know I'm really lucky to be able to write for a living, but now I'm grateful for that AND actually doing it. Rather than annoyed with myself for not making the most of it, while still covered in egg butter.” - Amy Hoggart
When I started working with Sonia, I think I was hoping she'd offer me some long-elusive secret tools for approaching my creativity and creative entrepreneurial journey better. (You probably know the ones. The ones it seems everyone else has, but not you.) What I've found, instead, is I've had them all along. The process with Sonia has awakened new avenues to cultivate and fall more deeply in love with the creative journey. The coaching process also holds up a mirror showing me what I wasn’t seeing. Rooting me in tools and strengths unique to me. Rooting ever more deeply in the power of my own journey to take me where I want to go. Not someone else’s secret superpowers. My own. So, yeah, I’m a fan. And I 100% recommend working with her. But only if you want to fall in love with your craft again and connect with your own power. - Brian Perry
“Sonia was one of the most inspiring people we’ve brought in. People were asking about her afterwards and repeatedly telling us how much they loved her.” - Penn State University
“I worked with Sonia when I decided it was time to start a solo music project and record an album. She helped me get organized, make a plan, and take things one step at a time. With her extensive experience as an artist, Sonia was able to give me loads of practical advice, but equally important was just having someone who could warmly hold space for me as I stepped outside my comfort zone.” - Audra Nemir
“Working with Sonia has been transformative and is constantly being integrated into my life in ways I could never have foreseen. Our sessions made a real impact on my psyche and made me think deeply about how I’ve spent the hours of my life, and how out of alignment I’ve been with the values I actually hold dear. It shook me, and since then I’ve done a lot of reevaluating and setting new priorities and goals. I’m really ready to take action—maybe for the first time ever in my life.”
“I absolutely LOVE my sessions with Sonia. Every session feels like a gift to my soul. I always feel so seen and understood by her, and working with her helps me to see and understand myself more deeply. I could gush on and on and on. I’m just so incredibly grateful for how much she’s helped me.”
“Working with Sonia has been the kick up the ass I needed to focus my creativity but in the most lovely way. Meeting with her weekly online gave me the motivation to do the things I was avoiding that were holding me back from developing further as a songwriter / producer and if I didn't make one of the goals, I wasn't made to feel bad or guilty. I was consistently guided in a gentle way towards what I wanted to achieve and if my goals were unrealistic, we made them fit for me in a way that encouraged me and gave me confidence rather than a fear based approach. Also Sonia's nervous system based approach, focusing on regulation and mental well being before getting into what needed to be discussed was invaluable and something I have taken into my everyday life to great effect.
I now have a general routine in my week that helps me prioritize my creativity at the right times so I don't get sucked into admin when I should be songwriting or vice versa and this has massively helped my productivity. I feel more in control of my career as a songwriter. Since working with Sonia, I have hired a recording studio that I write in regularly with collaborators rather than my home which is far more professional and has led to some great music being made with new artists. I'm about to pitch an EP to labels that I have co-written / co-produced with an artist and more tracks are in the pipeline to be released in 2024. I have arranged and recorded music for a feature film called This Is Christmas and appeared in it too.
The most surprising thing to me about working with Sonia is how focused I became when not being bullied into it! I wanted to make my goals, not because I'd get told off but because I knew they would help me in the long run.” - Dom Martin (Shevlane)
“I started working with Sonia because I felt very blocked with my creativity after becoming a mother and going through some major career transitions. She helped me explore the root causes of this block, accept and heal from old wounds, and find a new creative path forward that aligns with where I am in life now. An unexpected and wonderful bonus was the impact her work had on other areas of my life. Sonia guided me towards understanding, loving, and trusting myself in my relationships, in business, in society... I think that’s the beauty of her work. She knows that creativity can’t fully thrive if the person as a whole isn’t thriving. I feel like I am finally thriving and Sonia was, and still is, instrumental in getting me here.” - Bess Rogers
“Sonia is meant to do this work. A lot of coaches phone it in or are plug and play, but I can tell that she actually thinks about me and tailors things to me. I can bring my writing, my creative dreams, and my fears to her and she really hears and understands me. She is extremely smart, and the resources and connections she’s provided have been invaluable.”
“Speaking with Sonia always has a calming influence on me. She is so supportive, patient and kind. She understands my waves of creativity and has a way of helping me to keep distractions at bay, and my self belief strong.” - Natalie S.
“Sonia, that was amazing and I'm really so grateful. This is opening a whole new outlet for me. I really can't wait to pour some of myself into some songwriting...was already tinkering and had to stop because I was tearing up too much (not because it was good but because my well is dug very deep and I've been missing a bucket to bring it up). Thank you for generously sharing your gifts. 🙏. I am indebted.” - Marcos G.
“I absolutely LOVE my sessions with Sonia. Every session feels like a gift to my soul. I always feel so seen and understood by her, and working with her helps me to see and understand myself more deeply. I could gush on and on and on. I’m just so incredibly grateful for how much she’s helped me.”
“Things are finally progressing for me. Sonia has been instrumental in getting this going for me again and providing inspiration through our sessions. Her support has been invaluable.”
“Working with Sonia helped me get more deliberate with my songwriting and composition. I was tired of guessing chords instead of knowing where to go. The wild thing is, working with her showed me I had way more knowledge than I thought. Empowering!” - Richie R.
“Sonia was super helpful! She walked me through what I should be doing before, during, and after shows which made me feel a lot better. It made me feel like I had a plan rather than just hoping things would turn out well.” - Julia Bhatt
“I so appreciate Sonia’s wisdom, especially her guidance around using social media in a way that feels good to me. I have clarity now about how to move forward with my album.”
“There is 100% no way, I’d be at this point if it weren’t for Sonia. It has made a WORLD of difference. Had we not worked together I’d have a half baked outline and maybe a couple of chapters written. Instead, I’ve written the entire first draft of my novel.”
“Sonia has been an incredible source of support, kindness and inspiration to me for four years. Working with her has meant the world to me: spiritually, creatively and PRACTICALLY!”
“Sonia’s guidance has made such a difference in what I’ve accomplished. I’ve really gone for everything this year, and it’s amazing to think how much I’ve accomplished since I started working with her. Our sessions have been invaluable.”
“Sonia is truly a safe space. She is a godsend and truly invaluable, and I’m so grateful for her continued guidance.”
“Sonia was a terrific listener – that's what stood out above all. She had the ability to take in what I was saying without any preconceived notions, and then help me construct a plan based on my needs. She had a calming presence and was easy to talk to, a big plus when you're trying to discuss long-neglected creative ambitions.” - Hiten Samtani
“Having a solid framework and go-forward plan with Sonia has really helped pull me out of the existential questions and into execution mode. It’s made me a lot less anxious generally, because I have a structure within which to operate that feels calming and safe. I feel night and day different about this relative to before.”