Sonia Rao began writing to survive. Raised in a home defined by violence, control, and enforced silence, she had no language for what she was living through—so it went into journals, songs, and poems. Years later, as long-buried parts of her history came into view, her life and career came to a stop. She returned to writing and music as a way to locate truth, piece by piece.

Her work has been featured in Forbes, TED, and others, and she has spoken at Microsoft, Disney, and organizations across the country. The impact of her work has been honored by the Los Angeles City Council, the New York City Mayor’s Office, and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. She is a 2025 New York Foundation for the Arts Awardee for Music.

As a music artist and producer, Sonia has released three albums and toured nationally and internationally. Her songs have been featured in over 40 television shows and films, and she was named Buzzfeed’s “Asian American Artist to Watch.” A finalist on NBC’s The Voice and a classically trained multi-instrumentalist, she sings and plays violin, piano, flute, guitar, and ukulele. She is currently producing her next album—an intimate body of work drawn from songs written before she fully understood the truth of her own life, exploring intergenerational trauma, memory, power, and the body.

Across music, writing, and visual art, Sonia is interested in creativity as a record of consciousness—what we know, what we don’t yet know, and what becomes visible over time. Her current work is a reclamation: honoring the version of herself who was feeling everything without language, and recognizing the intelligence of that voice.

Sonia also facilitates belonging workshops for organizations and creativity coaching for individuals.

She studied psychology at U.C. Berkeley and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is queer and first-generation Indian American.