Alumni News
1946 Graduate Significant to Feminist Movement
Sonia Pressman Fuentes was born in Berlin, Germany,
and came to the United States in 1934 with her family to escape
the Holocaust. She settled in the Bronx, then Woodridge, then
Monticello.
She graduated as valedictorian from Monticello High School in
1946. According to Sonia, while at Monticello High School, she
had a number of excellent teachers, one of whom taught her
Latin. Although she already spoke German, Yiddish, Flemish and
English, she left the class with a lifelong love of language –
that which ultimately shaped her career and influenced the
direction of her life.
“I’ve been a lawyer and I am a writer and public speaker,” said
Sonia. “Everything I’ve done has been built on my ability with
language.”
While in high school, she had no real idea what she wanted to do
with her life and she did not plan on attending college. Two
classmates and one of her teachers got her interested in
pursuing higher education. Later that year, she won two
scholarships and enrolled at Cornell University - though she
still had no idea what she wanted to be.
While at Cornell, she studied languages, psychology, business
and public administration and eventually graduated Phi Beta
Kappa. With all her knowledge, she still found it difficult to
get a job. She entered the retail industry and later worked as a
secretary.
After a few years in the working world, she felt as if she was
“going nowhere fast,” so she enrolled in the University of Miami
School of Law. She graduated summa cum laude and went to
Washington, DC, to begin work as an attorney at the U.S.
Department of Justice. During her 23 years as a lawyer with the
federal government, she worked as a labor law attorney, with
specializations in civil rights and women’s rights, was the
first woman lawyer in the Office of the General Counsel of the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and was one of
the founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW). She
also spent 11 years as an attorney and executive with two
multinational corporations. In her free time, she traveled
around the world giving talks on the women’s rights revolution
for the then-U.S. Information Agency.
After retiring from the federal government in 1993, she began
her new careers as a writer and public speaker. When asked about
her journey from the doors of Monticello High School, Sonia
wanted to share some of the most important things she has
learned:
“Life can be exciting and bring you your heart’s desire if you
persevere. I wasn't particularly happy with the person I was in
high school. That was the person I was born and raised as-but
thereafter, I created the person I have become. I don't believe
I did this consciously, but, nonetheless, I did it. You can
recreate yourself as the person you want to be.”
For more information about Sonia’s memoir, “Eat First-You Don't
Know What They'll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant
Family and Their Feminist Daughter,” visit
www.erraticimpact.com/fuentes.
Click the following link to watch a video about Sonia's book that features commentary from the author www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kQihcXHr18.
To read a recent interview with Sonia by akgmag.com, visit: www.akgmag.com/article/Interview_with_Author_Sonia_Pressman_Fuentes.htm
Click here to read the coverage of this story by The River Reporter.