Sonya Smith-Valentine, Esq.CEO
Honors & Awards
- Black Enterprise Financial All Star
- Powerhouse Woman of the Year
- Women in Finance – Power 100
- Corporate Excellence – Leading Expert in Financial Training & Consulting
- Top 10 Most Inspiring CEOs in Business in 2022
Education
- JD, Brooklyn Law School
- BS, Villanova University – Accounting
- Cornell University – Women’s Entrepreneurship
- University of South Florida – Post-Crisis Leadership
Sonya Smith-Valentine is a nationally recognized financial expert, business leader and attorney.
A series of events during her last year in law school would change Sonya in ways she never would have imagined. Sonya was in a devastating car accident. A drunk driver ran into her car on the highway at 90 MPH. That accident and the year that followed (finishing law school, taking the CPA exam, and taking the bar exam all while in physical therapy to recover from her injuries) taught her the importance of hard work, perseverance, determination and financial know-how.
That year became the foundation for Sonya’s successful career. She used what she learned from that experience to become a highly sought-after business and financial consultant, attorney and CEO.
Sonya’s professional highlights from the past 25 years include being a senior internal auditor for one of the world’s largest museums of fine arts with an endowment of over $3 billion. She has also worked for industry standard bearers Price Waterhouse and Deloitte & Touche’, handling audit and tax matters for Fortune 1000 corporations. Post law school, her entrepreneurial spirit drove her to launch (and later sell) her own highly successful law firm, where she won financial litigation cases involving corporate giants like Equifax, Capital One and Bank of America.
Sonya’s personal and professional journey has provided a framework that enables her to assist and support organizations in their efforts to create financially-savvy and highly productive teams.
Now, as CEO of Financially Fierce, Sonya specializes in helping CEOs create financially savvy organizations by embedding business acumen and financial IQ at every level of the company to cultivate success. She is the visionary for a team that helps clients develop compelling business strategies, create financially-savvy decision makers and produce highly-profitable workplaces and so much more.
Sonya is passionate about helping leaders discover what’s possible with a business and financial strategy that drives performance. Along with her team, Sonya has helped thousands of professionals improve their business acumen and financial IQ so they can to increase potential profits, assess the financial performance of business activities, and determine the feasibility of projects and initiatives. She works with companies across the country, improving productivity, leadership and business acumen.
Because of her vast knowledge, Sonya is a sought-after strategist and consultant by corporations, law firms, government agencies, and higher education across the country.