Sonia Rivera

Sonia Rivera is a native of Michigan and has lived in the Houston area since the age of 19. She is the daughter of Mexican Immigrants who spent the early part of her life as migrant farm workers, and ultimately settled in the State of Michigan. While in college, she majored in Psychology, and minored in Sociology. She has over 25 years of experience in project management, program development, staff training & development, writing policies & procedures for new companies, and participated in various community needs assessment projects. She spent the first 11 years working within the nonprofit sector, managing and developing youth programs under the Health and Human Service umbrella, with high risk youth populations providing Educational and Social Support Programs in the areas of Substance Abuse Prevention, Intervention, and Youth Homelessness, prior to forming her own corporation and nonprofit in 2008, and 2010 respectively.

• In 2009 Youth Genesis Consulting, Inc., and currently serves as the CEO. Youth Genesis is a Youth Services Corporation and includes programs in Leadership Development, Dropout Prevention, and offender education. 
• She has simultaneously founded Genesis Consulting, providing consulting services in the development, implementation, and management of new projects, from educational support programs to small business development projects, and has expanded into the project management, with focus on project evaluation, setting policies, staffing, scheduling, staff development and training. 
• Founder/President of  YGC Inc. in 2010, a non-profit community youth organization; YGC has produced programs in the arts such as the Flor y Canto Summer Arts Camp at Talento Bilingue, the marquee program under YGC Inc. is its arts in after-school program (Art Evolution), and annual Teen Conferences (Teen Evolution), in addition to participating in community service support programs. 

Sonia has actively served with numerous other community organizations through the years such as Hispanic Woman’s Network of Texas, previously served on the board of Hispanic Woman in Leadership, Latino Learning Center, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and is currently serving as the Board Secretary for Texas Association of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce (TAMACC), and on the Houston Advisory Board Hispanic Scholarship Forum. In addition, Sonia is actively involved with Talento Bilingue de Houston Cultural Arts Center assisting in fund development, and coordinating special events.

Most recently Sonia was selected to serve as the President of the National President of The National Hispanic Professional Organization (NHPO). The NHPO provides career, professional, and small business owners development. We focus on meeting the needs of the individual to ensure their professional success. Our strategic partnerships have served to assist to meet those needs. No one entity can do it all, strategic partnerships ensure that we are able to meet the needs of our members in order to give them the competitive edge.