I am lucky enough to call Sonia Pressman Fuentes a friend and a mentor. She has touched my life in more ways than she knows, and I am forever grateful. A natural teacher, she is always imparting wisdom. I wanted to share that experience with my Holocaust Studies class, so I asked Sonia to come speak to us about her experience emigrating with her parents and brother from Nazi Germany in 1933 to live in Antwerp, Belgium for nine months before leaving Belgium for the U.S. in 1934.
Escaping Nazi Germany forever changed Sonia. It grew in her an unwavering desire to help others and leave this world a better place. Here are some highlights of her achievements:
First woman attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and Federally Employed Women (FEW).
Speaker on women’s rights issues before audiences in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Included in What Happened to the Children Who Fled Nazi Persecution (2006), Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975 (2006) and Women of Achievement in Maryland History (2002).
Author of the memoir: Eat First — You Don’t Know What They’ll Give You, The Adventures of an Immigrant Family and Their Feminist Daughter.
Click on the video to watch Sonia’s talk recorded on November 21, 2016.
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