Sonia Ortega

Leadership and determination are two of Sonia Ortega’s outstanding qualities, and she has shown both during her undergraduate studies at FIU. As an international student ambassador, Sonia mentored College of Business students from Denmark, Peru, Brazil and the United Kingdom, working across multiple cultures to guide and encourage new business students.

Strong grades guaranteed Sonia’s success in the undergraduate international business dual degree program that brought her from the Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to FIU. In fall 2015, she received a merit scholarship from the College of Business for her academic performance in the dual degree program that’s part of an international collaboration between FIU and UNIBE.

Finance and numbers have been a central part of Sonia’s life since her childhood. Her grandfather founded an accounting firm in the Dominican Republic where her father and uncle also work. She worked at the firm during summers while in school, and in July 2014 became a trainee in the human resources department and later moved on to the consulting practice. Originally interested in studying law, Sonia realized at 16 that it wasn’t her calling, so she went back to her roots and decided to study finance.

Sonia already sees herself as one in the growing number of empowered women business leaders, those who aren’t letting their gender get in the way of success. She would like to be a source of empowerment to young women entering the finance and business fields. Sonia’s plans include obtaining a Master of Science in financial economics and eventually returning to the Dominican Republic to become a partner in the family’s accounting firm.