Sonya Passi

Sonya Passi is the founder and CEO of FreeFrom, a national organization transforming our society’s response to gender-based violence so that survivors and their families can thrive. Through her work, FreeFrom has dispersed over $7.5MM in emergency cash grants to survivors across the US and Puerto Rico, supported 2,400+ survivors in saving nearly $1MM via FreeFrom’s national Savings Match Program, and successfully advocated for legislation and corporate policy that has created new financial protections for more than 30 million survivors in the US.

During high school, Sonya started an Amnesty International Community Group, and, while working on their global violence against women campaign, discovered her life’s work. While earning her law degree at UC Berkeley, she launched the Family Violence Appellate Project, which provides free appellate legal services to survivors of intimate partner violence in California and has fundamentally transformed the legal landscape in California. She also holds a BA and MPhil from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College).

For her work in the field, Sonya was awarded the 2024 Elevate Prize, listed in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Class of 2017 for Law and Policy, and has served as an Ashoka, Roddenberry, Draper Richards Kaplan, and New America California fellow. She has presented on her work to the UN, the White House, members of Congress and federal agencies, several major corporations, and various city and state agencies and commissions. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Pivotal, Marketwatch, The Cut, and other leading news outlets.

In addition to her advocacy work, Sonya is the co-founder and CEO of CHANI – the tech and media startup behind the eponymous viral astrology app that became profitable on day one of its launch. Under her leadership, CHANI has transformed from a simple blog to a successful hub for self-discovery, mindfulness, and healing with over 2.5 million users.