Meet Our 2026 Spark: Sonia Arteaga
"Sometimes you don't have to feel ready when an opportunity comes. You just have to say yes, trust yourself, and move."
Every honoree at Women Who Inspire has opened doors for others. Sonia Arteaga walked through one, and this year she showed us how quickly one opportunity can turn into momentum.
The Spark Award is presented to a woman served by Dress for Success who turned opportunity into momentum and now inspires others to pursue their own potential. Sonia is its first recipient, our 2026 Spark Honoree, and a Dress for Success San Jose Client Ambassador.
Sonia didn't take the expected road. After high school, she went straight to work to help her mom pay the bills. College waited. Life didn't.
At 30, she enrolled at San Jose State as a transfer student, balancing motherhood and a full course load. That's when a friend from college mentioned Dress for Success.
"I was looking for a way to level up my resume and network to set myself up for the future," Sonia said.
Through Dress for Success San Jose, she completed a Google Career Certificate in her field and worked with a career coach who helped her build confidence in her path. She was selected for Project Premium, which provides a year of free LinkedIn Premium, and grew her professional network in ways she hadn't been able to before.
In May, Sonia graduated from SJSU with the confidence and tools she needed for her next move. Since then, she has launched her own marketing business and signed her first client, a $50 million company.
"This is not a coincidence," Sonia says. "These are the resources that were available to me, and I was able to leverage them to build confidence for my own path. Through this organization I was able to work on skills necessary for my future and develop the belief that I was capable of doing whatever I set my mind to."
Sonia credits Dress for Success San Jose staff, including Miracle, for the role they played in her journey. And she has a message for the community that made it possible: "Your support makes experiences like mine possible. Because of you all here I was able to accomplish my goal, and there is for sure more to come."
This year taught Sonia that momentum often starts before you feel ready. In this video, she shares what she has learned about saying yes to opportunity.
As the inaugural recipient of the Spark Award, Sonia represents a woman who has not only turned opportunity into momentum, but now shares her story to inspire other women to pursue their own potential. Sonia will be sharing her story live at Women Who Inspire.
Join us in celebrating Sonia and our full class of 2026 honorees at Women Who Inspire, Thursday, October 22 at the San Jose Woman's Club.
Dress for Success San Francisco/San Jose empowers women to achieve economic mobility by providing a network of support, workplace attire, and career skills and tools for success.