Celebrated Changemaker
See How Sonya Sparked A Revolution
Leadership is challenging, and we believe in celebrating those who excel. Each month, we invite you to join us in celebrating exceptional leaders who have achieved remarkable feats while collaborating with us at It's the Impact. Leadership can be isolating, and recognition is well-deserved. Please reach out to schedule a Discovery Session anytime.
This month, we will focus on Sonya Thomas Chief Executive Officer of the Nashville P.R.O.P.E.L. in Tennessee.
What would you do if your child wasn’t receiving a quality education and you knew nothing about how the system worked?
When Sonya Thomas found out that her son’s public schools were failing him, she didn’t know what to do, but she knew she had to do something.
Her leadership has sparked a revolution in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is the founding CEO of the Nashville P.R.O.P.E.L. Her mission? To ensure that no parent is ever ignored again—especially when it comes to their children's education.
Thanks to Sonya's relentless leadership and unwavering determination to dismantle decades-old inequities, the dream that all Nashville students have access to quality public education is becoming a reality. Sonya inspires anyone she interacts with, lifting up other parents and igniting their voices.
Sonya is a testament to the power of collective action and inspired leadership. She is also an example of how overcoming self-doubt can unleash your hidden potential as a leader. If you’ve struggled with self-belief as a leader or want to learn how to create transformational collective change, Sonya’s story is one you simply cannot miss.
Driven by Heart: How Personal Challenge Inspires Leadership
What sets Sonya apart is her personal connection to her cause. Her own experiences navigating the Nashville public education system with her son fueled her determination to create change. She saw firsthand the disparities that existed and decided to take a stand, co-founding P.R.O.P.E.L. to rally parents and advocate for better educational opportunities. “I started in this because I never wanted another parent to feel the way I felt when I realized my son wasn’t getting the education he deserved,” she said.
During her son’s early years in education, she assumed he was receiving the opportunities and support he needed to succeed. But she realized he was reading on a second-grade level when he was in seventh grade. She came to understand that Nashville had some of the lowest-performing schools in the state. The anger, betrayal, and hopelessness she felt at this realization sparked her to try to change a system that was failing her son and so many other students just like him.
Along with eight other parents, she founded P.R.O.P.E.L. to build a movement to improve education in the city. The organization informs parents about Nashville public education through community outreach and advocacy and pushes for change. “The status quo doesn’t tell the truth. Therefore, we have to educate parents and let them know they’re not alone,” Sonya said.
Collective Leadership: Parents Are Stronger Together
The prime challenge Sonya identified in Nashville was that many public schools had shockingly low literacy rates. “When we started our work, we quickly found that so many students hadn’t been taught to read,” Sonya said. “Students and parents were victims.”
She and her fellow parent advocates at P.R.O.P.E.L. set out to change that. In part due to their work, Tennessee has now implemented one of the best literacy packages in the country, and test results are showing an uptrend in literacy rates. “If the literacy curriculum is implemented with quality and fidelity district-wide, that can lead to a literate Nashville,” she said.
She has also pushed for increased funding for schools and changes to the third-grade retention law in Tennessee. “Regardless of the school, children should have access to quality and excellence. Excellence is intentional. Families and students should have access to this regardless of where they send their children,” she said.
Sonya also recognized that part of the problem with Nashville’s public education system was that, too often, Black parents were powerless. Uniting parents in an advocacy and information network was the only way to achieve progress. Sonya won’t allow parents to be ignored any longer.
“Previously, the voices of Black parents weren’t heard in Nashville schools,” she said. “But we’ve made progress. Now, their voices have been amplified. We have helped parents to speak truth to power. We’re not afraid of systems and system protectors. The city knows we are now going to hold them accountable.”
This vision of collective leadership is inspirational. The success of her work has been profiled in numerous documentaries, including “What the Words Say” by APM Reporter Emily Hanford, “Disrupt and Dismantle”, BET’s docuseries by executive producer Soledad O’Brien, and “The Truth About Reading” by executive producer Nick Nanton.
She has also advised mayoral candidates and education groups in Tennessee, and won a litany of awards. She was a recipient of the 2023 Women Who Rock Education and named to the 2023-2024 Nashville Power Poll Most Powerful People.
But what’s most inspiring about Sonya’s story isn’t her long list of successes. It’s who she is as a leader. She leads with others. Her leadership is always part of a larger movement in which she and her fellow parents lift up their entire community. It’s the style of leadership that can serve as a model for others.
“We are the parents we serve. That allows us to find other parents and work together to enact change,” she said.
Change Is Personal And Professional
What makes her success even more remarkable is that when she started in advocacy, she was riddled by doubts — the type of doubts that often hamstring leaders everywhere. She heard those voices in her head that so many of us hear, the voices that tell us: you can’t do this, you don’t know what you’re talking about, you can’t lead and no one will listen to you, you’ll never be able to make change.
But Sonya found a way to stop listening to those voices. And how she did so can be a lesson for other leaders who also feel boxed in by self-doubt.
A former nurse, Sonya did not always feel she had the expertise and communication skills to effectively advocate to educators and politicians. “I came into this space as a black woman without the skills that many people of privilege have, whether that was communication, strategy, or talking to decision-makers. Those relationship-building skills were not something I was equipped with initially,” she said.
That is one of the reasons she actively sought out coaching. She has now worked with It’s The Impact for five years. “I worked in nursing, where we were constantly getting professional development. Most people, though, including educators, don’t get that. But I wouldn’t have been successful without coaching. I always recommend to people that they need to get them a coach. It is an essential part of being a leader. I can’t see anyone going into any space without coaching and development. We’re just not born with these skills,” she said.
The greatest change she’s realized from coaching is what she described as “recognizing the greatness in me when I didn’t know or didn’t think of myself as a great leader before that. Coaching allowed me to discover who I really am.”
Leadership Lessons for Sonya’s Experience
What is so heartfelt about Sonya is that she doesn’t want anyone else to experience the struggles she did. She knows how painful it can be to constantly question your own abilities or think you’re lesser than those around you. That’s why she now urges others to use coaching, as she did, to conquer those doubts and become more effective leaders.
There are three ways she thinks leaders should change how they engage with themselves:
Be kinder to yourself so you can tap into your full potential
Separate facts from feelings
Believe in yourself
She put in the effort and self-reflection to unleash her potential. Consequently, she is now able to be kinder to herself and identify the things she likes about who she is. This includes counteracting stereotypes that she didn’t know she had held about herself throughout her entire life. Those unconscious biases were holding her back. But she faced them bravely. Doing so has allowed her to become a better leader.
“Coaching has been hard, but through it, I found my potential,” she said. “It’s raised my self-awareness. Now, I have the space to love me and everything about me. I bring value to the work and the world. I have purpose. I’ve learned to celebrate myself — something I was unable to do when I first came into this work.”
As a result, she can also support the parents she works with in finding their inner strengths. This is the epitome of collective leadership in action. “I can give back to people on my team and develop them. It’s been a ripple effect. I’ve received great coaching, and now I can coach people on my team and in my family. It’s magical. Because this work is so heartfelt, I want others to experience the changes I have.”
Another prime lesson she shares with others is to separate facts from feelings. This isn’t easy, and it wasn’t for Sonya. It takes as much work to change yourself as it does to change systems. Coaching gave Sonya the space to realize how she was holding herself back. But she had the bravery to make the changes in her self-belief necessary for her to excel. It’s the type of self-work all courageous leaders have to embark upon to truly succeed.
“Feelings are not facts. And if you mistake the two, it impacts your decision-making—not just at work but in your personal life, too. You have to question what you’re feeling and determine if it’s real or not.”
She also thinks that leaders should use coaching as she did to gain a greater belief in their capabilities. “Coaching has changed my life. Now I know I’m a badass black woman. I couldn't have said that five years ago. I felt like I wasn’t enough. Now I know I’m enough. The coaching has helped me get there. I even have a jean jacket with ‘badass black woman’ on it,” she said.
Sonya started with a commitment to support a community. But she realized to achieve this vision, she also had to support herself. By lifting herself up, she’s been able to lift up countless other parents and improve the education and lives of students across Nashville.
Sonya's story is a testament to resilience, empowerment, and the transformative power of leadership. She's not just changing lives; she's shaping a brighter future for generations to come.
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