Sonia De Leon

Sonia De Leon, Deputy Director of the PIQE regional office in Bakersfield, provides leadership and guidance in analyzing and evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of operations. Ms. De Leon is responsible for maintaining a proper organizational structure and affective staff as well as partnering closely with senior management to plan for the future growth of PIQE’s presence in the region and its strategic response to industry and education trends. After more than 20 years of experience working with adults in the educational field in Guatemala, she joined PIQE in 2016 as Associate Director and three years later was promoted to Deputy Director.

Her passion for education and accompanying processes with adults arises from her own family experience. Her parent’s vision and a strong belief in education led to her being the first in her family to acquire higher education. She has worked in popular organization processes, especially with women, advocating labor and educational rights. She was part of the interdisciplinary team of the Central American Institute of Spirituality where she provided individual and group support to leaders in the process of personal growth. She instructed a diverse group of international attendees that allowed her to interact with varying cultures resulting in her being selected to provide training to a variety of countries.

With these enriching experiences, Sonia was promoted to Director of Advisers-in-training at the Rafael Landivar University of Guatemala. Under her management, the program grew from serving 250 students to 850 students. Upon emigrating to the United States, she aspired to continue in the education field so she immediately became involved in learning more about the reality that migrants live in California and shortly afterward she worked as a Consultant at Migrant Program Region III in California where she worked for more than three years conducting workshops for migrant parents to engage in student’s education and promoted the commitment of parents to guide their children to achieve higher education.

Ms. De Leon has a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work with Emphasis in Management Development from Rafael Landivar University and a Master of Arts in Human Dynamic and Mental Health from Mariano Galvez, University of Guatemala.