Today’s QUEEN SHEVA goes to Sonia Sotomayor, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, for challenging stereotypes of both gender and race and succeeding even in the most difficult of circumstances. Justice Sotomayor is not only the 3rd woman to have ever held this position, but became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in US history after she was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2009.
Sotomayor was born in The Bronx, NYC, to Puerto-Rican parents in a low-income household. She faced many struggles growing up, particularly with an alcoholic father and an emotionally distant mother, and later suffered tremendously after her father’s death. Thankfully, her mother pushed her towards achieving a higher education, even using her savings to buy a set of encyclopedias in order to prepare her daughter for college.
Sotomayor’s hard work paid off when she received a scholarship to attend prestigious Ivy League Princeton University, where she graduated summa cum laude and received the highest academic recognition given to Princeton undergraduates, the Pyne Prize. She attended Yale Law School immediately after, where she worked as an editor the Yale Law Journal.
After working in both the private and public sphere (including pro bono work), Sotomayor slowly worked her way up to U.S District Court Judge, eventually becoming the First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Just like the Queen of Sheva, Justice Sotomayor is a strong, confident and intelligent woman who has succeeded despite working in a male-dominated sphere. Hopefully, our favorite Sonia quote will inspire you to be your best self this week: “I do know one thing about me: I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth”.
These are some of our favorite quotes:
Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society.
I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences.
