At Fresenius Medical Care North America, Sonya Bolden is a licensed clinical social worker, working one-on-one with dialysis patients and collaborating with physicians and medical teams to enhance their lives with personal attention. By promoting rehabilitation to improve quality of life, Beam empowers patients and their families to have the best outcomes possible, while dealing positively with end-of-life issues.
In 2013, Bolden started her own part-time business, Inspire Counseling and Wellness, Ltd., which she sold the following year. Today, she sees private clients referred from the Department of Children and Family Services as her busy schedule allows.
Outside of the workplace, Bolden is an active member of the Ward Chapel AME Church in Peoria, serving as president of the Women’s Missionary Society from 2013 to 2015. As its current treasurer, she oversees fundraising efforts and encourages membership to get involved in the community. Her recent efforts included the reinstitution of a program to showcase successful marriages within the church, the collection of more than 100 bras for The Center of Prevention of Abuse, and the launch of the Project 12,000 shoe drive, which collected 5,700 pounds of shoes last year for distribution to underserved local areas. She was also the brainchild behind Barefoot Sunday, in which parishioners were asked to come to service in shoes and leave barefoot to serve as a sacrificial offering to those in need.
Bolden has published numerous articles on health and nutrition and is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Nu Pi Omega Chapter. She also serves on the T.H.I.N.K. (There’s Hope in New Knowledge) Advisory Board and is a founding board member of the Furney E. Brown, Jr. Scholarship, which she created to recognize her father, a long-time educator and champion for youth. iBi