Sofia Santillana
Senior Associate
Sofia joined the Alliance in 2021 as a senior associate to assist with parent partnerships. Prior to that, Sofia was division administrator for Early Childhood Programs at Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) in Texas, and she represented Texas on the Alliance Board of Directors.
The daughter of Peruvian immigrants, Sofia comes from a family dedicated to helping others. Her parents were pastors and missionaries for the Methodist Church who devoted their lives to helping others throughout the United States and Central/South America. Sofia has been married for 30 years and is the mother of two young adults, ages 21 and 23. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Texas, Sofia has continued her family’s tradition of service, honoring families and their experiences.
Sofia has worked in the field of early childhood education and prevention for almost 20 years. Throughout her career she has held many roles, beginning as a home visitor for Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). Being bilingual has allowed Sofia to reach a wide range of families. As an ECI early intervention specialist/service coordinator, Sofia supported families by collaborating with an interdisciplinary team of physical, speech and occupational therapists. Sofia’s dedication led to her being promoted as assistant director for ECI. In that role, Sofia supervised 30 staff members and grew as an administrator, supervisor and mentor. Sofia continued her career at Head Start as a special needs coordinator and was promoted to the role of Health and Nutrition Services Manager to focus on Child Health, Nutrition and Food Service.
Sofia’s desire to impact early childhood programs led her to work for the State of Texas at the Department of Family and Protective Services in the PEI division. Under her leadership, the Early Childhood Programs team procured contracts with numerous organizations and supported those organizations by providing training and technical assistance for various initiatives and strategies that included parent education, home visiting, evidence-based curriculums, Parent Cafés, Help Me Grow, Bright by Text, community coalition work and systems level change. Also, Sofia represented PEI on many advisory councils, interagency groups and workgroups both at a state and national level.
Fun fact: Sofia learned to ride a motorcycle three years ago!