Sofia has over ten years of event planning experience and has coordinated hundreds of events, both professional and personal. She is also a certified life coach, experienced saleswoman, and accomplished speaker.
Influenced by Dr. Ellie Drake, Maria Shriver, Jack Canfield, Jim Rohn, and Anthony Robbins, Sofia Seitchik's vision is to provide inspiration and support to all Deaf people, help them find the best resources, and provide opportunities for networking and growth at the personal, professional and business level.
She has tried to do different kinds of businesses, going through many trial and errors, and felt that there was not enough access to get support and mentoring in her language, ASL. She has been working with organizations that provide personal or business support and mentoring to make their materials and services accessible to the deaf.
Sofia has founded Global Deaf Women, an organization dedicated to supporting any Deaf Women whose desire is to get life or business coaching, training, networking opportunity, and/or inspiration. Her workshop "Design Your Life" at the Global Deaf Women retreat last year was the most popular and received rave reviews. This year, she is expanding her workshop to include a 100 Day Challenge in order to provide follow up support and help her attendees accomplish their goals.
Sofia has lived in three entirely different worlds, on different continents: Samarkand, Uzbekistan; St. Petersburg, Russia; and New York City, USA. Each country has different expectations about how women are to act and behave. The interesting journey has made her who she is today, Sofia Seitchik.
When she became deaf as an infant, her mother was only 23 years old with three young daughters. Later, she gave birth to a fourth daughter, Irina Normatov, who is also Deaf. In Samarkand, people believe that young mothers or daughters should be sheltered at home and should not travel to other countries without men. This did not stop Sofia's mother; she wanted to do what was best for her, make sure she got the best education. She sent Sofia to St.Petersburg, a westernized country compared to Samarkand in an Islamic country. Sofia attended boarding school at age 3 all by herself, visiting her family and home every summer.
Sofia survived many years of oppression; bitter, cold weather; being lonely in school, missing holidays with family. She missed out on delicious food, a comfortable bed, going out to movies, sleepovers with friends. Growing up, she wished she could have a normal childhood.
She was told before she moved to New York City at 16 years old that she would not be able to learn a new language, get a higher education, or get a job without her hearing in order to survive. She proved them wrong when she was the first person to get job without being able to read or speak either English or ASL, in order to support her family.
In New York, she learned to speak English and ASL, and graduated from Lexington School the Deaf. Later, she attended CSUN then Gallaudet University, obtaining a BA in Communication Arts. She is in the book “Train Go Sorry” by Leah Cohen, where Leah writes about Sofia's assimilation in America.
Currently, she is counting many blessings in her life; her husband David Seitchik, her two young boys, Eitan and Samuel, her career as a businesswoman and certified life coach, her inner peace, and wonderful home in Bucks County, PA. She is happy to be able to pursue her big dream and passion in the land of opportunity and freedom. She will not let any challenges slow her down; always striving for the best in life and business world.