Author

Sonal Soni

Sonal Soni (they/them) is a queer, non-binary Indian-American multimedia journalist. They returned to Chicago, their birthplace, after moving around the midwest. Soni has covered various topics including race, class, climate change, and Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community. While at DePaul University, they covered trans-inclusive housing policies on college campuses for the school’s student-led online magazine, 14 East.

They also covered protests on social media, earning an honorable mention for an Associated Collegiate Press award. Soni interned at WBEZ reporting on the daily news. That coverage consisted of monkeypox cases in Chicago and a feature story about what Evanston’s revised public nudity ordinance would mean for queer Chicagoans. Most recently, Soni was a reporting fellow for City Bureau, where they covered housing cooperatives in Chicago. They also have bylines in In These Times.

Soni runs a jewelry business in their free time, carrying on a family tradition that is generations strong, and they love to spend time with their many pets including their tortoise Rodrigo.

Sonal's Latest Articles

Policing the police: The long road to independent oversight of Harvey cops

By Sonal Soni

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Public Safety

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April 22, 2024

For years, city leaders have expressed the need for external oversight of Harvey police. So, what's the holdup?

Thornton’s first annual Wildcat Classic offers ‘a sense of home’

By Kristin McKee & Sonal Soni

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Education & Youth

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December 3, 2023

“We know each other’s parents, grandparents. It’s a sense of community versus just overall Wildcat pride."

Could Colby Chapman finally build Harvey’s rainbow coalition?

By Amethyst J. Davis & Sonal Soni

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Politics

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April 4, 2023

"I don't think that there's ever been an opportunity to create conversation." Harvey's a largely Black and Brown community getting younger by the day. In her quest to become the first Black 2nd Ward alderwoman and first Japanese alderperson ever, Chapman could usher in the greatest political shift in Harvey politics since the David Johnson era.

Harvey has never had Indian representation in government. The Vohra family is trying to change that.

By Sonal Soni

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Arts & Culture

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March 29, 2023

The city's Indian community has nearly quadrupled in numbers since it began growing in the early 1970s. But in the 50 years since, no Indian person in Harvey has ever been elected to office.