Advocacy Director
Sonja Tonnesen-Casalegno is a lifelong advocate for racial and gender justice who has spent over 15 years as a movement lawyer working to transform the carceral system. Born and raised outside Milwaukee, WI, Sonja grew up in a family deeply committed to social justice and with loved ones directly impacted by incarceration, which shaped her dedication to liberation work from an early age.
A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.), summa cum laude, and UC Berkeley School of Law (J.D.), Sonja served as a leader in the Queer Caucus and Women’s Association, co-directed Advocates for Youth Justice supporting foster and incarcerated youth, and was an editor of both the California Law Review and the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice.
After law school, Sonja became the founding Deputy Director of Root & Rebound, a groundbreaking reentry legal advocacy organization. There, she co-founded statewide coalitions that secured landmark victories such as California’s Fair Chance Licensing and Ban the Box in Higher Education laws, opening access to higher education and licensed careers for the eight million Californians with conviction histories. She also initiated high-impact litigation, challenging discriminatory licensing practices that barred formerly incarcerated firefighters from EMT certification and holding large corporations accountable for violating Ban the Box employment protections.
Most recently, Sonja served as the Policy & Legal Director at Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ), a close partner of LSPC’s that unlocks the leadership of impacted young people to dream beyond bars and borders. She currently serves on the boards of Because Black is Still Beautiful, which builds pathways to liberation for system-impacted Black women and girls, and Kindred Care Collective, a Bay Area network supporting under-resourced parents.
Sonja’s most important role is being mama to Elio (1) and Loia (4), who inspire her daily to imagine and fight for a more liberated world.
