Sonia Yoshioka Braid was born in Hawke’s Bay, Aotearoa New Zealand. She is the youngest in her family born to a Japanese mother and a father of Scottish/European New Zealand heritage who met during the Korean War. World War II, the dropping of the Atomic Bomb in Hiroshima, and the Korean War were all formative moments in her family’s history.

Sonia’s ghost-writing career started with a book for The Aunties charity, who had a three-month deadline to get a manuscript completed, and no writer. After sixteen interviews, and an intense bout of writing, re-writing, and collaborating with her editor, Her Say by Jackie Clark and The Aunties (Penguin Random House) was ready to go. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the publication schedule was moved to March 2021.

Since then, Sonia has ghost-written two more books, No Excuses by Dave Letele (Penguin Random House), and was the initial ghost writer for Beyond Hope by Bariz Shah (HarperCollins). She edited She Is Not Your Rehab by Matt and Sarah Brown, and Tools for the Top Paddock by Kane Brisco. She has also updated and edited the Huse Hill series of business books.

Sonia is proud of her dual Japanese/New Zealand heritage and has been working towards writing a memoir on her mother’s life for the past twenty years. She is currently serving as the President of the New Zealand Japan Society of Auckland Inc., carrying on a family tradition of sharing Japanese culture with the people of Aotearoa New Zealand.

In June 2024, Sonia was the inaugural winner of the Rush Cottage Residency, offered by the Hawke's Bay Readers & Writers Trust, and Black Barn Retreats.

 

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