Meet Sonya Smith-Valentine

“The Queen of Credit Reports”

As a former debt-strapped college graduate and victim of identity theft, Sonya Smith-Valentine became motivated to help others with identity theft and credit problems.  Sonya spent years digging herself out of debt and correcting numerous errors on her credit reports to become credit worthy.  In addition, she forfeited countless hours recovering from identity theft.  These issues temporarily derailed Sonya’s career and one of her three businesses. 

Almost a decade ago, Sonya started the Valentine Legal Group, LLC.  Combining her 15+ years of experience (first as a CPA and then as an attorney), Sonya’s practice assists those drowing in debt, people caught up in the impossible maze of the credit reporting system and identity theft victims.  Using federal consumer protection laws, she has had a successful legal career helping people tackle their debt issues, showing others how to successfully navigate the credit reporting system and assisting victims of identity theft recover from the fraud thrust upon their lives.

Now, using her personal experiences and the extensive knowledge she obtained about the inner workings of the credit card companies, banks and credit bureaus, Sonya speaks professionally across the country, motivating women about how to keep debt, identity theft, and credit report problems from having a devastating effect on their careers.

Sonya is known for her high energy performance as a speaker, author and personal finance coach.  She has motivated thousands to take a proactive approach to protecting their identities and their credit worthiness.  Sonya has appeared as a personal finance, credit reporting and identity theft expert on the alphabet of networks – ABC, NBC, and CBS and in numerous national magazines and newspapers including the Washington Post, Black Enterprise, USA Today, the Baltimore Sun and Heart & Soul Magazine.

Community is also important to Sonya, especially children.  She spent more than a year of her life helping to create the William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  The LEAP Program, which equips students with tools for academic, professional and personal success, received a sponsorship from Sonya to help a student attend their program.  Additionally, early in her legal career, she was a Legal Aid attorney representing children in child abuse and neglect cases.