Soraya Coffelt

Soraya is a published children’s author with five faith-based books in her “Love Letters” book series about the Christian foundation of some of our favorite holidays. She loves to spread the message of the importance of literacy and frequently reads to children in classroom settings and Head Start Centers as well as at a variety of community events. She is a lawyer and former judge, having served as both a trial court judge as well as an appellate court judge. In fact, she was the first female and Hispanic from St. Thomas to serve as a judge in the U.S. Virgin Islands, her home. Her passion for sharing the importance of a child’s ability to read well stems from her own upbringing, as her parents both spoke English as a second language and were voracious readers. They instilled in her and her siblings the importance of speaking, reading, and writing English well. She credits this for her high academic achievements in school and then college, enabling her to attend law school. As a judge who handled many juvenile crime cases, Soraya saw the correlation between reading well and staying in school and not being involved in the criminal justice system. Soraya established a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation As the Stars of the Sky Foundation Inc. to help promote literacy. All proceeds from her book sales go to the foundation. She has two sons who are voracious readers too: Zachary, who followed his mother’s footsteps and is a lawyer specializing in international trade; and James, who obtained a Master of Business Administration degree and Master of Science degree in medical physiology and biophysics.