We’re looking forward to introducing you to Sonia Clayton. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Sonia, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
What’s bringing me the most joy lately is the impact we are making through one of our 4 non-profit organizations: GLOBAL ENERGY TRANSITION www.getenergyjobs.org (GET), is a nonprofit I founded in 2021. Since then, we have helped over 600 petrochemicals’ professionals navigate career transitions—many of them displaced by the evolving energy landscape. Through our on-line platform we connect people to training, job opportunities, scholarships, and a supportive network during some of the most instable times in the energy and oil & gas vertical.
It’s incredibly rewarding to watch someone go from uncertainty to stability, from losing a job to finding a new path in the same vertical, clean energy, or adjacent hiring industries. That kind of transformation brings me a sense of purpose beyond any corporate title. It is a reminder that real leadership is about service to others, and that joy often comes from helping people and entire families rebuild their future and their lives.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Certainly! I am Sonia Clayton, Founder and CEO of VIRTUAL INTELLIGENCE PROVIDERS, LLC (www.VIP-Global.co), a Texas-based Technology Consulting firm dedicated to corporate transformations, project and change management, workforce development, corporate strategy and innovative technology implementations, within the energy / Oil & Gas sector. At VIP-Global, we specialize in supporting professionals and organizations navigating complex change, whether it is digital, AI, ERP transformations, career reinvention, or large-scale workforce shifts in the energy sector.
What makes VIP-Global unique is our innovation and values-driven approach. I founded the company just 2 weeks after 9/11 in 2001. My first clients were Pennzoil / Shell & Shell International, Continental Airlines and CEMEX. Withing the next 5 years, many other in oil and gas corporations and Fortune 100’s become our clients: Exxon, Chevron, Pemex, Baker Hughes, Daikin-Goodman, Stewart Title, City of Houston, Coca-Cola, WM, etc. We successfully transition into many new consulting roles and industries, blending together various solutions to include: AI, ERP (SAP): IT integrations, IS Systems implementations, strategic coaching, local and international placement services, on-shore Backoffice services, cultural insight, and real-world experience to equip clients for what’s next, whether that’s leadership in the USA or internationally.
I came to the USA with $50 in my pocket and I didn’t speak English; I took three jobs and loved everything about America. Once I become successful, I felt the need to give back to the community and a country that has given me so much!. Hence, I created several charities and a nonprofits: VIP Angels for Soldiers Foundation, VIP Education Foundation, VIP Cancer Foundation and GET (www.getenergyjobs.org) or GLOBAL ENERGY TRANSITION (GET) a nonprofit initiative that advocates for displaced energy & oil & gas workers, since 2021. Between VIP-Global and GET, I am proud to say we are not just talking about the future, we are actively building pathways into it.
As a Latina legal immigrant who rose through the ranks of corporate America to lead in technology and humanitarian work, I have come to believe that leadership without service is incomplete and meaningless. My path has shown me the power of faith, empathy, resilience, and giving back, especially to those navigating job transitions and uncertainty. That spirit of service is what drives every initiative at my company, VIP-Global, and GET. We don’t just help people find new jobs, we help them rediscover their own worth and purpose.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before GOD told me who I had to be, I was a little girl growing up in poverty in Colombia. Raised by my amazing mother, since our father left our home when I was just 18 months old. I was raised during the height of the narco-trafficking wars, surrounded by violence, fear, and scarcity. But even in those conditions, I carried within me a quiet fire, believe, and determination that life could be different, that I could choose hope over circumstances. My mother taught me a lot of faith and always instilled a lot of hope.
At age 11 my family and I escaped to Venezuela seeking safety, and eventually made my way to the United States in pursuit of the American dream. I didn’t speak English. I arrived with little more than courage and a relentless will to survive and thrive. I married my husband Kirk and we had two beautiful children. What I found in America was not just opportunity—but the ability to reinvent myself and serve others on the same journey.
Before the titles, companies, and accolades, I was an overcomer. A dreamer. A fighter. A giver. A believer. And at my core, I still am. That little girl from Colombia never left. GOD just gave her a new country to love. A voice, a purpose, and the power to lead and help thousands of people.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
My life has been marked by many defining wounds, but also by profound resilience and faith. I had not much of a father figure in my life. I was raised in poverty in Colombia during the height of the narco-trafficking wars. I experienced much fear and instability, from a young age. At age 11 I fled to Venezuela for safety and a better life, but got robbed crossing the border, hence my mother, my two siblings and I entered Venezuela totally destitute. Eventually I arrived in the United States in 1984 with $50, determination, hope, and big dreams.
Later, in 2006, I faced one of the hardest chapters of my life, a five-year battle with cancer. I was undergoing treatment while raising two deeply challenging teenagers, both facing struggles of their own and aiding my aging mother. Eventually, I watched my oldest son deploy to the Iraq War, a moment that shattered and reshaped me as a mother and as a woman of GOD. The pain of fighting for your own life while praying for your child’s safety in a war zone is indescribable.
At the same time, I carried another sacred responsibility: caring for my aging mother, a woman of immense strength and wisdom, who lived to be 102 years old and passed away in 2022. I cared for her until the very end, and that season of caregiving, though heavy, was one of the most beautiful acts of love I have ever known. What an honor it was!
These wounds of poverty, abandonment, terminal illness, war, motherhood, caregiving and grief, could have broken me. But I chose to turn them into purpose. I founded VIP-Global to guide and serve corporations and professionals through organizational and digital transformations. In the process, I generated thousands of jobs as a small-business, and later created GET to support thousands of displaced energy workers and professionals affected by the evolving energy economy. Since 2021, we have helped over 600 individuals rebuild their careers and lives.
I believe healing comes through service, and that our scars can become bridges for others. I am not defined by what I have suffered, but by how I have risen, again and again. And now, I carry my story as a torch, lighting the way for others to rise, to follow, to serve and to love one another!
So, a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
I believe many smart, capable people today are making the mistake of equating intelligence with impact, and success with significance, as if brilliance alone is enough to move the world forward. We live in a time of extraordinary and prophetic innovation and abundance of knowledge and technology, yet we often overlook the most powerful forces for transformation: love and service.
The truth is, intellect, knowledge, and power, without compassion produce a poor outcome. Strategy without charity is hollow. We don’t elevate society through cleverness alone. We elevate it by showing up for others, by giving back, and by using our gifts in service of those who cannot repay us. Somewhere along the way, many high achievers have mistaken accomplishment for contribution, and visibility for value.
We live in a world that celebrates titles, accolades, and visibility, but often forgets that true greatness is measured not by what we build for ourselves, but what we have done for others. Technology, strategy, innovation, and power mean very little if they are not used to uplift those who are suffering, struggling, or unseen.
There is a quote that guides my life:
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
That is the essence of legacy. That is the highest calling of leadership. I have learned, through hardship, faith, illness, immigration, motherhood, and humanitarian work, that the real purpose of life is to serve.
Let us remember that in the end, life is finite. When it is all over, it will not be the titles we held or the awards on our shelves that matter most it will be the lives we touched, the people we lifted, and the difference we made in this world. That is what endures. That is transcendental and what what truly defines us.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. If immortality were real, what would you build?
As a Christian, I believe that immortality is real, not in the form of mortal existence, but through eternal life promised by Jesus Christ. That belief shapes everything I do. I don’t live or build for this world alone, I build for what endures beyond it.
If I had endless time on earth, I would dedicate every moment to building institutions of mercy and love, bridges of opportunity, and pathways to dignity for the forgotten. I would expand the work we have begun through VIP-Global and GLOBAL ENERGY TRANSITION (GET), reaching every displaced worker and professional, every marginalized young student, or every returning soldier, every cancer patient, or reach every person in need of a second chance. I would invest in souls, not just systems. I would build places where people are seen, uplifted, and equipped to discover their life-given purpose.
Because even with infinite time, the only legacy that matters are what we do for others.
Perhaps immortality isn’t about living forever, it’s about making sure that our impact does go on and we live a mark on this life. That is why I choose to live a life of service now. Because in the end, the things that last are not made of stone or steel, but of love, sacrifice, and grace.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vipglobal/
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