(Housing) Born in Corozal, Puerto Rico, Sonia was the third child of twelve children born to Francisca Pacheco Rivera and Ignacio Pacheco Figueroa. Sonia came to Hartford in 1959 at the age of five, with both parents and four sisters. The family then moved to New York in 1965 and came back to Hartford, CT in 1968. Sonia has raised five children, two boys and three girls as a single parent and currently has eleven grandchildren. Sonia went to Hartford Public Schools and moved to Massachusetts where she graduated from Broms Beauty Academy and Broms Barber Academy. She taught Barber school briefly and went on to becoming a salon owner. While growing up, Sonia lived in apartment buildings where the owners were absentee landlords and unresponsive to the needs of the tenants. Living with no heat, no hot water, roach and rat infested properties, she knew that she had to get involved. Sonia became involved in housing issues and soon after became a member of the West End Civic Association, also known as W.E.C.A. There, she has served as an advocate and co-chair for the housing committee since 1999. As co chair of the W.E.C.A. Housing Committee, Sonia has worked hard with city officials and the state attorney’s office to target problem properties. Sonia has worked on legislation to pass a bill called The Landlord Identification Bill. Thus, preventing property owners to hide behind a post office box. Sonia has worked on legislation to pass a bill called The Heat Surcharge Bill. Sonia goes to Washington DC to the National People Conferences once a year to better inform herself on issues people are facing in other states, such as; housing, community policing, racial profiling, predatory lenders, the community reinvestment act and abandoned properties. Sonia has also served on the NRZ board in the Parkville neighborhood from August of 2000 to March of 2004. Also Sonia served as co-chair of the governance board to the Breakthrough Charter School from 1998 to 2003 where this school became a Magnet school.

Commissioner Ayala was originally appointed to the Commission on February 1, 2003 by then Speaker of the House Moria K. Lyons and subsequently by the New Speaker of the House James A. Amann.