Sonia was educated at Glasgow University, graduating with a B.Sc. in agricultural botany. She worked in scientific publishing as editor of Chemoreception Abstracts.

Her interest in animals started in childhood with a pig called Hilary, geese called Charlie and Cassandra, and a mongrel, Pearl.

Training as a biologist meant, observing plants and animals, drawing them to aid understanding. But now she can have fun with her drawings and making them into etchings.