Soni Brown's was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, where she, the sixth child of a dressmaker turned bus operator, first explored the culinary arts. She placed that on hold when she moved to  New York City to become a flight attendant. During overnights, Soni entertained herself by translating poems from English to French.

 

While traveling, she wrote essays on food with aspirations of becoming a food critic. Her dedication led her to culinary school in Hyde Park, NY, where she secured the MFK Fisher scholarship for food writing.

 

Venturing west to California, Soni worked as a caterer and personal chef before deciding to focus on writing. She earned an MFA while making a living teaching College Composition, freelance writing and content creation. An essay on returning to live in Jamaica after her mother's death received "notable mention" in the Best American Essays 2023, edited by Vivian Gornick. The same year marked Soni's participation as a Tin House Summer Writing Conference Fellow.

 

Currently, Soni is the founder and facilitator behind the Papine Writing Collective, a DIY, decolonized literary program for emerging writers from the Caribbean. She is also crafting a speculative memoir about her  experience caring for her mother in the late stages of dementia into a  narrative about forgetting and remembering.

 

Having recently relocated from Jamaica, Soni, along with her children and polydactyl cat, Priscilla Purrsley, call Colorado Springs home. Her words and audio essays find a home in publications such as Desert Companion, Cosmopolitan, AARP Sisters, The New York Daily News, Salt Lake City Weekly, The Believer, Vegas Seven, Nevada Independent, Future Travels, and Data Center Knowledge, showcasing her diverse and compelling voice in the world of writing.