“I am not afraid of love beyond my wildest dreams.
I am not afraid of you.
I am not afraid of me.”
– Yumi Sakugawa
Sofia Colosimo lived bravely, loved fiercely, and believed deeply in a just and joyful world. This fund carries her flame — supporting the next generation of young feminist leaders she would have championed.
Solís Policy Institute Youth is an 9-month fellowship for young leaders, ages 14–18—young women, trans, and gender expansive youth—ready to step into their power. Through feminist frameworks and hands-on policy learning, fellows sharpen their skills, build bold ideas, and connect with a network of peers and mentors who are shaping change. This is a space to grow, lead, and turn vision into action—together. LEARN MORE ABOUT SPI YOUTH
SOFIA THE FIERCE
Sofia Zosima Colosimo was five feet of fearless, a Bay Area girl who grew up knowing exactly who she was. She loved the arts with the kind of love that shapes a person: she sang with the San Francisco Girls Chorus, forming lasting bonds there, and fronted a childhood band called Stapled Peace in eighth grade, which tells you everything you need to know about her humor and her heart in one breath. She thought Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” was the perfect pop song. She was probably right.
She was funny — genuinely, generously funny, a meme queen, the person in the room who made you laugh harder than you thought you were capable of. And she was steady. Steady in the way that good people are steady: not unmoved, but unshakeable. She had a righteous anger that didn’t burn things down so much as light them up — a call to justice inseparable from a call to love. She didn’t hesitate to stand up for what was right. She didn’t need to hesitate. She already knew.
At Bryn Mawr, she sang with the a cappella group, edited the college newspaper, and graduated cum laude with a degree in International and Global Studies. She moved to Brooklyn the way young people move to cities when they mean it — to keep going, to do more. She worked at the City Bar Justice Center and then at BerlinRosen, putting her convictions to work in the places where policy and power actually move. Her birthday fell in June, in Pride month, which she celebrated with the particular joy of someone who understood that liberation is personal before it is political, and both at once.
She made people feel seen. Not as a skill or a strategy but as a reflex, as the natural consequence of paying the kind of attention to other people that Sofia paid. Those who loved her carry that lesson now, in the specific ache of knowing they learned it from her.
On her bedroom wall, she kept an affirmation by the artist Yumi Sakugawa:
“I am as terrifyingly powerful as I secretly suspect myself of being, and even more. I am not afraid of hard work, I am not afraid of discipline, I am not afraid of rest, I am not afraid of stillness, I am not afraid of pleasure, I am not afraid of love beyond my wildest dreams. I am not afraid of you. I am not afraid of me.”
That was Sofia. Righteous and joyful. Brave not despite the uncertainty but straight through it. She knew who she was, and she wanted everyone around her to know who they were too. Cherishing and magnifying her light — specific, insistent, irreplaceable — is what this fund is for.
CARRYING SOFIA’S FLAME
Women’s Foundation California is honored to steward the Sofia Zosima Colosimo Memorial Fund in partnership with her family and community. The fund directly supports SPI Youth — our fellowship for young feminist leaders across California.
Sofia’s values are woven into everything SPI Youth stands for: the belief that young people are already powerful, that liberation is worth working toward, and that community is how we get there.
Through this fund, Sofia’s light shines on in every fellow who steps into their voice, builds their leadership, and works toward the just and joyful world she envisioned.
HOW THE FUND WORKS
- Attend the SPI Youth in-person summer retreat at no cost
- Participate in eight months of Feminist Learning Labs
- Earn a stipend upon completing the fellowship
- Join a lifelong network of feminist changemakers
GIVE IN SOFIA’S MEMORY
A gift to this fund is a gift to the young leaders Sofia believed in — the ones building the world she worked toward.
We are grateful for every contribution that keeps her flame alive.
DONATE TO THE SOFIA COLOSIMO MEMORIAL FUND
Questions? Contact us at lizas(at)womensfoundca.org