[Ohio-Talk] Meet National Representative

[Richard Payne]

Meet your National Representative  for the state convention, Tracy Soforenko

Tracy Soforenko grew up in Rhode Island as the youngest child of a high
school teacher.  He attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in
1991 with degrees in finance and psychology. Each summer, he worked long
hours to pay tuition and expenses. He noticed difficulty with driving and
scheduled an eye exam only to find out he was experiencing rapid vision loss
due to retinitis pigmentosa. After college graduation, Tracy moved from
Philadelphia to Washington, DC and started a career in technology and
business consulting, serving financial services, retail, and publishing
industry customers across North America. Tracy's career evolved from
consulting to becoming a project manager for the federal government, where
he managed large customer service and financial technology projects for the
Corporation for National & Community Service and the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation.
He and his wife Sharon were married in 1995 and moved to Arlington, Virginia
in 1997. As his career progressed and family responsibilities expanded with
two daughters, Tracy desperately needed to learn alternative nonvisual
techniques to do his job, raise his children, and be involved in the
community.  He needed positive blind role models, a new mindset on
blindness, and a way to contribute to the community. He found his local
National Federation of the Blind chapter and was immediately put to work.
Through the Potomac Chapter of Virginia, Tracy ran fundraising activities,
was involved in mentoring students, and attended his first NFB National
Convention in 2005. The experience was transformative, and he started
developing youth programming, running the Virginia program to help first
time convention attendees, directing legislative advocacy in Richmond, and
taking on other leadership roles. He served as president of his local
chapter and as a vice president of the Virginia affiliate before being
elected president of the Virginia affiliate in 2016. Tracy's enthusiasm for
the national convention led him to serve as chair of the Kenneth Jernigan
Fund. Tracy expanded programs for youth in the Virginia affiliate, leading
to the creation of Project Resilience, Independence, Self-Advocacy, and
Employment (Project RISE) in 2017. This thriving program now serves
thirty-five students with a team of thirteen staff and mentors. This fall,
the Virginia affiliate is launching a program to share alternative
techniques and Federation philosophy with sixty blind and low-vision seniors
through the Virginia Silver Bells program.  Finally, Tracy has expanded
engagement in legislative advocacy at a state and national level, with
nearly one hundred members participating in legislative advocacy in Richmond
and forty participants in Washington Seminar.
In 2021, Tracy was elected to serve as a member of the National Federation
of the Blind Board of Directors.
Tracy, his wife Sharon, and their two daughters still live in Arlington,
Virginia. He loves to hike, participate in his local Toastmasters Club, and
cook.



Richard Payne,  President
National Federation of the Blind of Ohio
937/829/3368
Rchpay7 at gmail.com <mailto:Rchpay7 at gmail.com> 
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.


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