Sonali is the General Counsel; Head of Business Affairs at ACME. Prior to joining ACME, Sonali worked as a corporate associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati where she led issuer and fund side venture capital financings ranging from pre-seed deals to growth equity financings. Sonali further has experience in general corporate representation and mergers and acquisitions. Sonali started her legal career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett where she was a corporate associate in the private equity funds practice. Prior to law school, she worked in consulting at a healthcare consulting firm now called IQVIA. Sonali received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in Political Science and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Sonali has fond memories of walking up her driveway after school and being welcomed to the aroma of Indian food that her grandmother had spent the entire day preparing. And so Sonali’s love of cooking and eating began. From a young age, Sonali appreciated how cooking brought together her large, extended family and now continues the tradition by hosting friends. Sonali loves experimenting with different spices and cuisines. She rarely follows a recipe, despite having received many cookbooks over the years. One of Sonali’s favorite family bonding activities is taste testing hot peppers grown in their garden – hot peppers then used to craft a variety of hot sauces, since store bought never cuts it. Sonali will always push her loved ones to be their best by building their scoville tolerance.
Never athletically inclined, now a masochist when it comes to HIIT, Sonali has run exactly one half marathon and believes she knows all she needs to know about that. Though having lived her entire life on the east coast, Sonali has been to five continents and hopes to continue exploring new countries through their cuisine. Her latest, very original, hobby is hiking. She likely will never make it to Kilimanjaro, but Sonali has planned a few trips centered around her hobby and hopes next to hike the Inca trail in Machu Picchu.
To say Sonali has been on a journey would be an understatement. As a child, she was convinced she would devise the cure to the big “C” – no, not cancer – but the common cold. Sonali was that kid in high school that was a part of every school club because she was interested in everything. In college, Sonali split her time studying political science and completing her pre-med coursework, naturally turning to consulting after graduating. Now a lawyer, Sonali has no regrets about her multidisciplinary approach to life and continues to be curious about everything.
On the weekend, you can find Sonali “brunching” with friends, running in Brooklyn Bridge Park or trying to guess (mostly successfully) “Whodunnit” in television’s latest crime thriller.
