Meet Jodi Sonenshine | Founder + Executive Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jodi Sonenshine and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jodi, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve always known I wanted to spend my life helping kids, and I always dreamed that one day I’d start my own nonprofit. What I didn’t know was what it would look like. It took years of experiences, hundreds of children and families, and an incredible group of people I met along the way for me to realize that the thing I wanted to build was actually really simple: more joy.

I’ve spent so much of my life around incredible children and families going through really hard things, and I kept coming back to the same realization: we can’t always fix what a child is facing. We can’t change a diagnosis, erase a loss, or undo the circumstances that brought a child into foster care. But we can change how they feel in the middle of it.

And over the years, I realized I wanted to create something without a ton of red tape, rigid rules, or boxes around what joy is supposed to look like. Every child is different, and what makes one child ridiculously happy may mean absolutely nothing to another. I wanted to be able to ask one simple question: “What would bring this child joy?” And then figure out how to say YES.

For one child, that might be meeting their favorite athlete. For another, it might be decorating their first real bedroom, going on a shopping spree, getting tickets to a concert, having the birthday celebration they thought they’d never have, or opening a YES BAG filled with things chosen just for them.

We all know the basic needs—food, water, shelter. But I believe with my whole heart that joy is a basic need, too. Joy gives us hope. It gives us something to look forward to. It reminds us that even when life is really hard, there is still good ahead. Sometimes joy is the thing that helps us keep going.

Somewhere along the way, I was lucky enough to find an incredible group of people who believe in that just as deeply as I do. People who are willing to dream big, show up, open doors, and figure out how to turn a crazy idea into a YES. Together, we created YES DAY to bring more joy to children and young adults right here in our Georgia community—in whatever way they need it and whatever way joy looks like to them.

Our question is pretty simple: “If you could hear YES to anything that would bring you joy, what would it be?” Then we start dreaming. Because at the end of the day, our North Star is simple: We can’t always change a child’s circumstances, but we CAN change how they feel in the middle of them.
And then we do everything we can to say YES.

That’s really the heart behind YES DAY. Joy matters—especially when life is hard. And there are far too many kids who rarely get to hear the word “yes.” We want to change that, one YES at a time.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My career has definitely not been a straight line—and I think that’s one of the things I’m most grateful for.

I started my career in advertising, where I had the incredible opportunity to work on the United States Marine Corps account in account management and production. It was fast-paced, demanding, creative, and probably one of the best places I could have started my career. I learned how to tell a story, how to manage a million moving pieces, how to work with all kinds of personalities, and how to figure things out when there wasn’t an obvious answer. I didn’t know it then, but I use those skills every single day now.

Then I had my children, and I was incredibly fortunate to be able to stay home and raise them. I thought I knew what the next chapter of my life was going to look like—and then life threw me a curveball I never saw coming. My marriage ended, I had two young children at home, and suddenly I needed to figure out what came next, both personally and professionally.

Going back into advertising wasn’t realistic for the life I needed to build for my kids. The long hours and intense travel just didn’t fit anymore. But I had always felt drawn to nonprofit work and to working with children, so I took a completely different path.

I became the Club J Director at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, was quickly promoted to Director of Day Camps, and eventually became a Senior Director. That chapter taught me so much about leadership, community, programming, families, and—maybe most importantly—people.

It also taught me one of the biggest lessons of my career: sometimes the thing that feels like it’s knocking you off your path is actually pushing you toward the one you’re supposed to be on.

Not every chapter of my professional life has ended the way I expected or hoped it would. Some transitions were my choice. Others weren’t. Some were exciting, and some were incredibly painful. But looking back, every single one moved me closer to the work I was meant to do.

Eventually, I joined Dream On 3, a nonprofit based in Charlotte that creates sports dream experiences for children facing life-altering conditions. And that’s where something clicked for me.

I fell completely in love with the kids and families I had the privilege of meeting. I saw firsthand what happens when a child who has spent so much of their life hearing about what they can’t do suddenly has an entire group of people asking them what they want to do. I watched kids light up. I watched parents get to see their child happy instead of sick or struggling. I saw siblings make memories together. I saw what happens when a child feels truly seen.

And I realized: this matters.

Joy isn’t extra. It isn’t frivolous. It can be incredibly powerful—especially in the middle of something hard.

That experience also helped me see what I wanted to do differently. I wanted to create something here in Georgia that could serve more kids facing all kinds of challenges. I wanted fewer boxes, fewer hoops to jump through, and more freedom to meet a child exactly where they are. I didn’t want to define for a child what their joy should look like. I wanted to ask them.

And somewhere along the way, all the pieces of my very non-linear career started coming together.

The storytelling and creativity from advertising. The resilience I found when my personal life changed overnight. The years of building programs and leading teams. The thousands of families I met through community work. The children who showed me firsthand the power of an unforgettable experience. And, maybe most importantly, the incredible people I had collected along the way who shared this belief and were willing to build something new together.

Suddenly, the timing was right. The people were right. And I had enough life behind me to be brave enough to say, “Okay. Let’s do this.”

So we said YES.

And that’s how YES DAY was born.

Was getting here easy? Absolutely not. But I don’t think I would change the hard parts, because they taught me some of the most important lessons I know: Your career does not have to follow a straight line to lead you somewhere extraordinary. A closed door isn’t always a rejection—sometimes it’s a redirection. You can start over more than once. You can take everything you’ve learned from one chapter and use it to build something completely different in the next. And sometimes the moments that feel like endings are actually the very beginning of the thing you were supposed to do all along.

What I’m most proud of today isn’t that I started a nonprofit. It’s that I get to build one alongside an incredible group of humans who believe, like I do, that joy matters. I’m proud that we’ve created something where the first question isn’t, “Does this child fit our criteria?” but, “How can we bring this child joy?”

I don’t have all the answers. I’m still learning every single day. But I know what I want YES DAY to stand for. I want us to be the people who show up. The people who listen. The people who find a way. The people who aren’t afraid to dream ridiculously big for a child.

We can’t always change a child’s circumstances, but we CAN change how they feel in the middle of them.

That’s our North Star. And after every unexpected turn it took to get here, I can’t imagine a better place to have landed.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First, I’d take them to my little Dunwoody happy place. A few years ago, I moved into a townhouse right across from Dunwoody Village, and the whole area around The Village Dunwoody has become one of my favorite hidden gems in Atlanta. What David Abes has created there is incredible. I love walking across the street with friends and family to watch a game on the giant outdoor screen, listen to live music, line dance on a Thursday night, grab dinner and drinks, and just hang out. My kids walk over for ice cream at Good Vibes all the time. The restaurants are great, there’s always something happening, and the whole vibe is just right. It’s one of those places where you run into people you know and end up staying three hours longer than you planned.

We’d definitely spend a day at Lake Oconee because that’s one of my absolute happy places. Give me a boat, sunshine, good music, and my favorite people, and I’m pretty much set. We’d also head up to Blue Ridge for the mountains and absolutely make time for a spa day at Serenity in the Mountains.

Back in Atlanta, we’d catch a Braves game at Truist Park and hang out at The Battery afterward. If its football or soccer season – we’d catch a game at Mercedes Benz and be amazed at the amazing food prices. We’d walk the BeltLine and stop for amazing cocktails along the way, spend time in Piedmont Park, and walk around Chastain Park and Brook Run Park—two places that hold a lot of memories for me from when my kids were younger.

We’d probably spend a day walking around Avalon, shopping and eating, and maybe even turn it into a little overnight staycation. We’d wander around downtown Roswell, take a glassblowing class in Decatur, find some live music, hit a comedy club, and absolutely find somewhere fun to go dancing. Ofcourse we would also spend plenty of time in comfy clothes on my couch….

And obviously, we’d eat! Yalda and Rumi’s Kitchen are two of my favorites, while my kids would tell you no Atlanta itinerary is complete without DoorDashing Taco Bell and Dave’s Hot Chicken.

Atlanta really does have something for everyone. The College Football Hall of Fame is awesome, the Georgia Aquarium is incredible—especially with kids—and there are so many great places to hike, listen to live music, see comedy, eat incredible food, and have a really fun night out.

But honestly, if my best friend were visiting, the itinerary would probably change five times once they got here because that’s how we roll. We’d find something random that sounded fun and say YES. We’d eat too much, stay out too late, laugh a lot, probably end up dancing somewhere, and spend as much time as possible with my family and my village.

That’s my favorite thing about Atlanta and Georgia as a whole—you can have a night out in the city, a day on the lake, a weekend in the mountains, a Braves game, an incredible meal, or an adventure you didn’t plan, all without going very far. There’s always something new to say YES to.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutout has to go to the incredible group of humans who believed in YES DAY—and believed in me to help carry this mission forward—before there was much of anything to see yet.

The Rainwater family and the entire team at Strack, Inc. have been all-in from the very beginning. They didn’t just write a check or say, “Great idea.” They rolled up their sleeves, opened doors, made introductions, shared ideas, and asked, “What do you need?” Brittany Rainwater has been beside me building this from the ground up, and having people willing to invest their time, resources, relationships, and hearts into this mission has meant more than I can put into words.

And then there’s Candace and her family, who came into this through something incredibly personal. In honor of Team Bowen, they chose to turn their own family’s story into an opportunity to bring joy to other children and families. Their generosity and belief in what we were building gave YES DAY the ability to start saying YES almost immediately.

These families didn’t wait to see if YES DAY would be successful before they supported it. They became part of the reason it could be successful. They believed in the vision when it was still conversations, big ideas, and a whole lot of heart—and then they jumped in and helped us build it.

I think that’s one of the greatest gifts you can give someone who’s trying to create something new—to look at them before there’s proof, before there’s a track record, and say, “I believe in this. I believe in you. Let’s go.” Knowing that these incredible people believe in me to help lead this mission and bring our collective vision to life means more to me than they probably realize.

And of course, none of this happens without my family and my village. I have an incredibly supportive family who is always generous, always encouraging, and somehow still says YES to all of my crazy ideas. And then there are my best friends, who really are family. They didn’t just tell me they believed in YES DAY—they jumped in, joined our Council, rolled up their sleeves, and have stood behind this mission 1,000% from the beginning.

YES DAY was never something I built alone. It exists because an incredible group of humans came together around a shared belief that joy matters and decided to do something about it. I may be the one crazy enough to dream some of this stuff up, but I am surrounded by people who are crazy enough to say, “Okay, let’s do it.” And knowing they trust me to help carry that vision forward is something I will never take for granted.

So my shoutout is really to all of them—the Rainwater family, Strack, Inc., Candace and her family, Team Bowen, my family, my best friends, our Council, and every person who believed early enough to help turn an idea into actual joy for real kids.

And then there are my two kids, Dylan and Sami. They are, and always will be, my own YES DAY—my greatest joy, my biggest why, and the reason I know just how powerful it is to see a child happy.

YES DAY belongs to all of us, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the people I get to build it with.

Website: https://yes-day.org

Instagram: @yesdayGA

Linkedin: Yes Day, Inc.

Facebook: Yes Day GA