Emily Whitney

I’m Emily Whitney and this is my amazing family: Nate, Matthew and Sophia. Early in my pregnancy we learned Sophia would arrive with that extra special chromosome. After an eventful 11-week-early arrival, Sophia came into this world with a bang. We were told to expect so many negative things, but Sophia showed us the truth. While she was tiny (1 lb. 14.6 oz), she was fierce, and she was and is magic.

She also became known as Sophia Strong. She is driven, kind, funny, persistent, and will do whatever she sets her mind to do. We believe that it will lead her to an amazing future. We push to teach those around us how to not only let Sophia have a seat at the table, but to allow her to actively participate at that table.

Luckily, we found Ruby’s Rainbow early on in our journey. We love that Ruby’s Rainbow celebrates the awesomeness of those people rocking that extra chromosome. Ruby’s Rainbow helped us dream even bigger dreams of Sophia one day attending college. We are so excited to join in helping other people with down syndrome have college opportunities. We can’t wait to see our community join us in helping making dreams come true.