Some conversations remind you exactly why small business work matters. Sonya has spent years helping people turn ideas into real businesses, and her wisdom shows in the way she carries herself.
GoodBread Co Founder and CEO, Noa Simons sits down with Sonya Smith, State Director of the New York Small Business Development Center, for a candid and generous conversation about what it really takes to support entrepreneurs at every stage. Sonya’s story maps out what it looks like to build in the real world: lead with service, understand people, meet them where they are, and build systems that make business ownership feel possible instead of lonely.
TL;DR:
Sonya Smith explains how she became State Director of the New York SBDC, what she loves about the work, what makes it challenging, what’s actually happening with small businesses across the state, and which traits help entrepreneurs succeed. She shares real field stories, including a fourth-generation pretzel business that rebuilt from literal ashes. If you care about entrepreneurship, economic development, or the future of Main Street, you’ll want this one.
Listen to the full episode: Breaking Bread: Sonya’s Story, the SBDC, and What’s Ahead
Why the Work Matters to Her
When Sonya talks about her job, she doesn’t start with numbers or statewide impact reports. She talks about walking through a small town and recognizing businesses the SBDC helped. She talks about the moment a founder finally gains clarity after months of confusion. She talks about business owners who return years later when it’s time to sell, expand, or transition to the next generation.
Her pride doesn’t come from the SBDC’s scale — even though the network supports more than twenty thousand clients each year. It comes from individual transformations: the bakery that survived a brutal year, the manufacturer that landed a new global distributor, the startup founder who finally understood their finances, the longtime owner who created an exit plan that kept their business in the community.
She’s also clear about the hardest part of the job: people. Everyone brings expectations, fears, frustrations, and opinions. Keeping balance while leading a statewide network demands patience and clarity. She credits her leadership style to her military family background and her faith — service shaped her upbringing, and she carries it into her work every day.
How Sonya Found Her Way Into the Role
In the interview, Sonya lays out her path plainly. She came up through accounting, finance, grants administration, policy, and program development. Before coming to New York, she worked in Pennsylvania designing and improving systems that supported small businesses and university-led programs. The work was structured, complex, and deeply people-focused — and it turned out to be the exact preparation the New York SBDC needed during its leadership transition.
For more than forty years, the SBDC had only one long-term director, plus a brief interim leader. When it came time to choose the next director, the state wanted someone who understood both the technical side of building programs and the human side of supporting entrepreneurs. After seeing her track record in Pennsylvania, they reached out. The timing aligned with new leadership entering SUNY, and the opportunity became a natural next step.
Sonya stepped into the role almost four years ago and has guided the network ever since.
The Phoenix Story That Stood Out This Year
Among the many success stories, one rises above the rest. This year, the SBDC launched a new statewide recognition called the Phoenix Award, honoring a business that endured major loss and rebuilt stronger.
The first recipient, Martin’s Pretzels — a fourth-generation bakery in northern New York — burned down in 2020. Instead of closing the family business, the next generation rebuilt the facility, expanded opportunities, and entered new global markets. Sonya says honoring them under the Phoenix category felt both literal and symbolic. They didn’t just come back. They reinvented what was possible.
What the SBDC Actually Helps With
Sonya lays out the SBDC’s core pillars clearly. First: free, confidential one-on-one advising. Second: education and training through workshops and programs. Third: market research that informs everything from pricing to expansion decisions. When founders need help outside the SBDC’s scope — like legal or accounting support — the center connects them with vetted partners.
Importantly, the SBDC serves businesses at every stage: idea-stage dreamers, established companies seeking new markets, small manufacturers exploring government contracting, and longtime owners preparing succession plans. The transcript also notes that during the pandemic, many established businesses discovered the SBDC for the first time through federal programs like PPP — shifting the client mix toward more mature companies, a trend that continues today.
What She’s Seeing Across New York
Sonya sees clear patterns. During the pandemic, closures and new business starts surged simultaneously. People rethought their careers and many jumped into entrepreneurship. Now, with federal layoffs and economic uncertainty, she sees a new wave exploring business ownership.
The major challenges remain the same across regions: difficulty accessing capital, trouble finding workers with technical and soft skills, and the weight of New York’s taxes and regulations. None of these issues are new, but they consistently top the list of concerns her advisors hear every day.
What Makes a Great Client
One of the transcript’s most insightful moments comes when Noa asks which personality traits define a strong SBDC client. Sonya doesn’t hesitate: vulnerability and coachability.
Vulnerability means admitting what you don’t know — “I don’t know how to file my taxes,” “I’m not sure what my financials mean,” “I lost track of my bookkeeping.”
Coachability means listening to feedback and taking action instead of getting defensive.
She notes that family and friends rarely offer unbiased guidance — they either try too hard to protect you or dismiss your ideas too quickly. An SBDC advisor has no stake other than wanting you to succeed, which creates a level of honesty founders rarely find elsewhere.
What’s Ahead for New York’s Entrepreneurs
Despite economic uncertainty, Sonya stays optimistic. The SBDC’s twenty centers across New York each have advisors who meet entrepreneurs exactly where they are. Some clients come once for direction. Others return year after year as their businesses evolve. The goal isn’t to keep people in the system — it’s to give them the support they need, right when they need it.
She believes small businesses remain the backbone of local communities, not as a slogan but as a daily reality she witnesses statewide. Businesses create jobs, shape neighborhoods, anchor culture, and turn individual dreams into something others can walk into.
Her message is simple: You don’t have to build alone. Support exists, and the journey gets easier when you stop trying to carry every part of it by yourself.
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