Sonia Yamilex Mata was born in North Hollywood, CA and she calls the San Fernando Valley home. She is a first-gen college student and recently graduated with a B.A. in Theatre Arts and Dance, with distinction, from Sonoma State University. Mata is currently pursuing her M.A. in Higher Education Administration at Stony Brook University.

She is passionate about working with first-gen students and has interests in campus residential programs and interests in legal issues within the higher education field.

 

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Yalmie was created by accident. When Mata was in the process of creating a YouTube Channel, Mata wanted a unique username. She originally wanted the username Yamie and Yamie would have been a shortened version of her middle name, but it was taken. She added an "L" in the name and on December 29, 2009, she had officially created Yalmie. Because Yalmie is a name unique to Mata, it became her brand.