Like so many of us, one thing led to another, which led to another… ten, fifteen, twenty years later and poof, here we are.

Launching her first wedding and planning company as a junior in college (as the girl with the stack of Martha Stewart Weddings magazines who wasn’t seriously dating anyone,) Tonia got her first taste of entrepreneurship. Something it wouldn’t take long to return to….

As with all of us, things don’t always go as we plan - certainly (and ironically!) that’s true when the wedding planner gets divorced. Tonia quickly began to see the divorce from her kids’ dad as the giant “Do Over Button” of her life. The life she was leading, working 40-50 hours a week in a corporate job and another 20+ hours at Starbucks for health insurance benefits (and easy access to the needed caffeine!) left her depleted in more ways than one, with nowhere near enough time with her kids or doing work that really mattered in the world. She returned to her first love of wedding planning, building her business as a side hustle while transitioning out of the corporate world. That company eventually became Aribella Events, an award-winning wedding planning and floral design company that has been featured in over thirty publications.

Leveraging the experience of 20 years in the industry, Tonia then created WeddingPlanningDIY.com, a “How To” video course and membership community for couples planning their own weddings without a planner by their side. Transitioning from being a solopreneur to leading a team of incredibly talented people was yet another series of lessons along the way.

The choice to invest in her own self-care and development, both as a person and as an entrepreneur marked the turning point in both her career and trajectory. As an international speaker, her talks and workshops focus on creativity, creating experiences, and developing strategies to “unlearn” all we were told to be, in order to become who we already are. ​ After years of research, experience, and her own series of launches, Tonia now works with others who are ready to return to themselves, as well as those ready to launch their own creative effort into the world. ​(This is where that soul + strategy thing comes in, not to mention the certification as a productivity coach!)

And remember all those conferences and self-development events she started attending? Pair a love of learning with a healthy respect for the experiences in and around live events and those who create them and Voila!, you have the foundation for The Events Collective. ​

The experience of not just becoming an entrepreneur but maintaining a growing business while also running a household as a single mom - and not wanting to sacrifice time or energy for her kids - gave birth to one of her passion projects, The Single Parent Summit. What started as an annual virtual event is now that plus a podcast and continues to grow each year. The team takes a wide lens on “single parents” to include single parents, co-parents, “bonus” parents adjusting to blended family life, and “primary” parents, like our military families working thru long deployments. Whether you chose to start a family on your own or have lost your partner to death or divorce, or just *feel* like a single parent more often than not, this is the place for practical tips, tools, resources and support.

In the process of the deep personal work of self-awareness and peeling back the layers of who she was told to be, to become more of herself Tonia created Recovering Church Girls* ​Whether you grew up male or female, in a strict religious environment, or just on Main Street, USA, odds are high you’ve been influenced in some way by the rules and belief system established by this construct. Many have found peace and love in their church communities, and sadly, many more have experienced abuse and betrayal, left to sort out their spiritual journey alone. Recovering Church Girls* creates the place for these conversations; to untangle, dissect and reassemble our belief systems, without fear and without judgment, to find ourselves in each other’s stories.

And in between all of that, life is to be lived. A daily practice of self-care and self-discovery, to stay grounded and connected. The adventures of the fixer-upper house in the suburbs of Philadelphia (just ask her about the baby raccoon and the hole in the kitchen ceiling….) Or the debate as to which states “count” in the shared pursuit of visiting all 50 states with her kids before they leave for college. Loving and living life… all of it.