For more than 30 years, Tonyaa has produced award-winning journalism as a reporter and columnist at The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., and at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn. as the newspaper's metro columnist. During her career at the Times-Union, Tonyaa won 12 awards for her columns and became the first African-American to serve on the newspaper's editorial board. In addition to her daily newspaper work, Tonyaa wrote a weekly column for Black America Web, one of the nation's leading websites geared toward African-Americans, from 2003-2013, and produced stories about Cuba and the African diaspora for various independent projects. Tonyaa has written columns for CNN,  USA Today, The Root , The Undefeated , The Bitter Southerner and The Marshall Project. She has also appeared on news shows such as NBC's Nightline and PBS. She also interviewed President Barack Obama twice.  Now bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee, Tonyaa is bringing those experiences to Chalkbeat's focus on education equity in Memphis and Tennessee.

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