Tonya

firsthand Guide
Orlando, FL

Tonya joined firsthand in February 2024, bringing with her a deep commitment to helping others and  lived experience that grounds her work in compassion and understanding. Prior to joining the team, she worked in hospitality, juggling a busy front desk job while raising five daughters. Though she was offered a supervisor role, she chose to pursue a path that aligned more closely with her values and purpose—supporting others through recovery and healing.

Tonya's journey has not been easy. She was exposed to addiction and instability at a young age. She began using substances in her early teens and continued to struggle after moving to Florida with her husband in the late 1990s. Isolated in a new city with no family nearby, two small children at home, and a husband working long hours, Tonya turned to alcohol to fill the silence and cope with the loneliness. Over time, drinking became her primary coping mechanism, and she experienced the deep toll of addiction—loss of quality time with her family, health challenges, legal consequences, and emotional pain.

In April 2018, Tonya found sobriety and has maintained it ever since. Her recovery was hard-won and deeply personal, sparked not by external mandates but by a moment of clarity that she calls a spiritual awakening. “I wasn’t successful at living, and I wasn’t successful at dying,” she says. “I was just existing.” Choosing life meant choosing sobriety—and with that, Tonya committed herself fully to change.

Tonya brings seven years of recovery, firsthand experience with bipolar depression and anxiety, and a profound sense of empathy to her work. She’s passionate about breaking down the stigma around mental illness and substance use, and speaks openly about how easily people are misunderstood or dismissed when what they really need is support. “We weren’t born this way,” she says. “Something happened. And with the right help, people can heal.”

Outside of firsthand, Tonya stays active in the recovery community by leading AA meetings, sharing her story in jails and institutions, and sponsoring others in recovery. She’s also a devoted mother and grandmother who values family time, like weekly pizza and movie nights and cycling with her husband. She’s present in a way she couldn’t be during the years she describes as “physically there, but not really there”—and that presence is something she never takes for granted.

When asked what she’s most proud of, Tonya says it’s knowing she gives her all—at work and in life. “I used to be a taker. Now, I’m a giver,” she says. “I do this work with my whole heart, and every single day, I try to grow through what I’m going through.”

Working at firsthand has been, in her words, the most fulfilling experience of her life. “This isn’t just a job,” she says. “It’s a purpose.”