Tonya Montella
About
Tonya Montella is an ERG Talent Development Partner and Career Coach who helps high-performing women and POCs in tech position themselves for advancement with clarity and confidence. Over her 20-year career, she's pivoted roles six times, earned consistent promotions, increased her salary by 40% in two years, led global teams, and won President’s Club honors before founding Tonya Empowers LLC. What makes her different? She's been on both sides of the table, as an individual contributor and a hiring manager, so she knows exactly how advancement decisions get made. Her mission is to help others position themselves for the role/level that they want.
Services
Own Your Year: Write a Self-Review That Moves You Forward (Workshop)
Review season shouldn't feel like a guessing game, but for most, it does. This workshop was designed from both sides of the table: what employees struggle to say, and what leaders actually need to hear. Attendees walk away knowing how to stop listing tasks and start telling the story that moves their career forward. Key Takeaways: - The Shift from Task-Based to Impact-Based Storytelling: Clear, practical language that helps employees stop describing what they did and start articulating why it mattered. - How to Identify Their Most Compelling Wins: A guided reflection framework that helps employees uncover accomplishments they've overlooked, minimized, or struggled to put into words. - How to Connect Their Work to Business Goals: A simple structure for translating everyday contributions into the language of leadership. - Action Steps to Write With Confidence: Practical prompts and examples they can use immediately, so they leave the session ready to write, not staring at a blank page. This workshop includes a worksheet that attendees complete in-session, along with group dialogue and Q&A.
She's Earned It: Owning Your Financial Future (Workshop)
This workshop blends fun (hint: it's Barbie themed) with real talk, helping women to make informed decisions about what they do with their hard-earned money. Participants walk away with a new framework for thinking about financial agency, and concrete steps to align the career they're building with the future they actually want. Key Takeaways: - A Deeper Understanding of Women’s Financial Equity: context on how far women have come, and why financial agency is a form of empowerment that past generations fought for. - Clarity on Their Financial Identity: Through the “Personas” activity, they’ll see their own patterns with humor, honesty, and compassion, and understand what small shifts could look like for their future. - Career + Financial Alignment: What they want in their career, what steps they need to take, and how that ties to their financial goals. - A Framework for Making Their Money Work for Them: 3 key levers to set themselves up for success, and my favorite resources to further their financial literacy. This 60 min workshop includes a worksheet that attendees complete in-session, financial literacy resources, plus group dialogue and Q&A.
Unmistakably You: Building a Personal Brand That Opens Doors (Workshop)
Most professionals aren't invisible because they lack talent, they're invisible because they've never been taught how to be seen. This workshop changes that. Attendees walk away knowing exactly who they are professionally, how they're currently perceived, and how to close the gap between the two. This is where they stop leaving their reputation to chance because, when your brand is clear, it opens doors. When it isn't, you're left waiting outside of them. Key Takeaways: - What a Personal Brand Really Is: Clear, relatable language that helps you understand how your reputation and actions shape your opportunities. - How to Identify Your Current “Perception vs. Intention”: understand where you're unintentionally blending in, and where your strengths are hiding in plain sight. - How to Define a Memorable & Authentic Brand: craft a simple, compelling personal brand statement you can use in intros, networking, and everyday work conversations. - Action Steps to Show Up With More Confidence: uncover strategies to align how you want to be known with the actions and behaviors that make it your reality. This interactive 60 min workshop includes a worksheet that attendees complete in-session, as well as group dialogue and Q&A.