Her transformation began in earnest after leaving school and moving to Charlestown, West Virginia. She discovered Drag Clubs, Drag Queens and Tgirl showgirls for the first time, and began working the bars herself. "Seeing what the drag queens went through being a man one minute and dressing up the next wasn't for me. Even some of them didn't quite understand that I was happier being a girl instead of to be a boy," Tonya says. During the bleak winter months, Tonya began making trips to New York and discovered for the first time that "there were men who would love me for being me." But Tonya liked it warm and headed down to South Florida, where she's lived ever since. Her big break came when publisher, Bill Gates of Guide Press, started using Tonya on covers of numerous Tgirl magazines. "She informed me that I sold off the stands and launched a career in magazines," Tonya says. After some appearances for a few internet sites, back in 1999 Bill encouraged and helped Tonya set up a site of her very own, which she's run herself ever since, featuring not just shoots and hot videos of herself, but also countless other Tgirl friends and models. "After years of all my different covers selling Guide Press, Bill has honored me with my own magazine titled Tonyaworld that I enjoy putting together, along with a monthly color newspaper titled She-Male where I feature the fresh new stars of tomorrow as I discover them. I have finally found my world where I’m loved and accepted for me and, in some cases, admired for achieving what most only dream of," Tonya says.