Tonya spent 15 years in the tech industry leading the development and launch of enterprise products in payments and marketing before joining the Kūpono Wealth Planning team. What began as a personal endeavor to manage her own investments and become financially literate grew into a calling to assist others reach their life goals through smart financial planning. As a Paraplanner at Kūpono, Tonya assists in preparing and maintaining financial plans, providing investment research support, and optimizing our use of financial planning software to optimize the client experience.
Tonya draws on her prior experience in building complex software products to understanding the layers and interconnectedness of all the pieces in a financial plan. In addition, her personal lived experiences as a first generation immigrant, mother and wife, and as a child of the sandwich generation also play a significant role in her ability to relate with the financial needs and challenges families face today.
After a childhood in California, Tonya moved to France in her high school years, graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Biology with the intention of going to medical school. But life works in unexpected ways and her love for the ocean put her on an unconventional path to the North Shore of Oahu. Tonya currently divides her time between the North Shore and town life with her husband, Kyle, two daughters, Vienna and Chloe, and their dog, Taffy.