About

Lead with Purpose.
Navigate Change.
Turn Insight into Action.

Tonya Alston

Keynote Speaker · Executive Growth Strategist
The Preaching CEO

Tonya Alston helps leaders, organizations, and communities navigate change with clarity, courage, and a practical path forward. Bringing together executive strategy, personal resilience, and purpose-driven leadership, she equips audiences to align their values, strengths, and decisions with the outcomes they want to achieve.

Her message connects the person behind the title with the responsibility of leadership. Audiences are challenged to recognize their capacity, rethink their approach, and take intentional action toward growth—in business, life, and service.

From corporate conferences and executive retreats to women’s forums and faith-based gatherings, Tonya combines lived experience with practical insight, tailoring each presentation to the audience and the occasion.

A Perspective That Connects Business, Life & Purpose

Tonya’s perspective comes from leading through complexity—and living through change.

A former federal contracting officer with an unlimited warrant, she understands government contracting from both the buyer’s and business leader’s perspectives. Her career includes more than 13 years supporting the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, senior executive leadership, and responsibility for business growth and profit-and-loss performance.

Her experience includes growing a firm 350% through its eventual sale and helping secure contract awards exceeding $1 billion. Through The Alston Group, she advises organizations on strategic growth, positioning, and readiness for their next stage.

As founder of Lead & Laurel, she creates space for executive women to turn insight into action. As a minister and founder of Healing the Living, she connects purpose with service and community impact.

Her journey through young motherhood, domestic violence, and recovery from a stroke brings depth to her message of resilience. Tonya speaks to both organizational challenges and personal turning points, helping audiences consider how they lead, what they stand for, and what they will do next.

Keynotes & Conversations

From Challenge to Change

Turn disruption into deliberate forward movement.

Change tests our confidence, our strategy, and our willingness to act. Using the discipline and energy of the racetrack, Tonya explores how leaders can reassess their position, recognize when a reset is needed, and assemble the right team for the road ahead.

Audiences gain a practical framework for responding to uncertainty, strengthening readiness, and moving from reaction to intentional action.

Ideal for: Business conferences, association events, leadership teams, and organizations navigating transition.

Stop Chasing. Start Shaping.

Position your business for intentional, sustainable growth.

Growth requires more than pursuing every opportunity. Drawing on her experience as a federal buyer and growth executive, Tonya explores how customer understanding, strategic positioning, partnerships, and disciplined decisions shape a stronger business pipeline.

Audiences learn to evaluate where they can compete, focus their resources, and connect opportunity pursuit with business goals.

Ideal for: Government contracting conferences, entrepreneurs, business owners, and capture and growth teams.

Lead with Clarity. Execute with Confidence.

Connect purpose, people, and performance.

Leadership is the work of turning direction into action. Tonya examines how leaders align their values and priorities with the people, decisions, and accountability needed to achieve results.

Audiences leave better equipped to clarify expectations, recognize team strengths, and lead through change with greater intention.

Ideal for: Executive retreats, leadership development programs, management teams, and professional associations.

Women with Means and Momentum

Use your experience, influence, and resources to shape what comes next.

Achievement opens doors, but moving forward still requires intentional choices. Tonya invites women to examine how they define success, use their voice, build meaningful relationships, and make room for ambition, purpose, and personal fulfillment.

Audiences gain a fresh perspective on their strengths and influence, with practical prompts for choosing their next move and creating impact.

Ideal for: Women’s leadership conferences, executive forums, professional networks, and entrepreneurship events.

The Courage to Begin Again

Rebuild confidence and move forward after a defining life change.

A difficult chapter can reshape how we see ourselves and our future. Drawing on her lived experience, Tonya explores the courage required to rebuild, seek support, and take the next step when the path is uncertain.

Audiences are encouraged to recognize their capacity beyond their circumstances and identify purposeful actions toward their next chapter.

Ideal for: Resilience programs, women’s gatherings, community events, and audiences navigating personal or professional transitions.

Faith, Purpose & Living Beyond Your Circumstances

Connect spiritual conviction with everyday action.

As The Preaching CEO, Tonya brings biblical teaching into conversations about identity