Tonya Scholz is a true influencer. Founder of kNOw-AGING, Inc. and SocialChats, she leads the Association of Women in Communication, South Florida, and is an early adopter of livestream. She also has an incredible back story.
She was eight years old when she was hastily loaded up with her family into a military plane, the last one to leave Vietnam at the end of America’s involvement in the war.
“I just remember standing there with my brother, my cousins…my uncle, who was just helping us get there, and my mom. My one uncle who was supposed to go with us, because he was 16, they said no…they wouldn’t let him get on the plane. Meanwhile, all these other men, dressed like women, were trying to get in. They got busted. It was crazy. It was chaotic.”
When Scholz worked as a makeup artist, she practiced on homeless people. “They come in, they smell bad, and I put makeup on him, give them perfume. I’d get them samples because you treat people no matter where they’re at in their life, the way you want to be treated.”
Her path took her to becoming a life extensionist. She used social media for good and became a technology geek, trying out platforms, and ultimately becoming an influencer, whose advice companies respect.
Here is the full interview.