Tonda is Dedicated to Helping Women Know They Can Create the Life They Deserve
“I just want to give women the knowledge that they can go out into the world and be brave and be empowered and know how wonderful they are.”
When Tonda Hall learned that Leap to Success helps empower women coming out from situations where they feel powerless and defeated, she knew she wanted to be involved. A Market Leader with Movement Mortgage, Tonda has decided to join forces with Leap to Success in a major way.
Raised in Ohio, Tonda grew up in an alcoholic home and left to end up marrying an alcoholic. She shares that her first marriage involved years of mental abuse leading into physical abuse. She had been told over and over again that she wasn’t good enough as a mother, daughter, or wife. It wore away her self-esteem. She wanted to take her two little girls away but wondered how she could manage since she hadn’t worked a job since high school.
Tonda wanted a better life for her girls and she knew that she had to leave her marriage in order to make that happen.
Tonda reached out to someone who believed in her and began her first “adult job” working as a bank teller. “I was always in trouble,” she laughs, because “I had a boss who wanted us to stay sitting on the teller line whether or not we were busy. But when I was bored, I would go to the loan officers or another department and ask if I could help out making copies, etc.”
Working throughout the bank paid off as Tonda learned new skills and earned a promotion, ahead of five other people, to a job in the loan department where she had been so helpful. After that, she worked her way up including working two jobs at a time because she had two small mouths to feed. She didn’t receive any child support during that period so she did what she had to do as a single mom to survive.
Soon, Tonda moved into the mortgage field. She became the top producer at Sierra Pacific Mortgage and moved to San Diego in 2009 to grow a new division of the company.
But Tonda had “a strong desire to give back,” and she didn’t see any opportunities to contribute to the community with her company. So when Movement Mortgage, a rapidly expanding company with a mission to love and value people, approached her, Tonda says, “they blew me away.”
So far, Movement Mortgage has given away over $12 million. “They exist to do the right thing,” explains Tonda. In fact, the company’s CEO has a vision to see the entire company give away all of its profits one day.
Locally in San Diego, Movement Mortgage chooses a service project every quarter. Whether it is painting and power washing an elementary school, assisting Meals On Wheels or passing out San Diego Rescue Mission flyers to the homeless, Tonda and her company look for opportunities to serve the community.
“I believe we should all want help out,” Tonda shares. “God is blessing me, and I want to give this blessing to other people because there was a time in my life where I was in a bad situation and others helped me.”
That’s why in 2016 Tonda has committed to helping women overcoming domestic violence and homelessness. For every $10,000 she earns this year, Tonda will donate $800 to Leap to Success. Each $800 will cover the cost of one woman’s sponsorship to attend a Leap to Confidence program. And that’s not all.
Movement Mortgage matches its employees’ gifts to non-profit organizations. So for each woman Tonda sponsors, the Movement Foundation will match with a second woman’s sponsorship.
In 2016, Tonda will have a major impact on women reclaiming their lives. “I was in a situation where I was told, every day, that I was a horrible wife and a terrible mother and daughter,” and that’s why, she explains, “I want all women to know how wonderful they are and how God has made them to have confidence.”
When she’s not changing lives with her generosity, Tonda enjoys yoga and taking care of her health. Her two daughters are all grown up with children of their own. So far, there are three grandsons, but the first baby girl is on her way this June.
Looking towards the future, Tonda says she hopes that “my children and grandchildren see a kinder world and can grow up knowing God has given them gifts to help the world.”
Tonda believes in empowering women. She had been in a place where she didn’t know if she could leave, and now, she wants “all women to think more of themselves. I want women to know that they have the power within them to do what they need to get out of a bad situation. They don’t need to stay.”
“I think everyone should want to help someone else,” she explains. “A lot of people know about the large charities, but they don’t know about the little ones who help people in a big way. Looking into smaller non-profits like Leap to Success is a great way to give back where your heart is.”
This year, Tonda is giving back where her heart is at. Partnering with Leap to Success, she plans to keep empowering women and helping them know how wonderful and worthy they are.
