Create a Legacy You Want to Live.
Working with professionals, entrepreneurs, and organizations to build meaningful relationships and shape the legacies they want to live -- not just leave behind.
She doesn't just coach legacy.
She lives it.
Tonya Rutherford (aka Nia Ford) is a Legacy and Networking Coach, Speaker, and Facilitator who works with professionals, entrepreneurs, and organizations to help them build meaningful relationships and create the legacies they want to live -- not just leave behind.
About Tonya
(aka Nia Ford)
The most important story you'll ever tell about yourself is the one you tell yourself.
With decades of experience as a lawyer, entrepreneur, and leader -- including serving as Former Vice President & Deputy General Counsel at a Fortune 50 Company -- Tonya brings both a grounded presence and a transformational lens to her work.
Her work explores the intersection of community, purpose, and long-term impact. After navigating profound personal transformation, she created tools and sacred spaces where people can reflect deeply, reconnect with themselves, and reimagine the future they were meant to shape.
Philosophy
Throughout her career, Tonya saw firsthand that meaningful impact rarely comes from individual achievement alone. It is shaped by the strength of our relationships, the communities we build, and the opportunities we create together.
Today, she brings those same relationship-building principles to her coaching and consulting work.
Her work combines leadership insight, neuroscience-informed coaching techniques, and structured reflection experiences that help individuals reconnect with their purpose, deepen their relationships, and take aligned action toward the legacy they want to create.
Tonya believes legacy is shaped every day through the choices we make, the relationships we nurture, and the ways we contribute to the lives of others.
Living Her Legacy
Professional Accomplishments and Entrepreneurial Experience
Executive legal leader with 10 years of experience developing and coaching attorneys in a corporate legal department, supported by over 28 years of legal industry experience across Big Law, in-house, and government roles
Founded and led a hospitality and community engagement space centered on experiential learning and connection.
Service and Impact
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Founding President, Mercersburg Academy Black Alumni Association
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Spearhead alumni relationship development and design programs -- including networking events, mentorship initiatives, and community dialogues -- to strengthen connections and deepen engagement.
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Member, Mercersburg Academy Alumni Council
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Member, Board of Directors of the Augusta Mini Theatre, Chair of Legacy and Estate Planning Committee
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Film Investor, Silent Partner and Always, Most of the Time
Speaking and Professional Development Engagements
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Fireside Chat, Essence Festival of Culture 2025, The Power of Legacy (July 2025)
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Retreat Curator and Host, Find Your Fire, Shape Your Legacy (May 2025)
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Guest Lecturer, Howard University Entertainment Law Class (Fall 2024 and 2025)
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Speaker, Mercersburg Academy Women in Focus Symposium
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The Journey Within: A Purpose and Legacy Mini Retreat (2024)
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Moderator and Panelist, Corporate Counsel Women of Color Annual Conferences
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Creating Your Legacy and Being Intentional About Your Impact (2023)
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Bring Your Authentic Self with Courage and Purpose (2022)
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Guest Speaker, Lifting Up, a podcast about Verizon’s Women Leaders
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Cultivating Intention in Your Journey (2020)
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Co-host, Cipher Vodcast
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Shared the experiences and stories of Mercersburg Alumni (2020 - 2022)
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Panelist, SXSW Conference
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TV Goes OTT: Video Deals in an Age of Cord Cutters (2018)
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Upcoming Events
Living Legacy Networking Circles
Launches September 2026
A Curated Relationship Ecosystem for People Building What Matters
The Living Legacy Networking Circle is a membership-based relationship-building circle for career professionals and entrepreneurs who want to practice a different kind of networking -- one rooted in skill, stewardship, community, accountability, support, and intentional connection. This is not a space for transactional networking, quick pitches, or simply collecting contacts.
Members receive access to digital networking tools, virtual Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) coaching sessions with Tonya, and access to in-person networking experiences in select cities.
Relationships are ecosystems, not transactions. Effective networking means building trust, making thoughtful asks, following through, and creating opportunities for others.
The Four-Part Framework
Foundation
Learn the mindset, language, and process for building relationships with intention.
Building
Create opportunities for yourself and others through intentional outreach, thoughtful introductions, and stronger follow-up.
Opportunity
Gain access to the people, rooms, ideas, and introductions that can move your goals forward.
Stewardship
Maintain, repair, and grow relationships so your network becomes a source of long-term impact.
Membership Structure
Annual membership: $2,200 per person
Quarterly memberships: $600 per person
Past Events
Cape Town Legacy & Connection Salon: Exploring legacy and relationship building across Africa and the diasporaFri, Apr 0318 Upper Bloem Schotsche Kloof Cape Town 8001
Johannesburg Legacy & Connection Salon: Exploring legacy and relationship building across Africa and the diasporaThu, Mar 1919 Wychwood Rd Forest Town, Johannesburg
Find Your Fire. Shape Your Legacy.Sat, May 03Washington
Essence Fest 2025
A one-day immersive personal growth retreat designed for impact-driven professionals who believe their lives are meant for more.
Includes:
Interactive
Exercises
Reflective
Coaching
Mastermind
Sessions
A One-Day Retreat for Purposeful and Impactful Living
Find Your Fire.
Shape Your Legacy.
This event has already taken place, but we encourage you to email us at niafordproductions@gmail.com to receive information about our upcoming retreats and other events.
Past Event
This was an interactive workshop that transformed the concept of legacy from a distant endpoint into an immediate impact for entrepreneurs.
Attendees explored ways they are already building their unique legacy, learning how to identify and overcome limiting beliefs, and aligning their entrepreneurship with their deepest purpose.
Start mapping your playbook so you can start winning your personal and professional legacy game.
Tools & Solutions
Purpose & Legacy Blueprint
Turn abstract dreams into a concrete action plan.
Power Story & Affirmation Exercises
Identify the life story that best illustrates who you are becoming.
Multi-Sensory Rituals
Curated sounds, scents, and objects woven into sessions and retreats.
Visualization & Story Reframing Tools
Guided activities that turn limiting stories into possibilities.
Accountability
Regular check-ins, nudges, and a support system to keep the momentum going.
Services
Many accomplished professionals reach a point where success alone is no longer enough.
They begin asking deeper questions:
· What impact am I truly having?
· Who am I building with?
· What will endure because of my leadership?
Tonya’s work helps clients answer those questions by focusing on two things that shape every meaningful career and life: the relationships they cultivate and the legacy they choose to live.
Through coaching, workshops, and immersive experiences, she helps professionals build authentic networks, clarify their purpose, and intentionally shape the impact they want their work to have on others.
Coaching Sessions
Coaching that transforms from the inside out
Networking & Relationship Building Coaching
A coaching experience that helps professionals build and steward meaningful relationships that expand opportunity, influence, and impact.
Legacy Coaching
Legacy coaching helps individuals, leaders, and families intentionally shape the impact they want their lives and work to have on others.
Through guided reflection and strategic planning, clients explore the experiences that shaped them, the values they want to carry forward, and the contribution they want to make through their work, leadership, and relationships.
Executive Coaching
Confidential coaching designed for accomplished professionals seeking clarity, strategic relationships, and long-term impact.
Workshops & Leadership Training Programs
Interactive workshops designed for organizations, leadership teams, and professional communities.
Retreat Experiences
Immersive experiences designed to help clients step back from daily demands and reconnect with purpose and direction.
Speaking Engagements
Sessions combine storytelling, practical frameworks, and guided reflection to help participants translate insight into meaningful action.