Toni Newman is a 1985 graduate of Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. She is currently studying law with plans of becoming a lawyer defending the Transgenders and their rights. For the last twenty years, Toni has been making Male-to-Female (MTF) transformation. For ten years, she worked as a professional mistress with a female mistress and male master. They were known as THE EROTIC PROFESSIONALS with celebrity clients. Together with her business partner, Alton Willoughby, Toni has written a teleplay and screenplay about the trio’s escapades as escorts.

Toni is a faculty member of the Transgender Strategy Center and the Chair of the Board of Directors for TransCanWork. She currently serves as the Membership Chair for the CA Black Leadership Council.

Toni Newman is the Director of the Coalition for Justice and Equality Across Movements for NMAC. She previously served as the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Black AIDS Institute and the Interim President for LYRIC. Toni was the Interim Director of Employment Services at the SF LGBT Center, Executive Director for St. James Infirmary, and the Director of Development for Maitri Compassionate Care, and previously served as the Interim Director of Development & Communications at To Help Everyone Health and Wellness Centers and as a Strategic Fundraiser, Volunteer Recruiter, and Legislative Aide for Equality California.

Additionally, Toni is a best selling author, noted for her memoir I Rise -The Transformation of Toni Newman released in 2011. Her memoir was based on the poem I Rise by Wake Forest University Reynolds Professor, Dr. Maya Angelou, who Toni interviewed with in 2012. She and her partner are currently working on a feature film, Heart of a Woman, based on her memoir I Rise. In 2011, Toni wrote her memoir I Rise-The Transformation of Toni Newman discussing her 25 year difficult transition. The memoir I Rise was nominated in 2012 in 2 categories for the Lambda Literary Awards, honored in 2012 by Wake Forest University for Faces of Courage, and has been featured in the Advocate, Huffington Post and Ebony magazine. Toni is the Community Editor for Proud to Be Out-The Digital Magazine and a blogger for Huffington Post’s Gay Voices.

Toni is a graduate of Wake Forest University and candidate for her Juris of Doctorate (JD).

Toni is very passionate about service and helping the underprivileged. She and her partner of 20 years volunteers to several homeless groups and believes giving back is the key to success.