Tonza D. Ruffin

Tonza is a single mother, daughter, and lawyer living in a small town in rural North Carolina. Growing up Tonza moved back and forth between New York (the Bronx) and North Carolina, so her personality is a little bit city and a little bit country (although she prefers the term southern). After graduating from Georgia State University College of Law in 1999, Tonza threw everything she owned, including her two little girls, in a U-Haul, and moved back to her small hometown in North Carolina to be surrounded by her “village” as she embarked on her career as a litigator and owner of a small practice in the rural south. Now, after 16 years, Tonza has embraced all things southern! In addition to her practice, Tonza has served on the Faculty of the Felony Defender Trial School at the UNC Chapel Hill Institute of Government and serves on the Board for the North Carolina Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, and KIPP ENC. Tonza’s greatest accomplishment over the past several years though has been adding one more beautiful girl to her pack. Recently separated, she has decided to pursue her passion for writing and blogging. You can follow her journey as a single mother, daughter, and lawyer on her blog at www.southernmomjd.com