Tonia Allen has called Swannanoa home for more than 25 years. What she loves most about Swannanoa is its people, a diverse, resilient, scrappy, passionate, and deeply neighborly community with a strong sense of place.

A longtime real estate professional and community advocate, Tonia has become increasingly involved in community organizing, disaster recovery, and resilience work. Following Hurricane Helene, she helped establish a local Swannanoa nonprofit serving residents through recovery and has worked to strengthen coordination among residents, nonprofit organizations, community groups, and local government. She is a member of the Swannanoa Grassroots Alliance and is helping lead the development of the Swannanoa Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

Professionally, Tonia works in community engagement and disaster resilience and continues to work as a real estate broker. Across her professional and volunteer roles, she is especially passionate about connecting people and organizations that might not otherwise work together and helping residents navigate the systems and decisions that affect their lives.

Tonia believes strongly that the people who live in Swannanoa should have both a voice and meaningful agency in shaping what comes next for the community. She sees this moment in Swannanoa’s history as an opportunity not simply to recover, but to build on the character, relationships, and resourcefulness that have always made the community special.