Prior to founding Wingard Consulting Services, Tomiaka has had over seventeen years of experience working in the area of special education compliance in North Carolina.  In 2003, Tomiaka began her career in education with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) as a Special Education teacher and Compliance Facilitator, where she remained for seven years. During that time, Tomiaka served as self-contained teacher for students with behavioral and emotional disabilities and collaborated as an inclusion teacher. In 2010, her role within the district and the classroom changed when she advanced to serve as a Title 1 Instructional Coach for the next four years.  In her role as a Title 1 Instructional Coach, Tomiaka would travel to several schools per week and work directly with teachers and administrators to facilitate adult learning through instructional coaching while building leadership capacity. Additionally, Tomiaka collaborated with school leadership to develop school improvement plans and determine budgetary allocations for special education and Title I funding. In 2014, Tomiaka’s role as an educator evolved yet again when she began working for Teach for America, serving as Director of Corps Member Retention and Innovation. Tomiaka’s primary focus in this role was piloting the 2.2 million dollar grant initiative called the Leroy “Pop” Miller Fellowship where she managed the leadership development experience of corps members remaining in teaching beyond their two-year commitment. She oversaw the fellowship’s programming, annual recruitment, community partnerships, and much more. In 2018, Tomiaka made the difficult decision to leave her role as Director at Teach for America in pursuit of her personal vision.  It was then that she decided to bring together her core expertise in Special Education Compliance Management, Program Management, and Instructional Training to service the community in a new capacity – Wingard Consulting Services.

When she is not working, Tomiaka enjoys traveling, meeting new people, mentoring youth in the community, spending time with family, and brunch with friends.