By Susan Snapp, Special to The Commercial Appeal

Tonya Meeks found her dream job. As development manager for Shelby Farms Park since February, she goes to work each day at her favorite spot in Memphis.

"It is such a jewel in the middle of the city," Meeks said. "I cannot even tell you how many years I've wanted to work at Shelby Farms Park. This job is where my values, professional aspirations and goals are aligned."

Meeks is a member of the Shelby County Conservation board and the Greening Greater Memphis board, and serves as adviser to the Green Jobs Memphis Planning Initiative. She is also a certified yoga teacher, who seeks to "live off the mat."

"I try to bring a little of the balance and equanimity -- the peace -- into my work and other areas of life," she said.

A writer who earned a degree in English from Northwestern University in 1995, Meeks, a native Memphian, attended Miss Porter's School (a college preparatory for girls) in Farmington, Conn., on a full academic scholarship.

"While I grew up in South Memphis in a poor-to-working class neighborhood, mine is no Horatio Alger story," she explained. "I was basically loved, nurtured and supported by my community and encouraged to do my best. When I left Memphis to attend boarding school, I was 14 years old. I didn't return again till nearly 13 years later. It was like moving back to a whole new city. So, in order to make it here, I decided to approach it like I had actually moved to a brand-new city I knew nothing about. It allowed me to open up to unscripted possibilities and get to know Memphis as an adult, outside of South Memphis. I adore this town. I embrace it wholly and properly as my home now. It's the only place where I've ever felt I truly belong. That's such a grounding and comforting feeling."

Following her education at Northwestern, Meeks moved to Atlanta for several years before returning to Memphis. While in Atlanta, she received certification at the National Center for Paralegal Training. She has worked as a senior paralegal for the international department of Thomas & Betts Corp., traveling throughout Europe and Asia in that capacity.

She has served as special assistant to the congressional office of Harold E. Ford Jr., and most recently was Mayor A C Wharton's communications specialist. She was also interim director of MPACT Memphis for almost a year.

But Meeks is quick to point out that her heart is in the nonprofit world.

"I had pretty much plateaued-out as a paralegal, and flaked on going to law school. So a career change was imminent. At the time, I was a volunteer who delivered hot chocolate to patients and families at St. Jude on Tuesday nights. Despite being very sick and sometimes in heartbreaking pain, the kids would just light up when they saw my cart -- especially if I brought marshmallows. I found more joy in that than any shoe-shopping trip to New York."

What is the most important lesson you learned during your extensive travels?

Learning to say "please" and "thank you" in the local language(s) will take you a long way.

How unusual is it for a city to have a green space as large as Shelby Farms Park?

Several places like Minneapolis and Louisville have great park systems. But at 4,500 acres, Shelby Farms Park is the largest urban park in America. There's no other place like it. Its size alone allows it to serve as an asset to both economic and community development.

Why do you think this city has so much soul?

We're not afraid to show ourselves from the inside out; the truth and funk of all that makes us wholly who we are. We don't try to hide the flaws and imperfections.

Know a woman we should spotlight? Someone who is successful, doing great things or making Memphis a better place? E-mail information to winburne@commercialappeal.com.

Tonya M. Meeks

Job: Development manager, Shelby Farms Park

First job: Dishwasher in the dining hall of my boarding school at a work-study rate of $4.25 an hour.

Favorite girls' night out in Memphis: Olives, pasta, bread, chocolate cake and lots of red wine at Bari in Midtown. Afterward, any film starring Idris Elba.

Most exciting life event: Toss-up between stepping off the train for the first time in Paris, or meeting Barack Obama when he was then a freshman senator from Illinois.