Meet .Tonya Meisenbach | BurnedBeauty2018 – Burn Survivor & Influencer

We had the good fortune of connecting with .Tonya Meisenbach and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi .Tonya, what do you attribute your success to?
Transparency. It was very intimidating to completely open myself and my life up to the world for general consumption, but I realized that’s it’s the only way to earn credibility as someone who genuinely wants to build a platform to help other survivors. I have to let people get to know me and then they understand my goals. I never intended to start a career as an Influencer. At 48, I wasn’t even really sure what that meant, but when I felt the love and received positive feedback from other survivors just for doing my makeup and hair and posting the photos, I knew that I had found the best way for me to give back.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always had a love of makeup and fashion, but after being badly burned over the upper 35% of my body, I thought I was done. I had fourth degree burns, so everything was skin grafts. Most notably my face. It was destroyed. My bottom lip was down on my chin leaving my mouth perpetually open. My right eye was turned completely to the wall. My head had been shaved and my skin was a patchwork of different colors. I had a tracheotomy and a feeding tube. I was praying that the corrective surgeries would fix everything and things were going well until I received a phone call. COVID-19. Surgeries were to cease indefinitely. I’ve never felt more hopeless. A year passed and I decided to find a surgeon to straighten my eyes since Grady Hospital was still dealing with the pandemic. Once straightened, I still felt afraid to be seen. That’s when Miriam told me that things were better and that it was all in my mind. I thought about it a couple of weeks and then I made a video to explain what had happened to me to my Facebook friends that hadn’t heard from me in years. I published the explanation video and people started messaging me that they were inspired. That’s when I decided to REALLY pick up my brushes again and see how good a result I could get from my burned, grafted, thick skin. I’m not a trained makeup artist, but I am pretty good and I have always loved sketching, makeup and creativity. Thankfully, it worked and I want to help other people with it as well!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would eat at Mary Mac’s as many times as possible and spend a day at the High Museum. We would definitely do the Aquarium thing. I love those Sea Otters! Then World of Coke and the Civil Rights Museum. The Pullman Yards are one of my new favorite places after going to the Van Gogh Immersive Experience. I don’t think they’re currently open to the public, but we would definitely explore the area and the rest of Kirkwood. There’s lots of interesting things and people in that area. Then we would head up to Dawsonville for some shopping at the outlet mall. We would finish with some Korean BBQ in Duluth.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to the entire burn unit at Grady Memorial Hospital, my husband, my daughter, my son, my friend and nurse, Miriam and my dog, Grady! I don’t think I’d be here without any one of them!

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