Tome began her career as a professional ballerina, touring from 2001 to 2004 with the American Repertory Theater. While a professional ballerina, Tome worked at Princeton University and as a drama and dance teacher at Princeton Day School. She then went on to earn her JD from American University Washington College of Law in 2007. She worked her way up through several environmental organizations, motivated by a desire no longer to be the only woman of color in the room.

After completing her JD in 2007, Tome developed, launched, and grew the Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum – a partnership between Environmental Defense Fund, Duke, and Stanford. Tome created everything from the curriculum for fisheries managers to managing the steering committee, budget, and partners for the Fisheries Forum.  Simultaneously, Tomes worked at the Environmental Defense Fund. From 2007 to 2011, she was the Special Project Manager- Oceans Program and, in 2011, was promoted to Senior Project Manager- Oceans Program. In these roles Tome was a strategist, cat herder, and trusted advisor in dozens of state and federal political campaigns.

In developing the Fisheries Forum, Tome adopted a ‘soup to nuts’ management process where she developed the curriculum for and identified experts in fisheries science, law, and policy to help educate federal fisheries managers. Her subtle yet persuasive approach with fishermen and state and federal employees earned her respect. Within a few years, due to her continuous relationship building, and well-executed and informative events, the National Marine Fisheries Service asked the Forum to lead an entire sector of the largest conference in the United States focused on the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act – Managing Our Nation’s Fisheries Conference.

While at Environmental Defense Fund, Tome also served as the co-chair for EDF’s Diversity Committee, helping launch several initiatives, including the Tom Graff Diversity Fellowship and the Partnership for Environmental Leadership between Howard University and EDF. She has also won the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Commercial Mediation Competition in Paris, France.

From 2013 to 2014, she advised complex ocean stakeholder processes as a Program Manager and Mediator at the Meridian Institute. She facilitated public meetings for regional ocean planning bodies, including state, federal and tribal partners.

From 2014 to 2016, Tome served as the director of diversity and inclusion at the National Parks Conservation Association, where she led, defined, and crafted metrics and measures for the organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts. She loves enjoying and visiting national parks.

Tome served as the executive director for Green 2.0 for over four years, between 2016 and 2020. In her role, she advanced racial diversity across the mainstream environmental movement. As executive director, Tome oversaw the organization’s work, from research to advocacy to fundraising.

Tome joined The Raben Group as counsel in 2016 and became Principal and Head of the Beyond Diversity Strategies Practice. The Raben Group is a public policy firm that aims to bring inclusivity, diversity, and progressive policy to several social issues.

Tome has been passionate about increasing diversity in the environmental workforce. She believes that the first step to increasing diversity is transparency. The biggest challenge she sees is that many environmental leaders say they are committed to diversity but are too slow to take action and force change in their organizations.

Tome is a mother of two children.