Harlem Fave Tonya Payton Memorial Service Announcement
A memorial service for Tonya Payton, the CEO and Founder of S&S Associates, a boutique public relations firm, will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2016, 6:00 P.M. at Dorsett located at 677 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY.
Payton, died at Wellstar Cobb Hospital in Austell, GA on Saturday, February 27, due to End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). She was 45. Tonya was born in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, NY and raised in Tompkins Housing Projects. She was educated in New York City Public Schools and studied at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD.
In 1994, Tonya returned to New York City and worked alongside her childhood friends Damon "Dame" Dash, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter and Kareem "Biggs" Burke founders of Roc-A-Fella Records to help shape the branding.
Tonya later became an entrepreneur and founded S&S Associates working closely with advertising veteran Bernard Baskett. The boutique PR firm specialized in providing public relations and publicity services to clients in the entertainment industry. As the company expanded, S&S began to represent clients in the fields of sports, business, real estate, and politics. Over the years, Tonya represented Easy Mo Bee, the Jazz Great, Miles Davis, Boxing Great, Mike Tyson, Coors Light, King Mswati III of Swaziland, MC Hammer and Tim Wright, NFL tight end who is currently a free agent just to name a few. She also worked closely with a bevy of Indie acts to help them get a foothold in their careers as she did for some of today's greats.
During its two decades, S&S Associates developed into a full-service, all-inclusive communications firm, offering marketing, research, advertising and consulting services. Payton later stated that her goal in forming an agency was that she, "Wanted to be a part of helping the talented revolutionize music, entertainment and sports and chose to work alongside people who cared deeply about contributing to the greater good."
Tonya Payton was a philanthropist who cared about issues affecting women and was an enthusiastic supporter of underprivileged young people in New York City. She was a champion for policies and issues affecting people suffering with kidney disease, and recently started an initiative Working With Dialysis (WWD) to help individuals battling the disease.
Tonya leaves behind her daughter Bianca, her father, siblings, and a host of nieces and nephews and was preceded in death by her loving mother, Inez Payton. For more information on the Memorial Service contact Bianca.payton@gmail.com and or 917.362.6408.
This entry was posted in dies, Harlem, Memorial Service and tagged Bernard Baskett, Boxing Great, Coors Light, Damon "Dame" Dash, Easy Mo Bee, Kareem "Biggs" Burke, King Mswati III of Swaziland, MC Hammer, Mike Tyson, Miles Davis, S&S Associates, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, the Jazz Great, Tompkins Housing Projects, Tonya Payton, Wellstar Cobb Hospital, Working With Dialysis (WWD) by Harlem World Magazine. Bookmark the permalink.