In Z Hood

In Z Hood: Tona Napoli is One of Alexandria’s Wonder Women.

Wonder Woman Tona Napoli on the roof at the National Gallery of Art “Evenings On the Edge”. (Photo by Kelly MacConomy)

Women of Wonder

By Kelly MacConomy

In March, Zebra Press celebrated Women’s History Month honoring women we all know and admire. The cover feature, “The Queens of Del Ray: Still Making History,” spotlighted local legends Carol Bailey, Pat Miller, Patty Moran, Nora Paltrow, Jen Walker, and the tireless Gayle Reuter. This month, In Z Hood shines a light on a woman among the lesser-known SHEroes in our town.

Tona Napoli was recently interviewed while she was managing a rooftop soirée bar service at the insanely popular National Gallery of Art “Evenings on the Edge,” a monthly art scene-and-be-seen event happening throughout the spring and fall. This month’s theme was “Wonder Women,” an homage to women who have created and inspired beloved masterpieces from the 20th Century.

They party hearty at the National Gallery, second Thursdays spring and fall. (Photo by Kelly MacConomy)

Tona, who resembles Gal Godot and is a Wonder Woman in her own right, was serving gallons of the evening-themed cocktail: The Lasso, named for super-heroine Wonder Woman’s turbo-charged lariat. Tona spent much of the evening on the edge, dodging the Syncopated Ladies entertaining the throngs crowding the dance floor and balconies from the rooftop to the Mezzanine, stepping out onto the polished marble floors, rocking even the giant rotating Calder mobile into incessant whirling, twirling spins.

Having started in catering in 1982 with her own business, TonaMarie Confections, Tona also works with Design Cuisine, Susan Gage Caterers in Landover, MD, and City Winery DC. She can often be discovered at chance encounters around the District and Alexandria’s most elite and exclusive events circuit.

The Design Cuisine Dream Team getting ready for a Night On the Edge, the National Gallery of Art first soirée of the spring fling season. (Courtesy Photo edited by Kelly MacConomy)

And she is no outsider to the DMV social/political power scene. Tona worked at the Department of Homeland Security for 12 years. Beginning as the risk-based security liaison in the Office of Public Affairs, she was promoted to the title of Public Liaison within a year.

Keeping us safe from enemies foreign or domestic and catering to the party crowd, from heads of state to the common folk, serving fine wine both foreign and domestic, is all in a day-to-night’s work for Tona. She has been to the edge and back, an everyday fiercely fantastic female, weeknight and weekend warrior woman. A local superSHEro.

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