Among her first elite level appearances was the Great Ethiopian Run in November 2008, where she came fourth behind Teyba Erkesso over the 10 km distance.[4] She made her professional marathon debut at the Alexander the Great Marathon in April 2009 and she won on her first attempt, taking the women's title in a time of 2:36:54 hours.[5] The Ljubljana Marathon in October was her second outing over the distance and she was fourth, but improved her best time by a minute and a half.[6]
She represented Oromia Police at the Sululta Cross Country at the start of 2010 and came fourth.[7] She significantly improved her marathon best at that year's Rome City Marathon, taking fifth in a time of 2:28:54 hours,[8] and won the Paderborner Osterlauf 10K soon afterwards.[9] She was selected to represent Ethiopia at the 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning in October and she came seventh, setting a personal best of 1:09:38 hours for the distance.[10] Her last major race of the year came at the Turin Marathon and she again improved: it became a two-woman race between Tola and Priscah Jeptoo and although it was her Kenyan rival who claimed victory, Tola ran a best of 2:28:22 hours as the runner-up.[11]
Her 2011 season began with a second-place finish at the Berlin Half Marathon.[12] This was her preparation for the Vienna City Marathon and in that race she defeated débutantes Peninah Arusei and Ana Dulce Felix to win with a fourth consecutive personal best of 2:26:21 hours.[13] This streak came to an end at October's Frankfurt Marathon as her time of 2:27:18 hours brought her seventh place.[14] She defended her Vienna Marathon title in 2012 and came close to her best with a run of 2:26:39 hours.[15] A fifth place at the 2012 Berlin Marathon saw her improve that time to 2:25:14 hours.[16]