[4] She attributes most of her success to her mother who sacrificed to drive her over 100 miles a day between home, school, and the ice rink.

As a young child, Thomas was coached by Barbara Toigo Vitkovits at Eastridge Mall in San Jose.

[10] Thomas' Carmen program consisted of "big powerful jumps",[11] fast spins in strong positions, Spanish steps that were sharply accented, an uplifted torso, and straight, clean lines as expressed in her arms and legs.

According to figure skater writer and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum, Thomas presented in her program an outer-directed focus and the image of a powerful and confident woman "taking command of the space around her by moving forth into it".

[11] In Thomas' short program, she used techno dance music and wore "a form-fitting skirtless unitard that showed off both her long lines and her musculature".

[11] It also included "big jumps", as well as "a high-energy step sequence involving angled limbs, shoulder isolations, and syncopated rhythms".

[11] Kestnabum suggests that Thomas' use of contemporary urban dance forms in her short program evoked images of her African American culture and heritage.

[11] Thomas skated strong compulsory figures and performed well in the short program to an instrumental version of "Something in My House" by Dead or Alive.

She was also selected by President George W. Bush to be part of the U.S. Delegation for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy along with other former Olympians: Dorothy Hamill, Eric Heiden, Kerri Strug, and Herschel Walker.

Thomas returned to competition in October 2023 at the World Figure and Fancy Skating Championships in Lake Placid, New York.

She spent the next year preparing for Step I of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons' exam and working at King-Drew Medical Center as a junior-attending-physician specialist.

In July 2006, she began a one-year fellowship at the Dorr Arthritis Institute at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California, for sub-specialty training in adult-reconstructive surgery.

[25][26] In November 2015, it was reported that she was living in a bed bug-infested trailer in the Appalachian Mountains with her fiancé who was struggling with anger and alcohol issues.