John O’Leary welcomes Annabelle Tometich, author of The Mango Tree, to the Live Inspired Podcast to guide us in embracing the complexity of family, finding strength in vulnerability, and discovering beauty in unexpected places.
Annabelle Tometich is a med-school-reject-turned-food-critic and author of The Mango Tree. And her story is as layered and sweet as the tropical fruit at the heart of her family’s saga.
Today, Annabelle takes us on a journey through the cultural contrasts of her upbringing as a mixed-race Filipina, the heartbreak of her father’s untimely death, and the strength of her mother’s fiery spirit. When her mother’s unexpected arrest for defending her beloved mango tree shakes their family to its core, Annabelle begins to see her world—and her family—through a lens of resilience, empathy, and ultimately, healing.
My friends, this conversation is for anyone who’s ever felt stuck in their circumstances or searched for meaning in life’s messiest moments. Annabelle’s story will inspire you to embrace the complexity of family, find strength in vulnerability, and discover beauty in unexpected places.
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SHOW NOTES:
- Growing up in post-World War II Philippines, Annabelle’s mother was the oldest of seven children and understood horrendous poverty. Her dad, had a dramatically different upbringing on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
- After meeting in the halls of Fort Myers Community Hospital, Annabelle’s parents became unlikely pairing which led to a fruitful marriage but also to numerous hostile times. When Annabelle was nine, her parents had a tumultuous fight where her dad left the house and later died in a hotel.
- In losing her dad, Annabelle felt that she lost her credibility to her “whiteness” because of the scrutiny she and her siblings faced.
- “If you give the seed enough opportunity to germinate appropriately, something beautiful can manifest.”
- In an effort to make ends meet after starting a catering company, Annabelle began working as an agate reporter for the the News Press in Fort Myers which eventually led into a decades-long career into becoming a journalist and food critic.
- In 2015, Annabelle’s mother found a man loading her mangoes into the back of his truck. When he refused to stop, she got a BB gun to chase him off the property and shot out the rear window of his truck, resulting in her being arrested on a felony.
- Are you struggling with a complex relationship with your family? Annabelle encourages us to have a shift in perspective and to see them as an aggregate versus individual conflicts.
- Get a copy of Annabelle Tometich’s memoir The Mango Tree here.
Did you enjoy today’s episode?
You’ll love my conversation with Lisa Brennen-Jobs. Steve Jobs is widely recognized as one of the most influential inventors of our time, pioneering the personal computer, the iPod and iPhone. Yet his eldest daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs often remembers a painful childhood spent seeking recognition, acceptance and approval from Apple’s visionary leader. Hear as Lisa courageously opens up about the complicated relationship with her iconic father, how taking a decade to write her memoir Small Fry was therapeutic and what she wishes her father would have told her before his death. Listen to Lisa Brennan Jobs on ep. 216.
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ANNABELLE TOMETICH'S LIVE INSPIRED 7
- Q. What is the best book you’ve ever read?
A. Hope Springs Eternal from Different Seasons by Stephen King. - Q. What is a characteristic or trait that you possessed as a child that you wish you still exhibited today?
A. Curiosity. - Q. Your house is on fire, all living things and people are out. You have the opportunity to run in and grab one item. What would it be?
A. One of my mom's photo albums. - Q. You are sitting on a bench overlooking a gorgeous beach. You have the opportunity to have a long conversation with anyone living or dead. Who would it be?
A. My Lola. My mom's mom. - Q. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A. My mom reminding me to keep my head up. - Q. What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?
A. It gets so much better. - Q. It’s been said that all great people can have their lives summed up in one sentence. How do you want yours to read?
A. She's still here and she's doing well.
