Author | Photographer | Trauma Recovery Advocate
As Featured In
I am an author, nonprofit photographer, and activist who has worked all over the world with countless NGOs and seemingly ordinary people who have accomplished the extraordinary.
My life changed dramatically in 2019 when I received news that my 21-year-old son had taken his life while I was working on a book in Ethiopia. A stranger named Assefa stayed by my side before my long journey home and offered me comfort and support. Their act of kindness was a ray of light during my darkest hour and inspired me to become a passionate advocate for selfless acts of kindness. I have written a book about my personal journey of healing and transformation as a tribute to my son and all empaths in the world. My goal is to support those who are going through their own grief and to encourage others to practice acts of kindness to retrieve our basic humanness and love in action.
As a naturally curious and empathetic individual, I have traveled the world using my sensitivity to bring aid wherever I can. My work has taken various forms, such as fundraising to renovate an orphanage in Kenya, improving a clinic in Malawi, and even starting my own animal sanctuary in Sicily, Italy. I also work as a nonprofit photographer, having had the opportunity to collaborate with numerous organizations globally.
Laura Formentini has written a lovely book of life lessons through stories, poems, and vignettes of insight and wisdom and revelation. The ultimate result is reinventing life through conscious awareness of life’s daily miracles of healing transformation and liberation. I highly recommend it.
“An offbeat and uplifting contribution to the literature of grief.” – Kirkus Starred Review
“This moving collection is a testament to the power of storytelling—and to a mother’s love.” – Booklife
“Twentyone Olive Trees is an impeccably crafted book. It will inspire and delight, and is salve for a wounded heart. On every page it whispers the message, “I love you.” –
New York Journal of Books
Order Laura's Book Today!
Nothing could have prepared Laura for the shocking news of her son’s death by suicide. Seeking solace during her time of grief, Laura turned inward to transform her pain and shock into healing and peace. She accomplished this by writing letters, poems, and fables to her son, Blaise, in the year after his untimely death. This became the beautiful tribute Twentyone Olive Trees: A Mother’s Walk through the Grief of Suicide to Hope and Healing.