Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Italia Tornabene, on air from January 23 rd

Perhaps the thriving, wildly productive, inspirational life Italia Tornabene now leads after years of setbacks, struggles, and disillusionment was foretold by her prophetic Italian surname, which translates to “good outcome” or “to return well.” Yet the incredible, seriously surreal journey from increasing despair to powerful breakthroughs and enduring hope she chronicles in her cleverly titled autobiography Suits to Stilettos has a trajectory like no other. 

Typical single moms sacrificing to build a stable family life for their child might turn first to sex work to survive, then educate themselves, leave that lifestyle, and make a so-called respectable career on the straight and narrow. While working full time, Italia committed years of her life to getting the education part down, ultimately earning three degrees – including an Associate’s in Business Administration Management, a Bachelor’s in Legal Studies and a Master’s in Criminal Justice. Yet with the longtime government employee ultimately finding her personal redemption as an exotic dancer, porn star, and high-level escort – in addition to her ongoing success as a serial entrepreneur – Italia’s story is the life-affirming opposite of how these female overcomer and empowerment narratives usually go. 

To share a life story truthfully and make a profound impact on readers, nothing is more important than an author’s freedom to be raw and vulnerable and hold nothing back. Italia’s no-holds-barred approach includes harrowing descriptions of many harsh and challenging eras and milestones in her life. To name but a few: growing up in a financially strapped household, with her parents arguing all the time and her father (whom she otherwise loved) physically unleashing his fury on her mom and several times on her; being raped by a co-worker at the car dealership she worked at and the traumatic physical and emotional aftermath; giving birth to her son Dominic at 17 and soon being abandoned by his dad, who later made her life a living hell during years of custody battles; and dealing with horrifying corruption and institutional toxicity while working as a high-level analyst for a prison in the California Department of Corrections.

Yet at every turn, driven by her love for Dominic and her desire to give her son the best life possible, Italia somehow emerges from the muck, offering what she calls a “front row seat to witness the undeniable strength of the human spirit.” The title of Chapter Three in Suits to Stilettos says it all: “Beyond Boundaries: A Journey of Education, Sacrifice and Resilience.” One of the main threads in both her personal and professional life working for the government (including a lengthy stint as a Disability Insurance Program Representative for the State of California) is a foreboding sense of injustice pervasive in a system that is supposed to provide Americans with liberty and justice for all. 

Italia’s passion for educating herself on legal issues – which ultimately led her to pursue her degrees – was sparked in part by learning, in the wake of her rape, that there was an impossible backlog of rape kits at Kaiser – which was one of the factors that allowed the perpetrator, who she mistakenly referred to as a onetime “friend,” to go free. The next indignity Italia suffered was the ridiculously drawn-out custody battle she had with Marco, her vindictive former husband and father of Dominic. At every turn, for reasons she delves into in the book, the system always seemed stacked to favor him – and they believed his lies about her being a bad, abusive mother. During her many years working for the government, her attempts at whistleblowing and making the right ethical choices were stymied and often led to harsh confrontations with and rebukes by her superiors.

While Italia turned to exotic dancing – first in San Diego and then in Las Vegas – to make great money to pay her bills and give Dominic stability, it quickly became her soul’s liberation, offering a lifeline of hope amidst despair. “In a world where stress and hardships threatened to suffocate me,” she writes, “the lights and music of the stage provided a respite. . . Within the embrace of those beats, I found solace and renewed purpose.” She danced for a total of 14 years while primarily working relatively low-paying government jobs. During this time, she exercised her ample entrepreneurial skills, launching and running a successful paralegal business for several years.

By the time the pandemic hit in 2020, Italia had happily worked full-time as a dancer for several years. In a time when many of her colleagues were panicking because the clubs had closed down, she turned fear into a portal of opportunity, launching a private housecleaning and grout cleaning business (Magic Maids) that grew into a large operation of 65 employees, ultimately scoring lucrative hotel accounts. After she resumed dancing, a life-threatening illness followed by a major injury suffered at the gym led her to explore and begin attracting clientele on multiple porn sites, which snowballed into a several-year career as a porn actress. 

Italia writes: “As time went on, I realized the immense power that lay within me. I was no longer the victim; I was the master of my own destiny. Every interaction, every performance, became an act of defiance against the pain that had held me captive for so long.” As for our society’s often derogatory view of those who work in the porn industry and the stigma associated with it, she says, “I wish sex wasn’t so taboo in this country. People often think it’s easy work, but actually, it’s mentally exhausting and physically draining, which is why some performers turn to drugs. I don’t know why our government is so ass backwards with laws regarding it. When I talk to girlfriends in Amsterdam and Germany, they treat it like a regular career. It’s sex between consenting adults. I wish our society would catch on.”   

Though Italia maintains an active presence on and generates income from dozens of sites, she has since transitioned from the porn industry to the more lucrative and higher-class world of private escorting. Over the past year, she has also added new endeavors to her ever-fascinating resume, becoming a high-performance life coach, a personal trainer (soon to launch a virtual platform), and a nutritionist. A successful investor for 20 years, she also recently published a book titled Easy Investing: A Beginner’s Guide to Financial Growth. In addition to Suits to Stilettos, Italia will soon be emerging as a fiction writer with Femme Fatale: Shades of Retribution, a harrowing story about the tragic drug-related downward spiral of a sex performer based on a dear friend she knew during her dancing days.  “With Suits to Stilettos, I definitely have an important story to tell that I hope can inspire people, especially women who want to succeed against difficult odds,” says Italia. “There were times in my life where I felt like my life was over, and I hit that rock bottom many times. But as you’ll read, I believe when there’s a will, there’s a way, and thanks to my wonderful son Dominic, who is now 19 and doing well in his life, I was always motivated to succeed. Everyone has a purpose on this earth, and we all have to evolve and keep growing. I have learned that what brings me the greatest joy isn’t making money or having material things – it’s doing anything I can to put a smile on people’s faces and make them happy.”

AMAZON

https://www.suitstostilettos.com/

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