When Sault Ste. Marie native Vanessa Ferlaino left home for university in 2012, she dreamt of a career in medicine. Little did she know of the twists and turns that would unfold in her path and bring her to this moment, the launch of her debut book, Human.
“It’s interesting to me because as much as I have my science and corporate background, I then have my book which has nothing to do with that,” she said, laughing, on the phone from Toronto, where she lives.
Ferlaino, 27, obtained a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, Cell and Molecular Biology and Immunology, from the University of Toronto, and a Masters of Business in Entrepreneurship and Technology from the University of Waterloo. She has held executive positions in the corporate setting and the tech industry and is currently a corporate innovator at a national telecommunications company.
Human is a narrative non-fiction story Ferlaino refers to as a small book with a big mission.
At just 96 pages, the book is in the wellness genre and follows an unnamed narrator reflecting on her life through her interactions with others.
“The book is about taking stock of your experience and to be curious about your experience and what it means for you and how once you connect with yourself how you can take that connection and connect it with other people and give it back to everyone else,” she said.
And taking stock is just what Ferlaino did in 2019 while visiting a friend in Calgary for a much-needed break after the death of her father, Sergio Ferlaino, the year prior, and other personal struggles.
“I had a lot of things going on. I had lost my father to brain cancer. I was involved in a few pretty unhealthy relationships and I got to a point in my life, even just on the business side, where it was just a lot and it was all happening at once,” she said.
Her trip to Calgary turned into a two-year stay during which she decided to take some acting training and journaled extensively.
This sent her on a self-exploration that would lead to the contents of the book.
In Human, Ferlaino seeks to convey what she learned about herself and what it means to be human. She hopes to help others find their true selves.
“What I realized in my journaling was that I’m actually a highly sensitive person and I never knew that about myself because I was always busy, I was always working. I never actually stand in any of these moments and maybe appreciate what I achieved or even just feel,” she said.
Like so many people, Ferlaino said she would get so busy “dealing with what I’m dealing with that I’m not seeing what’s around me.”
Ferlaino’s exploration also took her back to her roots.
Born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, she attended Greenwood Public School and graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at Korah Collegiate and Vocational School. Her mom, Sandra, is Mexican, and her dad was of Italian descent.
Much of how we are looked at by others, she said, is based on assumptions about where we’re from, our gender and ethnicity.
“And that’s what comes out in the journaling because you start writing and writing and writing and over time it’s like you’re shedding what everyone has told you about you, and then you get down to who you are.”
Ultimately, says Ferlaino, being human is to feel and explore our emotions and open our hearts to ourselves and others, and that’s what the book aims to reveal.
“We’re so afraid to feel what we feel. We’re so afraid to sit there and feel grief and feel the tragedy because it’s scary, it’s overwhelming, it’s so much, but at the end of the day it really is just a feeling and if we take the time to just feel that we can actually explore and learn so much about ourselves and connect with everyone around us. What I really want is for people to do that.”
Human is available in 20 Indigo locations across Canada and on Amazon. The book will be available at Coles in Sault Ste. Marie on Sept. 30, and is available now in Timmins, North Bay and Thunder Bay.
More information about this book and other upcoming projects can be found at Ferlaino’s Instagram account at @vanessaferlaino.