Annette Gonzalez
Annette Gonzalez is a lifelong Floridian and was raised in West Tampa, a Latin neighborhood. As a child, she was nurtured in this cultural environment and it influenced her desire to be a writer, speaker, and storyteller. She graduated from the University of South Florida in 1970 with a B.A. degree in sociology. She married Terry DeLisle and they have two sons, Jared and Jacques. In February 2006, when Annette struggled with coping with the loss of her mother, she began documenting her feelings. Five months later, her father passed away. This is when she began to write and speak publicly about her parents’ deaths. Annette believes that we need to treasure our parents while they are alive and honor them when they have passed.