“Chist’e a vita — this is life.”
A reminder, passed down from Naples, that we have one life and it is worth living fully.
The Early Days
Loredana Cunti grew up the middle child between two brothers, born in Toronto and raised in the countryside of Kleinburg, Ontario. Her first language was the Neapolitan dialect. Her parents had just arrived from Italy and were still learning English themselves, so no one read her bedtime stories — but she still remembers the first book that stopped her in her tracks: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak.
She was more of a social butterfly than a bookworm, regularly getting into trouble at school for talking too much. But first came the harder lessons — the smelly Italian sandwiches that marked her as different, the teasing, the daily reminder that she didn’t quite fit in.
Those feelings never left her. Like so many women, imposter syndrome has been a quiet companion throughout her life — the voice that whispers you don’t belong, you’re not enough, you’re in the wrong room. Rather than push it aside, Loredana has made it her subject. She is motivated to tell stories that speak honestly to these feelings, and to develop what she calls playful resilience — the belief that humour, movement, creativity, and connection are some of the most powerful tools we have for finding our groove again.
Finding Her Voice
It turns out that talking too much is a competitive advantage in radio. Loredana began her career in multicultural media at CHIN Radio and TV — one of Canada’s first multilingual broadcasters — before moving to CIAO Radio as a DJ and Promotions Manager. Surrounded by the voices of immigrant communities finding their place in Canada, she found hers.
It was the perfect beginning for a storyteller whose whole career would be about amplifying the voices that don’t always get heard.
From the Screen to the Page
Becoming a mother shifted everything. Priorities reorganised themselves in the way only a child can demand, and Loredana found herself stepping back from the relentless pace of international film and television.
In Paris, she enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu and earned her Pastry Chef certification — rediscovering a connection to food, family, and heritage she hadn’t realised she had been missing. Back home, inspired by her children’s dreams of going to space, she cold-called Canadian astronaut Dr. Dave Williams with a TV show idea about five kids training to be astronauts. Dr. Dave said yes. Their partnership produced the Destination Space and Mighty Mission Machines series — Loredana’s first published books, born from a phone call and a refusal to take no for an answer.
She was in her 40s. She had just become a children’s author.
La Dolce Via — Food, Family & The Power of a Recipe
Growing up, Loredana was always surrounded by Italian women cooking. In winter, making sausages. In spring, planting seeds. In summer, harvesting and pickling. In autumn, pressing bushels of tomato sauce and planting the garlic. For many years she saw these rituals as chores. In Paris she realised they were something far more precious — a cultural inheritance in danger of being lost.
That realisation became a mission. Loredana is passionate about inspiring young people to cook, to be independent in the kitchen, and to make their own traditions before the recipes and the stories behind them disappear. She believes a kitchen is one of the most powerful classrooms there is.
That belief found its fullest expression in The Reindeer Café Cookbook — her World Cookbook Award winning title whose proceeds support StepStones for Youth, an organisation helping young people build independence and life skills. A portion of every sale goes directly to supporting youth who need it most, because teaching a young person to cook is teaching them to believe in themselves.
On Her Own Terms
One book became two. Two became eight. Each one drawn from real life — a daughter struggling to find confidence in sport became Karate Kakapo. A flamingo who doesn’t quite fit in became How Gogo Found Her Groove. A burping astronaut, a dancing butterfly, a reindeer who bakes. The books earned a Junior Library Guild Selection, multiple Forest of Reading nominations, a TD Summer Reading Club pick, and recognition from the Reuben Awards of the National Cartoonists Society.
Despite the awards, significant rejection from traditional publishers followed. At the same time, life delivered a far heavier blow — the sudden, untimely death of her brother. As a proud first-generation Italian Canadian, she stepped in to help run the family commercial industrial property business.
She launched her own imprint — Loreworks Press — and kept writing. How Gogo Found Her Groove was adopted into every elementary school in the Toronto Catholic District School Board and is currently in development for animation. Her books have opened doors to partnerships with Girl Guides of Canada and the National Ballet School of Canada. She speaks at elementary classrooms, secondary schools, and women’s conferences on creativity, confidence, resilience, and the art of reconnecting with the kid inside.
Where Life Becomes Story
Loredana has never needed to look far for inspiration. The line between her life and her work has never really existed. Her children became her books. Her heritage became her musical. Her losses became her resilience talks. Her kitchen became her cookbook. Every new chapter of her life has become the next story she needed to tell.
That is perhaps most true of Neapolitan Ice Cream: The Musical — a jukebox operetta she is writing and producing as her love letter to the Italian immigrant experience and a cultural bridge to the next generation. The daughter of immigrants who arrived with nothing but courage and a dream, finally giving their journey a stage.
Chist’e a vita. This is life. And for Loredana, every part of it is worth telling.
Professional Biography
Loredana Cunti is an author, speaker, producer, and cultural storyteller whose career bridges multicultural media, international film and television, children’s literature, and musical theatre.
She began her career as a DJ and Promotions Manager at CHIN Radio and TV and CIAO Radio before spending 25+ years in international film and television — as Head of Foreign Film Sales at Malofilm, launching children’s divisions at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, and as Head of Children’s Programming for Universal Studios, producing animated series including Maisy Mouse, Pink Panther and Pals, and Sitting Ducks. Animation Magazine named her one of the Top 25 Women in Animation.
In 2002 she founded Loreworks Ltd., developing original intellectual property and consulting for Universal Studios, Weta Workshop, MGM, Fremantle Media, and Atlantyca Entertainment. She has served on the TIFF Industry Advisory Board, mentored at the Singapore and Ontario Media Development Corporations, and juried at Giffoni, Kidscreen, and Cartoons on the Bay.
Her 8 picture books have earned a Junior Library Guild Selection, multiple Forest of Reading nominations, a TD Summer Reading Club pick, a 2025 World Cookbook Award, and recognition from the Reuben Awards of the National Cartoonists Society. How Gogo Found Her Groove has been adopted into every elementary school in the Toronto Catholic District School Board and is currently in development for animation. She publishes under her own imprint, Loreworks Press.
She speaks at elementary classrooms, secondary schools, and women’s conferences on creativity, confidence, resilience, and the art of reconnecting with the kid inside. She has partnered with Girl Guides of Canada, the National Ballet School of Canada, Women in STEM initiatives, OISE, and StepStones for Youth.
She is currently writing and producing Neapolitan Ice Cream: The Musical — a jukebox operetta and love letter to the Italian immigrant experience.
Loredana Cunti is the founder of Loreworks Ltd. — a storytelling company developing original books, events, and musical theatre that build confidence in kids and inspire reinvention in adults.