We were lucky to catch up with Meri Tumanyan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Meri , thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
I think that facing yourself is one of the most empowering and humbling experiences. To be able to look in the mirror–beyond the mirror–to see yourself for who you really are, accept yourself with all your flaws, your shortcomings, all your fears and latent desires that you’d be too ashamed of admitting or uttering to another is genuine self-reflection. I also believe that we have the power and the ability to constantly evolve, transition, transcend and reshape ourselves into the person we’d like to become. Identity is ever-shifting, and it takes real strength to see which parts of us are genuinely ours and when we’ve usurped the identity of another. I think accepting your flaws also entails reflecting upon how to overcome them in order to be the best version of yourself, embrace your higher self. Being the only one in the room can be lonely at first, but uncovering parts of yourself that are often suppressed by cultural and societal norms or barriers, shedding the layers that have been imposed upon us, unpeeling ourselves until we discover our core is the most enlightening and liberating experience. I hope that I’m the only one in the room that looks like me–because I wouldn’t want to look like anyone else. Not because I’m so special or unique, but because it’s all the experiences, the good and the ugly, that have been the lessons instrumental in my transformation. Keep them coming, I say!
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a mother, an educator, and in the last seven years, I’ve been lucky enough to pursue my passion for writing. I teach English and Mythology at a local high school. I’m a mentor teacher for the district trying to support new teachers in this very challenging profession. I’m also an adjunct English instructor at a community college. I love the classroom. It’s my home away from home. I love the subjects I teach and I definitely love my students.
In 2017 I decided to finally finish and publish a manuscript I had started writing when my older daughter was a toddler. Mommy, the Dreamweaver is about a working mom who has to comfort a crying child as she leaves for work while experiencing the guilt and sadness of, what feels like abandoning her child–a reality many parents can relate to. In the following years, I’ve published the children’s books Daddy’s Waltz, Never Be Anyone Other Than You, and The Girl With the Purple Umbrella. The illustrations in my children’s books contain real images of my children and events, which I’ve decided to use as a means of capturing their childhood.
In 2020, I published my first poetry collection, Love in the Time of Corona, which was released during the pandemic and deals with themes of love, loss, isolation, our need for community, and the inspiration we can draw from nature during difficult times. My next book Shadows, released in 2022, is a narrative in poems about abusive relationships and intimate partner abuse based on a true story. My most recent collection is a compilation of poetry and letters written during quarantine that commemorates all our losses during the pandemic and it’s dedicated to the Armenian people who were fighting to preserve their lives and our lands during a global pandemic. The Promise of the Pomegranate Tree celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit, represented by the pomegranate tree, a prominent Armenian cultural symbol.
I also wrote another collection of poetry in the summer of 2023 titled Gods & Other Mishaps: The Untold Stories. I have submitted this collection to several publishers and entered it in several contests. I’m anxiously waiting to see what happens. In the meantime, I’ll be working on my next poetry book: Black Roses.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Optimism, perseverance, self-confidence. Despite what happens in our lives, we cannot stay stuck, we cannot adopt a victim mentality, blame others or ourselves for what’s happened in our lives, and we definitely cannot feel sorry for ourselves. Life is a struggle from the moment we’re born. Bad things don’t happen to us. Sometimes bad things happen for us. It’s all about perspective. If we shift the angle from which we see things, worlds open up, and the richest, the most abundant world is the one within when we’re ready to discover it. You have to keep moving. Like I say, stagnant water stinks. You have to push yourself, motivate yourself, be your own inspiration, and when life kicks you harder, you get up faster, stand taller. You have to hold your own hand, lift yourself up, and continuously see the beauty in life, in people, and keep searching for beauty despite the prevalent ugliness around us. Pain, darkness, struggles–they’re all gifts, too.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I’d love to work with a musician and produce a song. I’ve often been told by friends that some of my poems would make great songs, and I’d like to give that a try. I always wanted to write a novel or a screenplay, but I don’t have the time or resources to focus on this endeavor yet. I’d love to meet people with whom I could collaborate, people who could give me some guidance.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.meritumanyanbooks.com
- Instagram: mt_musings
- Facebook: Meri Tumanyan Books
- Linkedin: Meri Tumanyan
- Twitter: @meriik10
