Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Antonella Mundo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Antonella , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Resilience is my oxygen—I even have it tattooed on my skin as a constant reminder that every scar became my strength.
In the first part of my life, I built a brilliant career in Italy. I started businesses when I was very young, I was ambitious, determined, and successful. But the brighter you shine, the more shadows you attract. Envy came for me. A low-level TV program publicly attacked me and overnight, everything I had worked for was questioned. My reputation was destroyed not by my mistakes, but by the entertainment value of tearing someone down.
In that moment, I felt fear for the first time. I no longer felt protected in my own country. I didn’t want to keep doing the work I had loved, because I understood that no matter how much I gave, there would always be someone ready to humiliate me.
But instead of letting that be the end of my story, I chose resilience. I closed that chapter and decided to start over, far away from the noise and the judgment. I chose to move to Los Angeles—a place that celebrates visionaries, risk takers, people who dare to reinvent themselves.
Here I started my second life. I didn’t bring safety or comfort with me—I brought courage, my husband, my little boy, and my vision. I even did something completely unexpected: I created a food company, even though I hate cooking. Why? Because I wanted to build a solution for people like me, who don’t want to cook but still want to eat healthy, delicious food every day.
That is the essence of resilience: taking everything that tried to break you—abuse, abandonment, humiliation, envy—and transforming it into a business, a message, and a mission. That’s why I created FaBene: It’s Good For You. Not just food, but proof that no one can destroy me. They only push me to rise higher.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am the founder of FaBene, a healthy Italian food company based in Los Angeles. What makes FaBene unique is the paradox behind it: I actually hate cooking. I didn’t build this company out of passion for the kitchen, but out of a mission—to create a solution for people like me, who don’t want to cook but still want to eat healthy and flavorful food every day.
FaBene is rooted in Culinary Medicine, the idea that food is our first and most powerful medicine. We take iconic Italian dishes—like lasagna, meatballs, and tiramisu—and reinvent them in a healthy, functional way: organic, low sodium, low glycemic index, with gluten-free and plant-based options. Our flagship dish, the grass-fed lasagna, is what I call our diamond: a meal that is both healthy and deeply satisfying.
What excites me most is not just the food itself, but the vision. I want to flip fast food upside down—from fast food to fast good. My dream is to open a franchise of small Italian boutiques of healthy food, including even healthy drive-thrus for people who don’t have the time or desire to cook. Eating well should be as easy and accessible as fast food, but infinitely better for your health.
Right now, we are expanding with the FaBene Luxury Pasta Collection, launching our Organic Rainbow Farfalle and Black & White Farfalle in elegant glass jars. We are also preparing to bring our ready-to-eat meals into premium grocery stores.
FaBene is not just food—it’s resilience turned into a brand. It’s proof that every challenge in my life, no matter how painful, has been transformed into something that nourishes, heals, and inspires.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, I believe three qualities have been the most impactful in my journey:
1. Resilience. Life tested me with abuse, abandonment, humiliation, and even public attacks on my reputation. Instead of giving up, I turned every scar into strength. My advice: don’t wait for resilience to magically appear. Build it by facing discomfort, by refusing to quit even when it feels unbearable.
2. Vision. I never limited myself to what already existed. In Italy, I created new roles for myself. In Los Angeles, I created FaBene not as another food company, but as a new concept: fast good. My advice: protect your vision fiercely. The world will try to tell you it’s impossible—let that be your motivation to prove them wrong.
3. Sales & Communication. For seven years I sold door-to-door. That experience taught me how to listen, how to adapt, and how to connect with people. Without those skills, FaBene would just be an idea. My advice: practice selling every day—your product, your story, yourself. If you can’t communicate it, it doesn’t exist.
These three—resilience, vision, and sales—are the pillars of everything I’ve built. And the beauty is, anyone can develop them. You don’t need a perfect start, you just need the courage to begin.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
There have been moments in my life when I felt completely lost, with no solid ground under me. When I was younger, I would let anxiety consume me, even experiencing panic attacks. Then one day, it happened at the worst possible moment—sitting on the floor of a train station, without a home, without money, without support. In that moment, I told myself: you either live or you die.
I chose to live. And from that day forward, I decided that whenever there’s a problem, I will focus only on the solution—because as long as you are alive, there is hope.
Now, even on the hardest days, my brain automatically looks for solutions. And I try to do the same for others—when people share their struggles with me, I instinctively help them see the way forward
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fabene.us
- Instagram: antonella_mundo
