local storiesNovember 10, 2025

Check Out Annie Taranto’s Story

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Annie Taranto.

Annie Taranto

Hi Annie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Let me start by saying I was raised to be that ultimate good girl. My parents were fairly poor and uneducated, but good people. We never talked about my future, college, career or finances. My parents were proud of me because I was that pretty, little people pleaser. I was very close to my father who was the ultimate good man. He led a very tough life in the Brooklyn, New York. One of his first jobs was working for a bookie. He was the guy that collected the money but through the years he became a man that went to church regularly without running around bragging he was a Christian. He just quietly, believed in the Lord and lived his life much as a caring, decent man. Everyone loved my father. Took me to church every week and taught me to be a n empathetic woman. But that background did not help me in the ways you would think.

I really never knew who I was or what I really wanted. I paid attention to what everyone around me, liked. It was more important to fit into their lifestyle. It reminds me of that movie “Runaway Bride”. It was all about being who people wanted me to be, so I never had time to figure out “Annie” I had the best childhood any kid could have because I was raised by an entire Italian family who either lived on the same street or within a mile. I mean, my grandparents were from Italy and they had made a good life for themselves here. That tradition has kept me sane through all the difficulties and tough times.

I’ve had several different careers, but the ones that I felt were truly me are the ones that counted. I worked in real estate for about 30 years, selling real estate, Title insurance, escrow, and loans. I really didn’t like selling and all the competitiveness that goes with selling, I enjoyed the people, I worked with, so much. I started working for Sears, which started my retail career at 16 years old. . I modeled for Sears first and then begin working as a regional manager for their tuxedo shops, inside their stores. I eventually, became the national franchise coordinator for Great Earth Vitamins. One of the most exciting things I did was planning and executing a bodybuilding contest, at the West Covina mall. It was nerve-racking, but so much fun.
Selling real estate was never for me, but the money was, so much better. I lived a very stressful life for a long time and never really feeling fulfilled. The scene with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, in that movie, where he explains that she has molded herself to fit the men she was going to marry. I was just like that only I married the men and of course, those marriages failed. That just brought, so much drama and chaos into my life. Eventually in 2009 I became quite ill. Dangerously ill and ended up in the hospital for 14 days. I believe it was all due to stress. Somehow, that hospital stay was my saving grace. But of course, I didn’t know that. After that illness, I spent a great deal of time by myself. For some reason, I just needed quiet and calm. I stopped dating, entirely and I didn’t date for 17 years. I had male friends, but nobody I was romantically involved with. That time alone was the best thing I ever did. I finally, began to know the real me. What did I learn that made a difference? I thought about that a lot.. I think it made me realize that having a big and important title without a college degree, made me feel successful but it did not make me happy. I was constantly stressed out, exhausted, and miserable. . How could I be happy in relationships when I had no idea who I was or what I wanted.? Toward the end of my real estate career, I began to write my thoughts, feelings, and experiences. At that time, I was dating a very successful man who loved to ride motorcycles on the weekend. I started going to these motorcycle events and found myself having such a great time because the people there were raw, just being themselves. I came home from the first motorcycle event and wrote about my experience. That article was published in ThunderPress magazine. From there, Rasy Rider contacted me and so did Quick Throttle Magazine. These are not big magazines, but they are well known in the motorcycle community. I was offered a staff writing position for Quick Throttle Magazine and for about five years, I traveled to every motorcycle event and wrote about those experiences. One of the most interesting and exciting jobs I’ve ever had because I was able to interview movie stars and meet famous people. I’m telling you this because these careers brought me to a deeper meaning of life.

I remember interviewing a lawmaker at the Capitol in Sacramento, CA. It was an important interview and I couldn’t miss it. I was deathly ill with I high fever and in horrible pain throughout the interview. I drove 40 minutes to a hospital close to my home and was admitted, immediately. During that time, I was diagnosed with infectious colitis, Staph infection, C- Difficile, & Salmonella. I have never been so sick in my life and wasn’t sure I would recover. It took years for me to get better

Why does any of this matter, now? It matters because you need to know that stress and working against your grain can kill you. I did recover while I spent that time alone.

I love animals. Always have but my mom didn’t allow dogs or cats in our home. As soon as I moved out, I surrounded myself with every critter imaginable but my favorite was dogs. I especially loved small dogs I began breeding Yorkies, while I recovering at home and still unable to work. I loved my 8 Yorkies who were with me every day, bringing so much joy to my life These little guys had the best life…no cages and slept in my bed every night. I am now retired from breeding but still have 2 Yorkies at home.

During my years with these beautiful little dogs, I learned what brought me joy. I made a decision to go back to work in 2019. I evaluated every part of my life and eliminated any thoughts of another stressful career. It was a real struggle to even think about returning to work at age 69. I had been home since my Hospital day in 2009. Even though I was raising Yorkies, at I barely left the house, other than to go grocery shopping and to the doctors. It took everything I had to think about returning to work, in the outside world instead of the comfort of my home. I felt I had to brave it out, and there was lots of anxiety, I felt in making those step.s toward a new and exciting life. I did two things. I planned a pet care business and I also went back to school to become a notary. I chose notary work because I had such an extensive background in real estate and loan documents. That gave me a little bit of a headstart. I chose pet care because that’s what brought me joy. Here’s my thoughts. If something makes you happy and you find joy in what you’re doing, you’re going to do that well, without a great deal of stress. That’s exactly what happened with my pet care business. I started everything at the end of October 2019. In 2020, Covid hit and I couldn’t start working until 2021 in March. My business has grown each year in pet care. It has been a huge success for me because I love what I do. Being a success is not about getting rich or having an important title. Being a success is being happy with yourself and your lifestyle. Looking at these little dogs brings me more joy than being a millionaire. An important job with a great title means success to most people, but it brought me nothing but serious illness. I’m just happy that I made it through that difficult time and was able to come to a point of real understanding… A much deeper understanding than I’ve ever had in my life. I know who I am now. I am able to stand up for myself and give my opinion when it matters., without feeling like I have to please the world. Most importantly, I’m helping people. My background with animals has allowed me to learn so much about small domestic animals. When I do pet care, I’m giving people calm., worry, free vacations. They depend on me to care for the animals they love. I take care of fish, tortoises, hamsters, birds, dogs, and cats. All of these little critters bring me joy, every day. My specialty is small breed dogs because of my breeding background.

You have to find out what’s at your core and what brings you joy before you can be truly happy. I am now 75 years old. Life is short, you can’t spend it working every day at a job that you hate or one that you may love that brings you so much anxiety and stress that you are exhausted and even sick because of it. For the first time in my life, I can actually say I have very little stress in my job. There’s always stress in your life, but you can minimize it by choosing a lifestyle that is based on honor, integrity, empathy and most importantly, love. My love for humanity & these little creatures, shines through.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Just being courageous enough to step out of your comfort zone and trust that you will make your new business work

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
You would be amazed at how creative you must be with pets. Each dog, cat or other family pet reacts differently, in every situation and you try all kinds of different remedies or solutions to make your interactions work.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Loving these animals brings me joy daily. They are my family, too and they love you unconditionally no matter what. You do not have to be perfect. You just need to love them.

Pricing:

$20. Drop in 30 minute visit in your home- feeding & walkink
$30 for one hour in your home for all needs & walkin.
$76. Overnight in your home
$55 boarding in my home
Split shift for multiple visits in your home. Custom plan and pricing.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Sandi Marasco for photos of me with Yorkies. Close ups Momo is an AI app I used for the big black cat.

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