This week the spotlight falls on Sam Frearson-Tubito, a true citizen of the world, who has been travelling since she was born in the Caribbean. A mother of four, Sam’s CV covers the four corners of the globe. She has worked on boats in the turquoise seas of Turkey, modelled in France, navigated the dizzy heights of advertising in Milan, and used her linguistic skills as a school Admissions Director in Tokyo. We catch up with Sam as she puts the finishing touches to her first book about what home really means.

With Chiquita in St. Kitts & Nevis

You are a third generation third culture child, what does that mean and how has that impacted on the way you have parented your own four children? 

A third-culture kid (TCK) is someone who has grown up in a country other than their passport country and other than their parents’ nationality and who has spent the majority of their time in these countries during a significant part of their child development years.

Making a splash in Cote D’Ivoire

I was sent to boarding school at 8 years old and suffered from feeling like I belonged nowhere—not where my parents were living or where I went to school. I learnt from this and decided that I would keep our four kids with us no matter how many times we moved with them. They are also TCKs and have lived with us in Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and the US. Home for them was always where we were.

And then there were four

By the time you were 18 you had lived in 8 countries ranging from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Hong Kong, how has your nomadic childhood shaped you?

It has made me open-minded and open-cultured. I’ve also been very fortunate to have learned a few languages along the way, helping me communicate and assimilate easily.

Which place was the easiest to settle in?

That’s such a difficult question. Probably Spain because it was the first time we moved without kids. Moving with kids is another level of stress.

Presenting at the “Nearly Home” exhibition in Mirasierra, Madrid in November 2024

What life lessons did you learn whilst working on boats in Marmaris, Turkey in your early 20´s?

Life can bring lemons when you least expect them. The important thing is to learn from them and move on in a positive way.

Do you have any funny stories about adapting to life in Tokyo in 2009?

Having everyone move away from me when I rode the metro. Apparently, ‘gaijin’ – the Japanese word for foreigner – smell of off-milk due to all the dairy we eat. Who knew!??

A family bike ride in Tokyo

Your book, Beneath a Borrowed Sky: A Memoir about Finding Home is due later this year, what inspired you to write it?

I’ve been writing my blog: www.wanderingidentity.com since 2018 and have had a lot of people wanting more of my stories. My family love the stories especially my parents and my kids so the book is for them. For family.

Name a book that has inspired you

There are so many! ‘The Yellow House’ by Sarah M Broom (memoir), ‘Shantaram’ by Gregory David Roberts (historical fiction), ‘The Poisonwood Bible’ by Barbara Kingsolver (historical fiction) and ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover (memoir) stick out in particular.

Wine o´clock with the Portland gals

Tell us about the social programme in which you´re involved in Modena.

In April 2020, the Association for the Integration of Women was founded. Its mission is to “provide resources for women to establish roots and flourish.” In 2022, Roots opened as a self-sustaining social impact model, a youth-led social enterprise that showcases the cultural and human value of Modena’s newest chefs.

I was the community engagement director for the International Women’s Association of Modena (IWAM) and I was charged with raising money for the Association for the Integration of Women to help them open its new social enterprise, Roots.

Modena friends

What is the best advice you were given?

Never look back. Always look forward.

Tell us about the book club you run for Families in Global Transition

It’s a global book club that I run online via zoom once a month. We have people zooming in from all over the world. Last month we had 11 people zooming in from 11 different countries. We read books from authors all over the world and all genres. This month’s read is ‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’, a café-based tale about time travel by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

Digesting cake and words at the Madrid Area 2-3 Book Club

What is the next book you are discussing in the INC book club?

We are reading, Ann Napolitano’s best-selling saga, ‘Hello beautiful’.

You joined INC in 2023, how has it enriched your life in Madrid?

INC has been a lifesaver for me since we moved here. My husband and I travel a lot, so it’s been a great focus for me when I’m here. I really enjoy all the activities organised, and the group is full of wonderful, inspiring global women.

Home is where the heart is

Where is your happy place?

I feel lucky that I have many happy places. But if I had to choose, it would be Modena in the North of Italy or Monopoli in the South. We have homes in both places and visit them as much as possible.

Fun times in Madrid