Tarboro mom, business owner pens memoir about 9/11 experience in NYC

TARBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- As the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks approaches, Tarboro mom and business owner, Inez Ribustello is recounting her experience in a new memoir, Life After Windows.

"I'm hoping that sharing the story will give people who are experiencing, you know, real loss, some type of hope and healing," Ribustello said.

Ribustello co-owns Restaurant on the Square in Tarboro as well as Tarboro Brewing and a third satellite location in Rocky Mount.

She grew up in Tarboro and went to New York City for culinary school in 1998 later landing her dream job at Windows on the World, the restaurants and venues on the top floors of the Twin Towers in Manhattan until the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

Ribustello lost nearly 80 co-workers that morning and writes about her experience and life lessons learned in her new book.

"I hope people will be able to know that devastation is real and happens by the second. And, yet, how we react and how we choose to go forward, and there are ways where we can heal will never be the same," Ribustello said.

Life After Windows will be released on September 11, 2021, with a launch party at Rusty's Gift Shop in downtown Tarboro and will be available in major bookstores on that day.