Fully Present
Moving to Key Biscayne was not accidental for Ana Grimaldi and her husband Lucio, it was a commitment to giving their sons Marco, 16, and Luca, 11, a different kind of childhood that is calmer, closer to nature and built around community. A Miami real estate agent since 2012, Ana Grimaldi understands better than most what it means to find the right fit. But no property search has matched the complexity of motherhood. “Balancing everything and being present as a mother while managing responsibilities and work requires constant awareness of what truly matters,” she says. And what’s most important, she’s learned, looks different for each child. Her eldest is focused and driven, stringing tennis racquets for ATP and WTA players through his own small business. The youngest is curious and creative, most recently winning top prize at the Miami-Dade County Fair in a Minecraft competition. “I’m very proud of the people they are becoming,” she says. That pride, steady and hard-earned, is the whole point of motherhood.
To the fullest
Proud mom Anastasiya Rusilka discovered Key Biscayne the way the best things find you — gradually, then all at once! Now a Psychotherapist & Life Coach, she loves raising her 3 children in paradise: Milana, 11; Savi, 9; and Evangelina, 3. “Life here has a simplicity that is increasingly rare in big cities,” she says. Bike rides through Bill Baggs, pistachio gelato at Narbona, dinner at Milanezza: the rituals are endless. Her deepest conviction as a mother? Let them become who they are. For every birthday, she writes each child a letter describing the little things they loved at that stage of life, their personality, their favorite games, the way they see the world in that moment. And starting around age 4, she began recording small interviews with them, asking simple questions about who they are and what they dream about. “My hope is that one day, when they are older, they can look back at those letters and videos and remember who they were when they were little — so innocent and so purely themselves,” she says. “If at some point they begin to question who they are, those memories may help guide them back to their true essence.”
Natural State
For Nona de la Rosa, Key Biscayne isn’t a backdrop, it’s a belief system. “Everything is calm, safe, and surrounded by nature,” she says of the island she’s chosen to raise her children: Piero, 17, Luciana, 15, and Sophia, 12. A beauty specialist working in makeup and lash lifts, she moves through her days with the same attention to detail she brings to work. At home, the rhythm is simpler: hiking, movies, time together. What surprises her most about motherhood isn’t what she gives, it’s what she receives. “Even though I’m the adult and think I’m teaching them, they teach me something new every single day,” she says. With teenagers in the house, the conversations have deepened, and she’s leaning into that shift rather than bracing for it. Her idea of a perfect Mother’s Day? Just being with her kids. “The small, meaningful moments mean the most to me,” she says. “I look forward to seeing them become independent and successful, building their own lives and achieving their dreams.”
