Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandy Morgan.
Brandy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born in Houston to a native Houstonian and a Mexican American mother whose first language is Spanish. My father attended the University of Houston and was a biophysicist that worked in the oil industry, just like many other Houstonians. We moved abroad for the first time in the 1980s when I was only nine years old. The Middle East seemed like a world away from the familiar Tex-Mex culture I had grown up around in the Houston area. Still, I quickly learned that no matter whether the language, religion, or culture was familiar, we all had something that could bring us together: food! This ignited a desire to travel the world, experiencing life alongside others.
As an adult, I lived in South America and then moved on to try my hand at living like a European. Eventually, I wound up back in the United States to settle in New York City. I loved my fast paced job on Wall Street and felt connected to a city that was similar to my culturally diverse hometown of Houston. After the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center, however, I sought to change my surroundings and move West. There, on the West Coast, I eventually met the man that would later become my husband and together, we shared a passion for journeying to foreign lands. It wasn’t until I became a mother to two young boys that my whole life change.
In 2013 when my eldest son was only five-years-old, he was diagnosed with a medical condition that required him to eat wheat free. Like everyone who goes through a food restricting diagnosis, this news brought psychological ramifications that isolated our family from others. Fear was ruling our actions and some years later, I finally decided it was time to make a change that could inspire not just my own family to get out and experience the world but also others to do the same.
Our relationship with food had completely changed and so navigating exploring the world again had to be done with a different dynamic. Gone were the days of flying by the seat of our pants and heading out to live on a whim. Travel had to be calculated and planned for the safety of our oldest child. But, I was determined to make it happen to teach my kid that life couldn’t be lived out of fear.
So, three years ago, I went from having no social media presence to taking to the internet to write. I leveraged my technology skills to build a website from scratch and learned how to use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get a positive message about living with food allergies out to the world at large. I was committed to sharing the family journey to prove that just like we navigate the world one gluten free adventure at a time, so can others who live restricted because of food allergies.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No. The road to diagnosis was very painful and it was the hardest battle I have ever fought. I struggled with doctors that told me sometimes kids just throw up and toward the end I felt like I was fighting a world where no one would believe a first time mom. It wasn’t until I changed pediatricians and then my son started vomiting blood that I felt like everyone really started to listen.
In the end, we were given a rare auto-immune disease as a diagnosis. But, even when we had a diagnosis in hand, it was still so difficult to watch my child go through the trials and tribulations associated with being alienated, weakened, and different. Like every family, ours started isolating and insulating ourselves—controlling what my older son ate at home was the safest way to carry on.
One day, I just decided this had to stop. Life will always throw you curveballs. So food seemed to be a basic need that was a little difficult to work around—-but I knew that if I wanted to set a good example for my kids, I would have to start teaching them that spreading your wings to fly was better than being scared to take flight.
Kid Allergy Travel – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Kid Allergy Travel was started to fill what I saw as a relatively large gap in the travel industry. My aim was to provide kid-centric gluten free info for the allergy community at large to encourage and inspire families to experience life together one gluten free adventure at a time.
Anyone that travels with a food allergy has to research and plan a trip before going. I recognized that there was a lack of kid-centric travel related data in the food allergy space, especially when traveling to foreign countries. I was tired of only finding reviews of places that could give us an 80 dollar bone in ribeye that had a romantic vibe. I needed a place I could take two kids under seven years of age without feeling like a date night crasher. I also wanted something that didn’t break the bank. My child had been harmed by food and it was very difficult to get him to eat anything at all when we left the house. So, at the very least, I’d prefer not to spend half my paycheck on something he most likely will not take more than three bites of. Plus, I wanted to hear about kid food. He wanted to find a place that could serve gluten free French fries from a dedicated non-cross contaminated fryer. Or gluten free pizza or chicken fingers. Those things were important and exciting for him, not gluten free surf and turf.
Over the years, however, Kid Allergy Travel has grown. We started out specializing in gluten-free family travel and have since moved into the lifestyle space as well. Kid Allergy Travel has started working with brands that want to get the word out to the gluten free community. I am always elated when I’m asked to do product reviews and work with brands in many different areas because it validates that the gluten free community has a strong voice and is a niche market that is shaping industries.
Kid Allergy Travel prides itself on helping others through honest experiential dialogue. If something wasn’t appealing to my kids for one reason or another, I share it—even if the post was sponsored. We are also very proud that our message is a positive one. Living gluten free isn’t easy and sometimes you can find a lot of negativity and fear floating around on the internet, especially when it relates to allergy children. We want to highlight you can do it attitude because Kid Allergy Travel is about lifting others and making them feel like they have their very own superpower–navigating the world gluten free!
Which brings me to why we named the site Kid Allergy Travel. I always looked at my son and was impressed by his super human strength—he survived through a very painful process before he got diagnosed and I thought of him as “Kid Allergy”—the hero able to leap buildings in a single bound, ya know because that’s what eating outside the home felt like—-every time my son took that leap of faith it seemed almost super human.
It is always hard to know what sets you apart from others. Perhaps the fact that there are just so few gluten free bloggers out there that focused on family travel? Maybe it was how I communicated with my community? Maybe it was the destinations I chose to travel to (Southeast Asia is a pretty big leap for someone who can potentially be harmed by hidden gluten in soy, oyster and fish sauces used throughout the region)? Maybe it is because I dedicated the site to every kid out there that has struggled with food? Under a section called “Fly” on the Our Approach area of the site, I dedicate Kid Allergy Travel to all the “Kid Allergy” Super Heroes out there. I do this every day because I am really inspired by every child out there with an allergy (like my son) because I know they have the super human strength to take on the fear of the unknown and live that much greater by doing so.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
That’s a hard question. The day I published my first blog post, I questioned if anyone would be out there. I wondered if anyone was ready and willing to listen. As a former technology person, I didn’t know how to develop my writer’s voice. When I started, I had never connected to others using social media—so it was a big challenge even to feel comfortable enough to talk to the world at large at all. So, as a brand, I am very proud that I have been able to create something from nothing and make it work.
And, the fact that this site is out there gaining followers and a real community of others that depend on it is a great source of pride for me. I am honored when companies choose to work with Kid Allergy Travel. I am also very appreciative when I hear from other allergy parents out there that are inspired by the work that Kid Allergy Travel has done.
But, these last few years were less about creating a new career for me and more about really building a lasting tribute to my son and others like him. I believe that I am the proudest that Kid Allergy Travel has shown my son that he is not alone. Although he is “different” he is really part of a great wide world filled with unique circumstances. I am proud of the positive message of community that has come out of Kid Allergy Travel and what it has brought my own family.
The reality of traveling gluten free isn’t always pretty. But, it has brought our family triumphs and has created an overall stronger family unit. I am most proud that this career choice has given my kids the first-hand knowledge of other communities, cultures and ways of life. I am overjoyed that through adventure, they can realize that “different” can be something beautiful and I can see every day that it builds strength, character, and empathy in a way nothing else could. My son took the challenge of navigating throughout Southeast Asia because he said he wanted to do it for others to prove that it can be done gluten free with two kids under ten years of age. When a ten year old can think outside himself and look toward inspiring others—- that’s the moment I was the proudest because I realized that Kid Allergy Travel was teaching more than just confidence and community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kidallergytravel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidallergytravel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kidallergytravel/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kid_allergy
Image Credit:
Kid Allergy Travel
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
