About
Lauren Weiss, founder of the Food Allergy Website, created this to help people feel less isolated as they navigate a life with food allergies. By sharing information with each other and opening up a dialogue across many sectors, we can accomplish 3 things that we really need: increase empathy, decrease anxiety and find a cure.
This is the third website created by Weiss. The first was youngwidow.org which connected young widows in a pre-facebook era. Founded in 2001, it was the first of its kind and helped thousands of members as they started a new life. At the time when Lauren's husband passed away, there was no online presence for a widow aged 30. In the nascent internet age of 1999, a search for young widow turned up either 80 year olds or spiders. Lauren felt that there should be an internet presence for this important, yet statistically insignificant population. Eerily, its creation was just before the attacks of September 11 and overnight the site became the gold standard for hope for young widows. The connections made on the site's bulletin board soon evolved into get-togethers in person, first in New York City, and then around the country. A 501 (c) 3 organization named Chapter Two was founded and Lauren ran it for 15 years, helping so many people along the way, including herself.
The second website was a little different - it focused on food in her hometown of Westfield, NJ. Lauren loved to cook, grocery shop and dine out. You could say she is obsessed with food. She found it odd that there was no food reviews in her local papers, and this was before the Patch. After attending her college roommate's wedding in Sonoma County, CA, she found it intriguing that everyone she met had a blog. In NJ in 2009, most people had never heard of a blog before. That was when WestfieldFoodie.com was created. The food review void was filled and the site was a hit, amassing over 5,000 subscribers. After several years, the site was shut down due to an interstate move from New Jersey to Massachusetts. The food blog website thing didn't really translate North of Boston - there are only so many articles one can write about chowder, lobster rolls, roast beef sandwiches and baked beans.
So third time's the charm. Lauren is determined to make the Food Allergy Website her most successful website venture yet. Right now, so much is happening on the medical research front and food allergy marketplace. Tremendous growth is expected in this industry, and the race for a cure is heating up. Now is the time to take a step back and look at the big picture. Who are the movers and shakers who are inching us closer to safety and peace of mind? She knows what people want to read and how to connect with others in highly original ways that work. Recently she worked alongside a nutritionist intern from Simmons College. After she asked her about a thousand questions, she thought why shouldn't everyone have access to a nutritionist? And while we're at it, let's find a flight attendant and a chef and a school nurse. This is how the concept for this website came about. Lauren has endured so many scenarios that an allergy mom can experience and has survived raising her allergic daughter from kindergarten to college with her sanity and sense of humor (barely) intact. But she is still learning along the way, as we all are.
Read more about Lauren in her blog Peanut Envy - another page right out of the real life of an allergy mom
Please contact us at www.facebook.com/foodallergywebsite. We look forward to hearing from you!
This is the third website created by Weiss. The first was youngwidow.org which connected young widows in a pre-facebook era. Founded in 2001, it was the first of its kind and helped thousands of members as they started a new life. At the time when Lauren's husband passed away, there was no online presence for a widow aged 30. In the nascent internet age of 1999, a search for young widow turned up either 80 year olds or spiders. Lauren felt that there should be an internet presence for this important, yet statistically insignificant population. Eerily, its creation was just before the attacks of September 11 and overnight the site became the gold standard for hope for young widows. The connections made on the site's bulletin board soon evolved into get-togethers in person, first in New York City, and then around the country. A 501 (c) 3 organization named Chapter Two was founded and Lauren ran it for 15 years, helping so many people along the way, including herself.
The second website was a little different - it focused on food in her hometown of Westfield, NJ. Lauren loved to cook, grocery shop and dine out. You could say she is obsessed with food. She found it odd that there was no food reviews in her local papers, and this was before the Patch. After attending her college roommate's wedding in Sonoma County, CA, she found it intriguing that everyone she met had a blog. In NJ in 2009, most people had never heard of a blog before. That was when WestfieldFoodie.com was created. The food review void was filled and the site was a hit, amassing over 5,000 subscribers. After several years, the site was shut down due to an interstate move from New Jersey to Massachusetts. The food blog website thing didn't really translate North of Boston - there are only so many articles one can write about chowder, lobster rolls, roast beef sandwiches and baked beans.
So third time's the charm. Lauren is determined to make the Food Allergy Website her most successful website venture yet. Right now, so much is happening on the medical research front and food allergy marketplace. Tremendous growth is expected in this industry, and the race for a cure is heating up. Now is the time to take a step back and look at the big picture. Who are the movers and shakers who are inching us closer to safety and peace of mind? She knows what people want to read and how to connect with others in highly original ways that work. Recently she worked alongside a nutritionist intern from Simmons College. After she asked her about a thousand questions, she thought why shouldn't everyone have access to a nutritionist? And while we're at it, let's find a flight attendant and a chef and a school nurse. This is how the concept for this website came about. Lauren has endured so many scenarios that an allergy mom can experience and has survived raising her allergic daughter from kindergarten to college with her sanity and sense of humor (barely) intact. But she is still learning along the way, as we all are.
Read more about Lauren in her blog Peanut Envy - another page right out of the real life of an allergy mom
Please contact us at www.facebook.com/foodallergywebsite. We look forward to hearing from you!
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