Explore every episode of the podcast ShandeeLand

Joshua Powers is a student at Nazareth University and the Founder & CEO of Safety Zone, a company dedicated to improving the lives of those with food allergies. Joshua shares his personal journey growing up with food allergies and how those experiences shaped his understanding of the disability and accessibility.

We dive into the controversial topic of peanut-free tables in elementary schools, exploring the pros, cons, and the unintended social consequences. Joshua then takes us inside campus life at Nazareth University, highlighting what the school gets right, where there's room to grow, and actionable suggestions for creating more inclusive dining spaces.

He opens up about the inspiration behind Safety Zone, the impact it's making, and his vision for the future. The conversation also ventures into more personal territory and raises the issue of dating and kissing and food allergies.

To wrap things up, we explore the potential of AI-powered food allergy apps, the tools that claim they can dissect menus and help people with allergies eat out more safely.

This is an honest, insightful, and forward-thinking discussion about advocacy, entrepreneurship, and living fully with food allergies.

“Please keep up this good work,” a patient once told Dr. Ahmar Iqbal — a moment that captured the heart of his mission. For him, helping even one person live a better life is the culmination of his life’s work.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Iqbal, senior leader at Genentech and Therapeutic Area Lead for Respiratory and Influenza, to discuss his leadership on the landmark OUtMATCH trial — the pivotal Phase III study that led to the 2024 FDA approval of Xolair, the first and only approved biologic that blocks IgE to treat food allergies.

Dr. Iqbal walks us through each phase of the study, which included both children and adults and focused on real-world clinical reactions — not just IgE test results. He also explains how Xolair is used alongside food avoidance, offering a new layer of protection for patients with food allergies.

With a rich career spanning GSK, Pfizer, and Eli Lilly, and decades of experience in immunology and clinical research, Dr. Iqbal brings depth, humanity, and a clear vision for the future of patient-centered care.

We're thrilled to welcome back Žana Usher, Founder and CEO of Žana DeVine Hospitality, for another insightful episode.

In our previous chat, Žana shared her incredible journey in the hospitality industry and emphasized the importance of attention to detail for an exceptional guest experience. Today, she's back, urging us to go the extra mile and elevate our hospitality game to
ensure our guests have the ultimate experience!

But that's not all – Žana has launched her very own podcast, "Global Dating Dynamics," on Instagram Live! She delves into the intriguing intersection of hospitality and dating – a topic that is unique and diverse.

Žana Devine Hospitality is a commitment to excellence in the hospitality industry. Her passion for creating a warm and productive work environment shines through, ensuring your team, services, and processes are exceptional.

Ready to discover the smallest things that make your guests feel special? Join us in this week's episode as Žana takes us on a journey of hospitality excellence!

Gayle Rigione is CEO and Co-Founder of Allergy Force. This multi-functional app has everyday features you'll use all the time and emergency features that could save your life if you make a mistake.  Her mission is to make life easier for people with food allergies to live on the go with more confidence and less anxiety. Her son was diagnosed with 14+ allergies in a world when food allergy information was sparse, and she shares who she leaned on for guidance and advice.  She talks about the tips, tricks, and information she used to empower her son to advocate for himself as they maneuvered a new world with food allergies. While on a trip to Europe and dining out, his much-used translation card got mangled, which became the seed of thought that led to Allergy Force. After identifying the pain points of having a food allergy and finding a better way of handling them, the Allergy Force app has many features and functions to mitigate those points. Gayle talks about how she turned this idea into a life-changing product and shares advice for any entrepreneur. Her personal and professional journey is quite impressive. Please take a listen.

Founder and CEO of Žana DeVine Hospitality, Žana had the privilege of being born into a fantastic hospitality family and grew up within the industry. This is where her passion for the world of hospitality began and while abroad gave her the incentive to earn a bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and a master’s degree in Hotel Management. Impressively, she also is fluent in four languages.  Žana DeVine Hospitality is a premium global training and coaching provider founded on the principle that hospitality is about providing outstanding guest services so that your guests have the best possible experience by focusing on the fine details of the guest interactions.  The result is also an excellent functioning environment for the hospitality staff.  Žana will ensure your team, services, and process are exceptional by providing a superior experience.  Please listen to this week's episode as Žana shares the smallest details of service that will make your guests feel special.

Lindiwe Lewis, founder of 'The Allergy Table' blog and co-host on the 'Desserted' Podcast, shares her experiences as a food allergy sufferer. Growing up in an era where there was limited information about allergies resulted in feelings of isolation and anxiety. In order not to feel so alone she began her businesses that allow for connections with others.  Lindi talks about overcoming the feeling of being a burden to others and working through the food allergy ‘what if’ scenarios when dining out.  She discusses the how and whys of meal prepping and how the television show “The Great British Bake Off” saved her life.

Christopher Gould is Vice President of In-Park Revenue at SeaWorld San Diego.  He is responsible for the lead operations and strategy of food & beverage, retail, photo, and ancillary revenue at California's parks (including SeaWorld San Diego, Aquatica, and Sesame Place).  He shares his inside tips, hidden secrets, and favorite parts of the parks.  He even goes so far as to fulfill his theme park fantasy.  Chris shares interview techniques to find the best talent and for getting at what lies beneath the surface.  He shares his leadership techniques to make sure that he is protecting and supporting all the roles in the organization and meeting their needs.  Find out why he uses "the smart dumb guy approach' and how this is successful for him.

Kathlena is the Allergy Chef.  She has over 200 food allergies and intolerances.  She is down to 9 safe foods that she can eat.  Additionally, most of the members of her household also suffer from food allergies that are different from the rest.  Although she cannot eat the food, her mission is to help people find their safe foods.  This is a story of someone who faced many hardships growing up and has now formed an incredible team that offers help to those in need.  She has a recipe blog and cookbooks and uses her RAISE platform to help people with food allergies and complex dietary restrictions.  She wants to change the world one bite at a time.

Chef Stephan C. Baity is the Director of Culinary Campus Services for Wofford College. He is also the founder of Pop’s Secret Seasoning by Stephan C. Baity, a memorial to his dad.  And Chef Stephan’s business name is Graffiti Carving. He grew up in the kitchen, and cooking served dual purposes of feeding his family and his creative outlet.  He started doing carving competitions because he wanted to be a cool dad and realized he hadn’t taken significant risks in his life.  He began his first fruit and vegetable carving competition using pumpkin carvings on a watermelon.  Today, his competition acumen is extensive, winning gold in several sculpting competitions, including winning the Food Network’s Cake Wars, Twice!  He shares behind-the-scenes details and provides competition advice. He is also a chef for celebrities and shares who was the biggest DIVA and who surprisingly wasn’t.

We are honored to have a driving force for the food allergy community, Priscilla Hernandez, join this week's episode. Her mission is to enlighten and educate people about food allergies, and she is succeeding in multiple ways. Her son, Zachy, has been diagnosed with multiple food allergies, and she shares their food allergy journey from Zacky's diagnosis to her advocacy work. She was astounded by the complexity of the school system and saw an opportunity to provide a solution. With her background in nonprofits and working directly with legislators and on education policy, she drafted 'Zacky's Bill.' The bill's purpose is to create guidelines for local education agencies to protect pupils with food allergies. Priscilla also does advocacy work with Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), and Zacky and the Hernandez Munoz Family are featured in Zacky's Kitchen:-Our Family Recipes on FARE's Living Teal Network. She is also authoring a children's book series, 'Super Zachy,' and the first is expected soon. Priscilla and Shandee talk about strategies of teaching a child to self-advocate. Priscilla also shares her advice on how to get involved and make a voice for yourself.

Keep up on all that the Hernandez Munoz family is doing from their website: https://www.zackysuniverse.com/.

The Senior Vice President of In-Park Resale at Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Nancy Hamlin, shares her professional journey and experiences.  Logistics is what she is excellent at, and intense planning for large-scale events is where she is happiest. Her work in hospitality and the entertainment industry is impressive.  She shares the mistakes she never saw coming and lessons learned.  Nancy talks about her best practices for addressing the challenges of the pandemic and shares her successes.  She shares her advice for other women that wish to make a career in hospitality.  Nancy has been honored as Woman of the Year by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and she tells her inspirational and touching story.

"Epi, You're My Best Friend" is written by the creative brilliance of Swapnil Patel.  He self-published this children's board book to help educate his daughter and other young children with food allergies on the importance of bringing epinephrine (Epi) everywhere. Swapnili's Café, which provides food allergy resources, is his side hustle to his work in advertising.  In this week's episode, Swapnil discusses his career and answers if advertising is anything like the media makes it seem (Mad Men, for example).  He talks about his genius behind the ads of some iconic and famous brands.  He shares his thoughts on how advertising has changed from print to the world of TikTok.  Shandee and Swapnil discuss the uniqueness of the responsibilities when running a small business.  He opens up about the unique and frustrating hurdles of being a food allergy parent and his goal of finding a solution to parents' anxiety and uncertainty. He found the book is an answer and, in the end, was a way to empower his daughter to advocate for her health and safety.   He also shares his advice to newly diagnosed food allergy parents.

To learn more about Swapnil and his beautiful family and purchase his book and other items, please visit www.swapniliscafe.com.

We were honored to have Fazoli's Director of Culinary Innovation, Rick Petralia, join this week's episode. Chef Rick had a long and distinguished career in operations before taking on a role as chef. He shares his incredible journey from a math major to chef and how one cook calling in sick changed everything. He discusses the importance of cross-training and how working in operations made him a better chef. You'll also hear Rick's valuable insights on innovation and technology as CertiStar's most recent partner.  He talks about the importance of reading reviews and how they are an invaluable tool. for success.  Chef Rick and Shandee discuss TIKTOK as a growing social media promotion, specifically the pasta chip trend and how Rick upped the ante.  Chef Rick shares the new and exciting things happening at Fazoli's and why their breadsticks are an essential part of his work.

Dive into the world of fearless travel with our latest episode featuring Allie Bahn! As a seasoned writer, content creator, educator, and consultant, Allie shares her awe-inspiring journeys through the unique lens of living with severe food allergies.

Starting her blog back in 2008, Allie has become a beacon of knowledge in the realm of safe and enjoyable travel for those with food allergies. Her website, missallergicreactor.com, is a treasure trove of information and a go-to resource for anyone seeking tips, tricks, and strategies for navigating the world with dietary restrictions.

Tune in to discover Allie's firsthand experiences, as well as gain insights into her online courses offering invaluable guidance for safe and worry-free travel both at home and abroad.

Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your first adventure, this podcast is a must-listen!

Dr. Reneé Matthews is a medical doctor that does not practice medicine in the traditional sense but educates about health in all media forms. She is a medical expert and correspondent, a professional health educator, blogger, author, speaker, and host. She hosts "Out of Office with Dr. Reneé," a part of Outcome Health, and is seen in 45,000+ doctors' offices across the US. She also hosts "Ask Dr. Reneé" which premiered as a platform to motivate and inspire people to live the life they deserve. She recently published "Mommy I Can't Breathe: The Modern Guide to Navigate Allergies and Asthma." The book details her real-life journey with severe asthma and allergies that began as an infant. Her story is proof that you can do all the things with an asthma and food allergies diagnosis. Dr. Reneé talks about her personal and professional journey and why some would categorize it as unconventional. She offers advice for those who want to take an unconventional path themselves. She also shares the most memorable, unusual, and random questions she has been asked. Dr. Reneé is passionate about addressing the health concerns of Black women. She talks about the problems Black women have in obtaining the best possible health and medical care. She offers the tools and knowledge needed to navigate the healthcare system, stay safe in the pursuit of care, and encourages patients to be active participants in their health and healthcare.

Chef Michael Mauri, Chef Instructor for Bistro 13 at East Valley Institute of Technology, has 30 years in the restaurant and hospitality arena.  He discusses the limitless career path possibilities and hospitality opportunities available to students today and Michael has done many throughout his notable career.  He shares his thoughts about teaching, mentoring, and instructing and how to get the best out of novices.  Michael talks about running a restaurant as a learning tool and preparing his students for the workforce.  He is also the Chef / Owner of Pro Chef Solutions (prochefsolutions.com), consulting on restaurant operations.  He has a unique ability to identify and determine what is not working and how to rectify and move forward by implementing solutions through training and leadership. He shares common mistakes made and offers roadmaps to improve the situation. Michael talks about how using technology in restaurants can help your business and finding the balance for the best results.  He also shares his advice for students and future chefs to make the most out of their career choice.

Kortney Kwong Hing was diagnosed with a peanut allergy as a young child and had multiple food allergies develop as an adult.  She also suffers from oral allergy syndrome, asthma, and eczema.  Kortney became involved in the allergy community by beginning the blog, Allergy Girl Eats.  After writing for many years, she felt that her personal story had been told and she searched for life balance. She wanted to continue to advocate for and support the food allergy community.  She does this by writing for a travel-review website AllergyTravels.com, a place to share your adventures and ask for advice traveling with allergies.  She co-hosts The Itch Podcast which is dedicated to breaking down the complex side of allergies.  And she launched Zestfull, an online magazine that celebrates life with food allergies.  Her mission is to empower those with allergies to live life to the fullest and not let their condition hold them back. Kortney joins this week’s episode to share her personal and professional journey with food allergies and her support of and for others diagnosed with food allergies.  As an ardent traveler and from her experiences living abroad, she shares her travel tips for those traveling with food allergies.

Chef Justin Fields is Corporate Executive Chef and Director of Research and Development at Bonefish Grill & Bloomin’ Brands International™.  Justin is creative and artsy; he is passionate and inspiring.  And it all comes out in his love of cooking and is evident in this week’s conversation with Shandee.  Justin attended the Culinary Arts program in high school where his desire for the culinary the arts began; it was another way to express his creativity.  He shares his professional journey from the culinary arts program at Johnson & Wales University to Roy’s Restaurant to Executive Chef and Director of R&D at Bonefish Grill.  Justin talks his successes and lessons learned along the way.  He shares how you can eat healthy and tasty by adding flavors but not adding calories.  And find out what he loves to cook at home.

Dr. Charise Grant Barnes is a clinical pharmacist who is passionately advocating and supporting individuals and families diagnosed with food allergies.  She combines her personal food allergy journey experiences with her pharmacy career and entrepreneur interests to provide a support system for others. Her mission is to bring awareness to food allergies, especially since her own son has been allergic to peanuts and tree nuts since he was a young child and she has an adult-onset food allergy.  She provides a support system and coaching for individuals and families after a food allergy diagnosis because the support system needed is different at different stages of a child’s life.

Lori Moussapour is a therapist, life coach, and educator.  She is the founder of To Empower U and its two specialty divisions, Food Allergy U and To Inspire U, specializing in food allergy support, education, and empowerment.  Her focus is to empower others to live fully despite a food allergy diagnosis.  She is especially committed to helping manage worry, stress, and anxiety by transforming perspectives through support and education. When her third child was diagnosed with an egg allergy, she saw a pressing need for help managing emotions and anxieties in parents as they navigated through their food allergy journey.  Lori offers her advice for new food allergy diagnosed families.  She talks about how food allergy anxiety has changed during the pandemic and how the transition back to “normal” may be more challenging.  And how much harder the work-life balance goal is due to a food allergy.

Learn more through  ToEmpowerU. 

Dr. Abby Herzig is CEO and Co-Founder of Belay, an innovative app to manage food allergies and confidently share important information with a network of caregivers.  A mom of three, one being a child with life threatening food allergies, she was troubled when handing him to someone else to care for him.  She recognized many safety gaps in daycares, preschools, and schools and mitigated her apprehension by building solutions for the unmet needs of children and families affected by the food allergy epidemic.  Dr. Herzig has a lot of exciting things in store for Belay, including a partnership with Elijah-Alavi Foundation to launch an allergy training and preparedness program - something they hope will help schools and daycares protect kids from life-threatening allergic reactions.

 Ever since she was a child, her fascination with psychology and the inner workings of the human mind has never ceased and she received her doctorate in clinical psychology.  Dr. Herzig and Shandee chat parenting practices, like teaching children skills for difficult conversations with others and the importance of saying you are sorry.

To find out more about the Belay App and Food Allergy Training and Preparedness Program, please visit https://www.webelay.com/

Michael Garozzo founded Garozzo’s Ristorante in 1989.  The restaurant business was a family business as his father, Salvatore and his uncle Alfio were waiters in fine restaurants all their lives and Michael followed his family’s traditions and started as a busboy at the age of 13.  Learning and being mentored by the best there is on the “Hill” in St. Louis, famous for its great Italian restaurants, Michael had always wanted to open his own establishment.  The journey from busboy in St. Louis to owning his own restaurant is a story of charm and delight.  Michael reflects on his many successes as a restaurateur- including the creation of their signature dish, Chicken Spiedini. He offers sage advice to those who are looking for confidence in opening up their own restaurant and tells an amusing story about one of the best advertising ideas he had that involved fire hydrants.

Lizzie Reynolds, owner and authorized vacation planner of both “Platinum Mouse” and “Pixie Lizzie Magical Food Allergy Travel Agent”, knows all things Disney.  Despite being adamantly against a vacation at Disneyland, she was persuaded to go and had her first true vacation and was able to worry less about her daughter’s multiple food allergies.  She started to make trips to Disney Parks monthly and take Disney Cruises yearly and realized that she could help other families with food allergies navigate their vacation so that they too could have the best experience of their lives and became an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner.  Lizzie offers her favorite places to be, see and do at Disney and shares some hidden gems.  Find out if Lizzie has eaten at every Disneyland restaurant and her dining reviews, highlights, and tips. 

Please also visit her website Allergy Free Mouse and PixieLizzie.com

Dr. Emily Williams Knight is the President and CEO of the Texas Restaurant Association and Education Foundation.   From third grade, her life's mission has been to provide hospitality and education. Her ambition propelled her notable career as the television show "Hotel" inspired it all.  Dr. Knight is impressively leading the restaurant industry through the COVID 19 pandemic by securing several waivers from Governor Abbott while also lobbying and securing federal support to help the restaurant and foodservice industry survive.  Dr. Knight talks about the changes in hospitality due to the pandemic that are likely to stay, the obstacles around current staffing issues, and the technological improvements that have developed in the last 15 months.  She is thankful that the public has rallied around the restaurant and hospitality industry and shares how the public can continue to show support.  Dr. Knight also shares her thoughts on the future of tipping.  “We Serve All Restaurants” isn’t just a tagline, she champions it.

We welcome back Lisa Cohen, the founder and CEO of The Kyah Rayne Foundation. Lisa, who tragically lost her daughter Kyah Rayne to an anaphylaxis reaction, returns with inspiring updates. The foundation has just launched new course specifically designed for restaurants and food service personnel. These courses aim to raise awareness and educate on the critical aspects of handling food allergies.

In this episode, Lisa shares her ongoing advocacy efforts, including taking on big pharma to push for price caps on epinephrine in Arizona. Her dedication doesn't stop there; she's also actively supporting schools in accessing epinephrine, a life-saving measure in allergy emergencies.

Lisa's work with The Kyah Rayne Foundation continues to make a meaningful impact, emphasizing the crucial need for increased awareness, education, and accessibility in the fight against food allergies.

For more information on The Kyah Rayne Foundation and their initiatives, visit: https://www.kyahraynefoundation.org/

Dr. William Reisacher is an Otolaryngic Allergist at Weill Cornell Medical College who sees people with a wide range of ear, nose, throat, and allergy problems. While his clinical expertise lies in the diagnosis and management of airborne and food allergies in adults and children, he has also developed an allergy toothpaste to combat respiratory allergies.  The toothpaste is designed to integrate into patients' everyday routines, desensitizing them to their allergen and boosting their immunity to the very airborne substances that cause allergy sufferers to sneeze and cough and wheeze. It contains an extra ingredient other toothpastes lack — extracts of the common airborne allergens.  After much success and suffering with a peanut allergy himself, Dr. Reisacher is the innovator of another toothpaste that may help relieve peanut allergies.  The toothpaste can be an excellent avenue for immunotherapy for allergies.  Dr. Reisacher joins the podcast to talk about his concept, the innovation process, and his hope to win the FARE Faith Challenge.

Chef Justin Benedict is an experienced plant-based food specialist with a demonstrated ability working in the health wellness, foodservice, and sustainable agriculture industries and is a developing partner with Local Alternative Foods.  Not preparing food ourselves has led to foods designed for preservation that are based on heavily processed ingredients. The nutritional destruction and high environmental footprint that occurs when heavy processing is done to food are at the heart of what Justin is combating.  Justin was significantly impacted by being raised on a cattle farm, working on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, and volunteering on a public ranch that hosted garden bed building and composting workshops.  He wants his greatest influence to be bringing the sustainability of food to the forefront of our food system.  Justin defines sustainability.  He suggests first steps you, personally, can make but also changes the restaurant and foodservice industry can initiate to be fresh whole food-focused.  He also discusses the importance of buying locally sourced foods and supporting regional farmers.

Hillary Tolle Carter is a food allergy mom and advocate, public relations specialist, speaker, writer, and community builder.  She has two boys, ages 8 and 10, both with multiple, life-threatening food allergies.   With the health challenges that both boys faced she immersed herself into her kids’ lives as mamas tend to do when taking on such great levels of worry.  It was a lot of stress and a lot of work as food allergy management isn’t just any ordinary responsibility of parenthood.  This took a toll, a very heavy toll, on Hillary and she speaks about her personal health journey and the undeniable importance of self-care.   Hillary and Shandee also talk about the additional obstacles having a food allergen that is outside of the Top-9, the bigger issue of the need to clearly know what we are eating, and how to advocate for better labeling laws.  Hillary also has her own podcast, “Taking Action!”, that brings people from all walks of life to talk about how food allergies impacted their lives and the pivot they made to make the food allergy community a better place. 

 Take Action! with Hillary Carter, a series with FARE, can be found at livingtealchannel.com and via YouTube on the Living Teal Channel.

Frank Idris, Vice President of Resort Operations, talks LEGOLAND.  Franks shares behind-the-scenes explorations, secrets, and not-to-miss experiences for an unbelievable adventure.  He talks a bit about the history and background of LEGOLAND that has made it the ultimate family destination.  Listen to Frank’s professional journey and how working in many of the hospitality positions allowed him to learn all the ins-and-outs and aspects of each job.  Frank chats about the challenges of the last year and new initiatives started.  He shares his customer service strategies to promote the success of operations and why empowering employees is the path to prosperity and overjoyed customers.

Phoebe Lapine is a food and health writer, gluten-free chef, speaker, and the voice behind the award-winning blog ‘Feed Me Phoebe’.  Phoebe’s debut memoir, ‘The Wellness Project’, chronicles her journey with the autoimmune disease, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.  She is also the host of the ‘SIBO Made Simple’ podcast and author of the new book by the same name which helps those diagnosed and fighting Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO).  Phoebe shares her wellness journey from her first big health scare, a diagnosis of Hashimoto Thyroiditis, and the writing of her first book.  She was then diagnosed with SIBO, a sign that something in your digestive system has gone wrong.  She went through stages where she denied the possibility and felt overwhelmed by it before finally coming to terms with what she needed to change aspects of her lifestyle altogether.  She offers advice on what is worth your time, your money, and your energy so that the things that nourish your body balance with the things that feed your spirit.

Michael Matarazzo has an impressive resume.   He was formally trained at The Culinary Institute of America.  He was named USA’s Chef of the Year by The American Culinary Federation.  He has been to the Culinary Olympics both as a competitor and coach.  He is an ACF Certified Competition Judge and has received numerous medals, both domestic and international in his 20 year culinary career and is currently the Executive Chef at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Virginia and host of “Kitchen Brain” Podcast.  It was during the intense and extensive preparation of the Master Chef Exam that the focus and intensity that drove Michael to be successful also drove him to have extreme mental stress.  He withdrew from the exam.  He now says that this was the best thing to ever happen to him.  Asked to speak at a conference, he decided to get honest and vulnerable about his mental health journey.  The response was overwhelmingly positive and the attendees were inspired to share their struggles with him.  Now, he is Life Coach and Founder of Be Better Culinary Perspectives and Founder of Chefs for Change.  In this week’s episode Michael provides guidance for self-care and advises on empowering yourself, your teammates and your employees.

Sara Shannon knows a parent’s greatest grief.  Her daughter, Sabrina, passed at the age of 13 due to an anaphylaxis reaction from inadvertently eating her food allergen during school lunch.  Sara has worked tirelessly in her daughter's memory bestowing her name and her courageous spirit to Sabrina’s Law. Sabrina’s Law requires all Ontario Schools to establish and maintain an anaphylaxis policy to help students with serious allergies.  This was the first legislation of its kind in the world and has served as a model for legislation across Canada as well as in the United States.  Sara, a Food Allergy Advocate and Board Member of FAACT, shares Sabrina’s story.  We learn about this incredible young woman and her zest for life.  Sara made a promise to Sabrina and nothing was going to keep her from fulfilling that promise.  Sara shares the steps she took and the actions necessary in making this bill a law.  We also learn about Sara’s determination to help others in the additional advocacy work she is doing.  She offers advice and guidance on how to be an advocate and how impactful a letter can be.

Greg Graber, CEO and Founder of Heritage Restaurant Brands, is a results-driven restaurant executive with extensive senior leadership experience.  His diverse management portfolio includes Operations, Marketing, Facilities and Construction, Development, Purchasing, HR, and New Product Development.  From beginning to end, Greg shares his wisdom from years of experience in this informative and interesting conversation.  Listeners can expect stories of success and mistakes, as well as antidotes and guidance on how they can achieve their goals.  It is impossible not to learn something at every turn.

Cooking was always her first love, since Fourth Grade, and it is now her career and business.  Chef Raechel Barfield, Founder of Māla Girl Broths, shares the beautiful story of her mom’s dream becoming her own and how this dream developed into an incredible business.  Raechel shares her culinary journey and how it lead to the development of Māla Girl Broths. Her mission is to provide organically crafted broth and soup mixes that bring purpose to what you eat and sip. 

Brian Wayne, VP of Customer Success at QSR Automations, joins Shandee to discuss how Covid-19 affected restaurant off-premise technology and the nuances of balancing technology and operations with guest experiences.  Brian leads the Implementation, Project Management Training, and Support Services groups, guiding customers to get the most out of QSR products.  He shares his experiences, priorities, and difficulties being in a customer success position and shares his favorite part of leading an organization of people.  He also offers his predictions of future innovation in technology.  Please tune in to listen!

In this podcast episode, our guest is Natalie Rice, owner of the peanut-sniffing service dog named Harley, who has gained fame on Instagram. Natalie shares the story of her daughter, who experienced a traumatic bullying incident that heightened her anxiety over a peanut allergy, making dining out even more challenging.

The podcast delves into the family's experiences navigating life with a peanut-sniffing service dog, the unique challenges her daughter faces due to the allergy, and the positive impact Harley has had on their daily lives. Additionally, the discussion touches on the development and features of the app that showcasing Harley and provides valuable information related to food allergies.

Overall, the podcast episode offers insights into the world of service dogs, the emotional journey of living with a severe food allergy, and the innovative use of technology through the app featuring the internet-famous peanut-sniffing service dog, Harley.

Find the app here: https://www.detectiveharleyfadd.com/

Rebecca Greene is an author, licensed social worker, and food allergy awareness advocate.  She writes inspiring stories to empower children and help them overcome challenges.  In this episode, Rebecca shares her son's food allergy journey and the anxiety that overwhelmed her. We also get to hear about how she found inspiration in writing a picture book series with an important central theme: allergies! A discussion ensues between Rebecca and Shandee about the mental health aspects of having food allergies or having a loved one that does. Rebeca offers helpful coping mechanisms. She also provides recommendations for conversations with school personnel and pediatricians or allergists.  Rebecca talks about her book series and the need to be realistic, entertaining, and uplifting in her writings.

For this week’s episode, Shandee welcomes Tom Fricke, CEO of Bar Louis, for an informative and insightful conversation.  Tom discusses the shifts that the business made during Covid-19 and how they completed 5 to 10 years of changes in the last year and exited it with a better and completely different business.  He shares his career journey and the whos and the whats that helped him evolve his leadership philosophy and why it is important to him to send hand-written communication.  Please tune in!

Sarah Matheson is Co-Founder and Creative Director of  Hungry Harry’s – a food allergy-friendly food company with five baking mixes that are free from the Top-14 food allergens.  Sarah, the consummate storyteller, shares the incredible account of Harry’s first reaction while the family was traveling in Thailand and how that experience led her to create Hungry Harry’s.   She offers her advice on traveling with food allergy management in mind.  Sarah and Shandee discuss the differences between Australia and the US in the treatment of allergies.  Sarah is also a documentary photographer and has worked with FARE’s advocacy event ‘Courage at Congress’ and talks about how that was inspiring to her.  Sarah shares her must-listen advice for food allergy parents and what it takes to be an entrepreneur. 

We welcome Pete Gibson, CIO/CTO for Johnny Rockets and Friendly’s Restaurant, to ShandeeLand for this week’s episode.  Pete is responsible for all aspects of their technology program and IT organization.  He sits down with Shandee and discusses why technology is a major enablement of a restaurant and how technology is improving hospitality.  Interestingly, Pete had an integral part in developing Naval defense and intelligence systems.  Pete likes to work with “think on your feet people” and chats about his interview process and his go-to question and what he looks for in the answer.  Pete also shares his favorite part of leading an organization of people.

Danny Klein is the director of digital content at Food News Media, publisher of QSR and FSR magazines and he joins Shandee for this week’s podcast.  They discuss the struggles restaurants have faced during Covid-19, how they adjusted and what the future may look like.   He also shares the behind-the-scenes and day-to-day look of being a journalist while telling everyone why he loves it.  He talks about how digital and social media have impacted journalism.  Listen to find out where he lands on the chicken sandwich wars.

In our new episode, Shandee is joined by Dr. Edwin Kim.  Dr. Kim is a food allergy dad and pediatric allergist and immunologist whose research focuses on food allergy, immunotherapy, and chronic idiopathic urticaria. He is currently the director of the UNC Food Allergy Initiative (UNC FAI), which investigates the biological basis of food allergy as well as new forms of immunotherapy as a treatment for food allergy.  This episode is a wealth of information about food allergy testing and diagnostics.  Dr. Kim is also a food allergy father and shares how his patients and research subjects helped him in his response to his son and daughter's diagnosis, but also how his and his family’s experiences have made him a better doctor.

We kick off Food Allergy Awareness week with Kyle Dine, CEO and Founder of Equal Eats. Kyle shares his personal transformation as an 80’s child with limited information surrounding food allergies and taking risks and being dismissive about his allergies through a severe food allergy reaction in which he wasn’t prepared. The anaphylactic reaction was his moment to realize he needed to reevaluate his life and determined that his life’s mission was to help others. His professional journey includes a decade of work in allergy education as a trusted speaker and musician. And as an avid traveler, Kyle realized the language barrier can be problematic especially with food allergies, and found the importance of putting allergy information in writing and in their language. He solved this issue by creating Equal Eats which provides professional translation cards to help the allergy community convey allergens in foreign languages. Kyle and Shandee talk about the difficulty of eating out with food allergies and how they are on a mission to help both the service industry and customers with their needs. Kyle also treats us to his song, “Food Allergies Rock.”

In this week’s episode, Caroline Verdon joins Shandee to chat about her embarrassing moments and funny anecdotes she has from her years in the industry. We put on our headphones for a stimulating chat with this award-winning radio presenter, producer, journalist, and podcast host of "At Least You Didn't".  This hysterical conversation will make you laugh out loud!

In this episode, Shandee converses with food allergy advocate Stacey Saiontz.  Stacey’s journey into food allergy advocacy began because her son was diagnosed with 27 food allergies.  Stacey works closely with FARE and has spearheaded the passage of several pieces of legislation in New York State, including training of educators to recognize anaphylaxis and how to treat it; and allowing students to self-carry prescribed epinephrine. Impressively, her son also supported the cause by championing particular legislation that proposed school buses carry epinephrine.  Stacey shares her advice and experience being a mom with a son with food allergies, while navigating school and friends.  She also chats with Shandee about her work with several holocaust education and breast cancer charities.

Manik Suri, CEO and Founder of Therma, joined Shandee to discuss his mission to help protect our food, health and planet though smart technology.  Therma builds safety and sustainability tools to eliminate food waste and improve energy efficiency to protect consumers and combat climate change.  Therma is leading the way in smart technology to tackle the 1.6 billion ton food waste problem.  Listen how.

We have the pleasure of hosting Diva Galan, an attorney, blogger, and dedicated Food Allergy Mom. Her story is one of resilience and transformation, driven by her children's food allergies.  Diva's journey began when her son experienced an anaphylactic reaction to milk at just 6 months old. Additionally, her daughter was diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). Removing dairy from their home due to her son's allergy had an unexpected positive impact on her daughter's health.

This moment led Diva to begin her food allergy advocacy journey. She started by sharing allergy-friendly meal photos on Instagram, which quickly evolved into a mission to help others facing similar challenges. Through her efforts, Diva's family began to eat healthier, her kids developed a love for cooking, and she became a valuable resource for the food allergy community.

Diva's website, FoodAllergyDiva.com, is a hub of information for those dealing with food allergies. It provides allergy-friendly recipes, research updates, travel tips,
and a supportive community.

In this episode, Diva also discusses her children's recent entry into school and their journey of self-advocacy. Her insights and experiences offer valuable guidance for parents facing similar challenges.

Join us as we explore Diva Galan's inspiring journey, and how her passion for advocacy has transformed her family's life while making a positive impact on countless others.

Meenal Lele is the founder and CEO of Lil Mixins, an early food allergen introduction solution.  When her 10-month-old son erupted in hives and his lip swelled after he ate an egg, she and her husband were baffled. All signs pointed to an allergic reaction, yet their baby had just been tested for food allergies and the results were negative for egg.  One week after her son’s first food allergy reaction, the results of the Learning Early About Peanuts (LEAP) Study was released and showed that feeding foods in infancy can reduce their risk of developing a food allergy to that food.  She knew she could do better to help her second son and wanted to help prevent the onset of food allergies in all children, so set out to develop Lil Mixins.  This episode is a wealth of information about the early introduction of foods, gut microbiomes, allergy testing, and food challenges.

As Revel Systems’ Chief Customer Officer, Leslie Leaf oversees all aspects of the post-sale customer journey including support and account management. Energetic and analytically minded with a background in IT, Leslie focuses on people, process, and technology improvements to minimize turn-over, improve customer satisfaction, and decrease support costs.  Throughout the conversation, it is obvious how much she is dedicated to her craft and to her team.  Her leadership team has been with her for over 5 years and it is a testament to her management style and the company culture.  She offers advice for women in a male dominated field. She also shares her mistakes along the way and how she pivoted from those lessons learned.  Leslie chats about her favorite outrageous tech support calls and her philanthropic work. 

We have been honored to speak to 49 exceptional guests that we are celebrating on our 50th episode. Please join the team as they converse about a few of the many memorable exchanges Shandee had with the guests.  CertiStar team members Richard Poczulp, Kelli Serrano and Marny Leary join Shandee as they cry, laugh and muse over a sampling of these conversations.