A Weekend Well Spent

This weekend I traveled to Denver, Colorado for a business trip (I know, sounds adult-ish, right?) For many people, business traveling is a monotonous and tiresome task. Constantly flying, sleeping in unfamiliar beds and being away from home can be less than ideal. When it’s your first time, however, business traveling is a new and exciting adventure; not to mention, an invaluable learning experience.

I traveled to Denver to help my bosses, Daniel Lemin and Steven Tan, promote the launch of Selectivor at the annual Food Allergy Bloggers Conference (FABlogCon). Selectivor is a physician-curated, social app for anyone with food allergies, dietary restrictions or strong food preferences. With almost 700 foods and 80 different diets, Selectivor allows users to create their own “Food Profiles” to share with friends, family, co-workers and more. Users can also create and join “Events” to ensure all members are always able to eat their way. It’s a useful tool for everything from hosting parties, to keeping track of your personal diet (Yes, I just gave you my Selectivor elevator pitch.) As an intern, I assisted Lemin and Tan with the startup of the app; watching and helping ideas turn into tangible content and a functioning tool.

The FABlogCon was crowded with food allergy bloggers and sufferers from across the country, as well as other businesses and services designed specifically for people with diet restrictions. It was a perfect event to raise awareness and promote Selectivor. The trip not only taught me how to successfully pitch the app to potential users and food bloggers, but also how to represent a company on my own and build relationships with food allergy and dietary specialists. Creating meaningful conversation with professionals and topic experts was an exciting challenge I was fortunate to experience.

Like many business trips, I didn’t have time to explore the city, visit Colorado Springs or hike to the top of Pikes Peak. I did, however, spend my time doing what I love; conversing with others, growing in my career and advocating for a good cause and a business I care about. Throw in the beautiful hotel with a great view from my balcony, and I’m convinced this “business traveling/adulting” thing isn’t so bad after all.