Travel Blogger Becca Ingle: “When you are traveling with young children, anything catered to make…

Travel Blogger Becca Ingle: “When you are traveling with young children, anything catered to make their life easier makes your life easier”

…I would say to create a theme and content that goes hand and hand with your day to day. Do not try to be a home blogger if you do not have home projects going on, and don’t try to be a travel blogger if you hate trips etc. I also think it’s important to outline your commitments when you are on trips that are related to influencing. In the beginning, I would offer the star and moons to hotels just to have a free stay. I found myself waking up at 6am in different cities to try to get all the shots I wanted and I would be burnt out by the end of the day. I learned my value and what I can commit to now when we head on trips with the family and it feels more like a vacation then work.

As part of my series about “exciting developments in the travel industry over the next five years”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Becca Ingle.

Becca Ingle is an avid family travel blogger, born & raised in North Carolina, she has two children; Lainey age 5 and Roman age 4 that she loves bringing on trips to showcase all the fun things they do around the world. See her guides featured in @forbestravelguides and @familytraveller and her blog www.beccaingle.com

Thank you so much for joining us Becca! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Of course! We vacationed to Turks & Caicos on our honeymoon back in 2013 and fell in love with the island so much we brought both our kids back multiple times. I started getting questions from friends about our recommendations on where we stayed, what we did, etc and decided to do a full blog post on the trip. After that, I just continued to document all our travels and it all started to really take off online.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I was working with the Kimpton Hotel in Winston Salem NC in the early days and their PR team asked me if I would like to write about my experience in @Forbes. That is where the travel connection started & I have continued to work with the editors at Forbes on all my travels since!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I received an email from a “Sephora team” for their Christmas campaign. I signed up per their email to do an online interview to be selected for the team. When I got on the interview there was no one there… and just someone typing instructions. I quickly realized it was a scam, and I learned to always check the email. If it’s not from “@sephora.com” or some made up email, it’s highly likely it’s a scam. I also learned to always have my guard up on this industry.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

I think my blog stands out because it is hard to travel in general with kids and document it on top of that. There are not many family travel bloggers out there and I enjoy show casing every aspect.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Can you share a story about that?

I would say to create a theme and content that goes hand and hand with your day to day. Do not try to be a home blogger if you do not have home projects going on, and don’t try to be a travel blogger if you hate trips etc. I also think it’s important to outline your commitments when you are on trips that are related to influencing. In the beginning, I would offer the star and moons to hotels just to have a free stay. I found myself waking up at 6am in different cities to try to get all the shots I wanted and I would be burnt out by the end of the day. I learned my value and what I can commit to now when we head on trips with the family and it feels more like a vacation then work.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I leaned on other friends that were blogging before me to get me started. One of my best friends, Emily, had a successful food blog, and I would ask her questions nonstop about how she was paid online. I would message them questions about building my website to which companies I should reach out. I think it is important to build a network with people that are in the same timeline as you to lean on and share success stories. It is also important to have supportive friends that are not in the industry as well and understand your intentions.

Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?

This year, before the virus hit of course, was going to be our busiest travel year yet. I hope to pick that schedule up as soon as this is over and bring new destination guides for families to mimic in the future. I hope to bring more video/drone footage in the future and strive for more IGTV content so my readers can see fuller picture destinations.

Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation?

I am trying to help families have a clearer picture of a vacation destination before booking versus just seeing beautiful pictures online. As a mom of two kids, I want to know “does this hotel have a hot tub? Are their onsite childcare you trust? How safe did you feel staying here?” and get those questions and be fully transparent with my followers. I think it is hard to find influencers that share the rare details on traveling with kids.

How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?

Hotels might not want to work with me if I am being fully transparent when I am not happy with things. It might create some backlash on other people’s opinions on the place as well.

Can you share 5 examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers like to travel?

I think they will be working heavily with influencers to highlight destinations and already are. I know it is going to change drastically after the pandemic and I am not sure what that will look like. I do think hospitality and travel companies will move more to app functionalities for the consumer. I have seen this very successful with four season’s resorts, where you can log into the app to check in and virtually chat with any hotel rep about your needs.

You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?

I would say it would start with from start to finish booking the trip, the communication prior and during the experience, and the memories made. My “perfect vacation experience” would be first class seats to a tropical island, with a concierge team waiting for us in our own private shuttle, to a 5 star resort that has 5 star restaurants and every on-site kid amenity you can think of. When you are traveling with young children, anything catered to make their life easier makes your life easier.

Can you share with our readers how have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?

Especially during these times I have enjoyed being able to use my platform to give back with giveaways every week that will benefit people right now. I recently did one for an adult bike and a children’s bike at the same time, and it felt really good to know these bikes would help with peoples health/stress at such a trying time in the world.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I would love to create an eco-friendly mommy and me swimwear line in the future where proceeds could go towards funds or future trips I could gift to people that cannot afford to take trips. I think a movement of more family travel would be great ☺

How can our readers follow you on social media? You can follow me @beccaingle and read all my guides : www.beccaingle.com

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Travel Blogger Becca Ingle: “When you are traveling with young children, anything catered to make… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Future Of Beauty: “Lasers That Can Help Grow New Hair”, With Tamim Hamid

The most important advice would be to always listen to your gut feelings and don’t hesitate to pursue your goals. Many people delay or put off their desires and miss opportunities in life as they get used to not listening to themselves. Especially after the age of 25, it seems like we have built up enough knowledge and experience to know what we want and what would be good for us. As we age, it becomes easier to follow our instincts if one knows how to listen to them. Otherwise, the opposite is true if we learn to ignore them. Many people overthink, using their heads, which can sometimes be limiting.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tamim Hamid.

The inventor and CEO of Theradome, scientist Tamim Hamid began his career at Kennedy Space Center (NASA), where he designed various cutting-edge biomedical technologies including designing and implementing laser systems. Prior to Theradome, Tamim was Senior Vice President and the leader of the Worldwide Medical Division for Sanmina.

The Theradome helmet uses laser hair regrowth treatment known as Laser Phototherapy (LPT), the most powerful and effective treatment for hair loss. Unlike Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) devices, their laser light targets the stem cells at the base of hair follicles. This allows the formation of a new photonic pathway that can restore hair to a healthy state. Easy-to-wear at home or at the office, it contains 80 laser diodes, cool airflow and auto-scalp detection in a full coverage helmet. FDA-cleared, the helmet is recommended by 4 out of 5 hair loss experts such as Bosley, Hair Club and other prominent medical clinics from all around the world.

Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

It started at NASA, Kennedy Space Center, working on LASERS as a biomedical engineer. We designed and implemented many leading-edge LASER technologies for the Space Shuttle Program and astronauts. Some LASERS were used to cut metal and other materials and some were used to measure, so they were as harmless as a grocery store barcode scanner. Therefore, after having about 30 years of LASER experience, I came up with a brand-new type of LASER. With my bio-medical engineering degree, I saw a huge opportunity to transfer my knowledge of LASERS to help people with hair loss.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I have always been a huge fan of ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and Barbara Eden. During my teenage years, it was my dream to be just like Major Anthony Nelson and work for NASA and become an astronaut and live in Cocoa Beach, FL. I lived in Cocoa Beach, worked for NASA and met my beautiful wife. I just stopped short of becoming an astronaut. However, the ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ connection didn’t end there! After NASA, I created Theradome, a laser device that helps people with hair loss to grow new hair. One day, I received a call inquiring about our device for Ms. Barbara Eden. Of course, I was shocked! I responded immediately by sending my Theradome device to her.

It didn’t end there! I finally met Barbara in person when she presented me with The Innovation Award at the renowned Hollywood Beauty Awards in 2018. Everything came full circle. I met the person who inspired me to go to NASA and now I am helping her with her hair condition.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I strongly believe that experience, knowledge and just plain good luck can make someone pretty successful. But, in the end, it really is about people because products, processes and tools are easy to solve. Finding great people is one of the most difficult challenges for any company. Good people cost money but they can make things happen.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There were many great leaders and colleagues in my 30+ year career that inspired me, but the ones that stood out the most were the ones with passion and the ability to lead by example. I would say the best Project Manager I have ever learned from was at Kennedy Space Center. She really knew how to manage all aspects of a project and get the respect from everyone involved. She would go into a room with many people with different and opposing viewpoints and in the end she would find commonality amongst all of them and redirect them towards a common goal. This was amazing to watch.

The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

We are in the midst of a third wave of a technology revolution. The first was the industrial revolution, the second wave was all technology and now the third wave has to do with applying technology to the human body. Applying, for example, non-invasive photonic energy to stimulate the mitochondria. This will be the ultimate feat in naturally stimulating the body to repair and wake up cells and will become the next beauty frontier. Today, we are just cutting, removing, and adding materials to enhance the body. The next wave will allow us to modify the body without damaging it.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

The Hippocratic Oath stipulates to do no harm, and this is something that Theradome technology offers; it has zero side effects and in fact, this is one of the only reasons I pursued this technology as I believe that this will be the future. For example, light is very necessary and without light, no humans would be able to live. The right light stimulates and visible light is very healing. Therefore, it is essential to understand and utilize the visible light spectrum to our advantage since our bodies are optimized to process light for maintaining our lives.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

  1. Beauty tech is in its infancy as physics will solve many biomedical issues. Unfortunately, today the beauty industry does not have many physicists working in it. Physicians and chemists have reached their limit with their tools.
  2. We are excited that the next generation of beauty tech tools will be mostly at-home products and the quality and efficacy of these products will improve substantially.
  3. Integrating medical grade at-home devices with apps will allow better relationships with clinicians, stylists, friends and family. This will allow better management and outcomes.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

  1. It concerns me that unscrupulous medical and non-medical professionals promise clinical benefits with very little proof or evidence. This should be addressed but unfortunately money talks and gives some professionals too much authority.
  2. Products with little or no benefits along with too many claims. The FTC/FDA and others are trying to combat this but they have a long way to go because professional sponsors are paid well to promote these types of products.
  3. Consumers can be easily fooled and driven to medical procedures based on very little information. Sometimes these procedures and solutions are very risky. There should be strict guidelines for submitting procedures that have gone wrong to an independent organization as well as strict oversight.

You are an expert in science and technology. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful” with tech? (Please share a story or example for each.)

  1. Always try to go to higher altitudes, the higher the altitude the better it is for your body. The body works much better when there is a lack of oxygen, it actually has to work harder. When it works harder it becomes more efficient. There are many clinical studies showing that lack of oxygen (hypoxia) actually increases well being and people living in high altitudes live longer than people living at sea level.
  2. The human body was meant to keep moving, the more we move the less we age, always keep moving. Stagnation brings negative thoughts, one has to be fluid in life and moving helps with feeling beautiful.
  3. The two absolute best exercises to keep young and beautiful are yoga and swimming. Yoga helps with oxygen and breathing, and swimming has no impact on joints. Both stimulate every muscle, tendon, ligament, tissue in every part of your body, including one’s face!
  4. Everyone should be using a steam spa as this allows the body to open up as the skin, sometimes referred to as the third lung. Most people do not realize that the body’s lymph system needs to be flowing to allow proper blood flow.
  5. Try the new red LED beds, these are similar to the tanning beds where one lies in a full length array of LED lights. The benefits of red light have been proven for many cardiovascular conditions.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

The concept of saying hello to people in real life. This is a lost art. I believe that this has to be one of the most essential ways of communicating with each other. A simple hello when seeing someone walking down the street or when someone opens the door for others or just anytime it should be said. Sometimes it might not be practical but it is amazing what can come out of saying hello to someone. If more people said hello, I believe we would go back to socializing again and learn how to communicate with each other as it always starts with just saying ‘hello.’ You never know what it can trigger!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The most important advice would be to always listen to your gut feelings and don’t hesitate to pursue your goals. Many people delay or put off their desires and miss opportunities in life as they get used to not listening to themselves. Especially after the age of 25, it seems like we have built up enough knowledge and experience to know what we want and what would be good for us. As we age, it becomes easier to follow our instincts if one knows how to listen to them. Otherwise, the opposite is true if we learn to ignore them. Many people overthink, using their heads, which can sometimes be limiting.

How can our readers follow you online?

www.theradome.com

https://www.instagram.com/theradome

https://www.facebook.com/Theradome/

The Future Of Beauty: “Lasers That Can Help Grow New Hair”, With Tamim Hamid was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.