Meet Vanessa Ray | Travel Enthusiast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vanessa Ray and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vanessa, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
At one point in life I worked on a project for a company that required me and Laila to travel weekly by plane for 1.5 years and then every other weekend for another 6 months. I actually loved it and all of the tips I learned along the way made me want to create products that would make travel easier for parents. The countless number of moms I saw angry or emotional in the airport with their kids usually stemmed from the child(ren) being bored and expressing that feeling through restlessness and tantrums. I knew my experience traveling so much with a toddler could be really helpful for moms who weren’t used to the airport experience with a little one. I started off with blog posts to give tips and share some of the experiences we had in different cities around the world. That eventually grew into our product launch of travel activities for kids, which includes and activity book and 3 card games.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
By day I work in compliance, all of my other time is dedicated to working on Laila’s Luggage and creating experiences for Laila throughout the world that are helping to shape her personality. It’s so important for me to teach Laila about the world early in life so that she always has different perspectives to pull from as she grows up. Building this brand with her has been so insightful for the both of us and I want other families to know it’s possible for them as well.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Dallas is an ever changing city, aside from college this has been where I have spent the majority of my life. If a friend were to visit I would take them to eat in the Bishop Arts district at 303 grill (this is one of my favorite brunch spots). I went to high school not too far from this area, so I could explain how much the neighborhood has changed in the past ten years. I would also want them to visit Pencil on Paper Gallery in Addison. This art gallery is owned by two really amazing artists. Prior to COVID, Laila took weekly yoga and art classes at this gallery (I’m hoping to get her back their regularly again sometime soon). The Arboretum is always one of my favorite places to visit in Dallas when the weather is nice. And of course because we love travel so much we would want to take our friends to the Frontiers of Flight Museum. Dallas really has so many amazing things to check out for so many different personality types, I would need to personalize each itinerary for my friends based on their character traits.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A previous job of mine that shifted into a travel position is what made extensive travel a reality for me and Laila. I had a manager who created space for me on a travel team once our project moved from Dallas, Tx to a client site in a different state. If she wouldn’t have created that space for me I wouldn’t have been able to explore so many places with Laila so quickly.

Website: https://www.LailasLuggage.com

Instagram: @Lailas_Luggage

Image Credits
Chasidy Alvarez Steve Jackson