Arianne Schreer and Alexis Pizzurro are sisters dedicated to help those with allergies find connections in the world. These connections can be of romance, friendship, or even just companionship. If you suffer from an allergy, this site may be for you!
Her Campus (HC): What is Allergic Attraction to you?
Arianne Schreer (AS): It’s really a connection. A social website for young adults- college kids, graduate students and so forth. It’s for younger people with food allergies who are looking for a fun safe way looking for a relationship. Having a food allergy for adults is very overwhelming. They just want to fit in, but it’s hard. If all of you are going out to dinner one night and you can’t go, it’s bad. It’s really about trying to create a community where you can find someone to date or just for companionship.
HC: How did this idea start?
AS: My son William has a tree nut allergy- diagnosed when he was two. We’ve always kept him away from nuts, we took him back to get tested and he was allergic to more things. One day in my house my husband was cooking and William opened it and ate it, William had an anaphylactic shock and was throwing up all over the place. My sister ended up in the emergency room with me and asked me how this happened under my watch. If you think about what happened under my watch what will happen when he’s not? What if he started dating, what if he went to a party? We just want young adults to have a place.
One kid just died in Oregon. He touched nuts, stuck himself with an epipen, drove to the hospital and never made it to the hospital because he went into cardiac arrest. There is a stigma with food allergies. And there really shouldn’t be. There is more to site to just dating, it has potential to be more than that.
HC: Has William used this site?
Alexis Pizzurro (AP): William is 13 so he’s a little young for the site. We’re hoping that by the time he is ready for college, he will be able to find friendship or a roommate through this site.
HC: Who signs up for your site?
AS: Who signs up for your site? Each day we’re getting a steady flow of sign ups. We’re starting to get people to sign up all over the county. We actually got someone to contact us from overseas in Amsterdam.
HC: How do you see this site evolving in the future?
AS: We are planning on expanding our list of allergies for people to meet. We started with the main food allergy groups. Eventually we will evolve into air allergies and so forth. We just started with a small focused direction at first. But the site will grow. It means something to everyone experiencing this. Someone wants it for their son, someone wants it for their roommate, someone might want it for a friend.
HC: Where do you see Allergic Attraction going in the future?
AP: The next step for us is to really try to grow this site. It’s been challenging to get to you guys. It’s for you to find roommates who take care of you, our hope is that those kids can all find each other and grow friendships from this site.
HC: Has anyone told you they have found someone using this site?
AP: I can see that they’re talking to each other, but I am trying to give everyone their privacy so I’m not reaching out to them to see what they’re up to.
HC: How else can people with allergies protect themselves from reactions?
AP: They have to be open about it with who they’re with. Locally there are a few college kids who have died with not getting to the hospital on time. The key is being open about it. Kids don’t want to be forthcoming. I would say that they have to be open and honest about it. As parents we tend to hover over our kids so it’s very scary to send them off on their own and hope they make the right decisions.
You can find out more about Allergic Attraction here and on their Instagram page.