Caroline Cray

Caroline Cray is a 25 year old woman with both severe food allergies and MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome). This has limited the foods she can safely eat down to just two: oats and hypoallergenic formula. Despite her invisible disability, she is an active participant in life — she works in healthcare, she goes out to restaurants (with her own food safely in tow), and she’s bought a van to travel the U.S. in. She’s also amassed a TikTok following (with over 100k followers) and is educating people about her life one video at a time.

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There's a reason Caroline is listed first in the order of episodes: without her, this podcast probably wouldn't have gotten off the ground.

I had been scouting out potential candidates for the podcast capstone that I was just conceptualizing in the spring of this year when Caroline's TikTok happened across my feed: “I’m the girl who can only eat two foods.” Her energy was infectious and the connection between herself and the camera inspired me to get my own project off the ground (connection begets connection). Once Caroline agreed to be interviewed, I knew that this idea I had could actually work.

Our interview took place over Zoom, as Caroline currently lives in the northeastern United States (but she recently bought a safe van to travel across the country in, and I hope to meet her in person someday). We discussed MCAS, her experience with chronic illness, what she thought her life might look like versus how it looks now, and her social media presence.