Ep. 275: Miss America's Teen 2026 Supporting Families with Food Allergies

This episode is all about inspiration. We’re shining a spotlight on a remarkable young woman who is using her voice and platform to make a meaningful impact in the food allergy community. We’re honored to welcome FAACT’s newest National Spokesperson, Tess Ferm, Miss America’s Teen 2026! Tess joins us to share her personal food allergy journey and why educating others and raising awareness has become such a powerful part of her mission. 

Resources to keep you in the know:

• Miss America - Tess Ferm
• Follow Tess on Instagram: @tessferm.sc and @missamericasteen

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 Sponsored by: Genentech

Thanks for listening! FAACT invites you to discover more exciting food allergy resources at FoodAllergyAwareness.org!

Transcript

Caroline: Welcome to FAACT's Roundtable, a podcast dedicated to navigating life with food allergies across the lifespan. Presented in a welcoming format with interviews and open discussions,

each episode will explore a specific topic, leaving you with the facts to know or use.

Information presented via this podcast is educational and not intended to provide individual medical advice.

Please consult with your personal board-certified allergist or healthcare providers for advice specific to your situation.

Hi everyone. I'm Caroline Moassessi and I am your host for the FAACT Roundtable podcast.

I am a food allergy parent and advocate and the founder of the Grateful Foodie blog. And I am Fact's Vice President of Community Relations.

Before we start today's podcast, we would like to take a moment to thank Genentech for being a kind sponsor of FAACT's roundtable podcast. Also, please note that today's guest was not paid by or sponsored by Genentech to participate in this specific podcast.

Today's episode is all about inspiration. We're shining a spotlight on a remarkable young woman who is using her voice and platform to make a meaningful impact in the food allergy community.

We're honored to welcome FAACT's newest national spokesperson,

Tess Ferm, Miss America's Teen 2026. Tess joins us to share her personal food allergy journey and why educating others and raising awareness has become such a powerful part of her mission.

Welcome, Tess, to FAACT's Roundtable Podcast. We're absolutely thrilled and excited to have you here today. You are very important to fact.

Tess: I'm very excited to be here. Getting the invite was like a dream come true. I don't think I've had the opportunity to speak on a podcast about allergies before, so this is really, really special.

Caroline: Okay, that makes it even more exciting.

So before we dive in, let's get to know you. I'm just as excited as our listeners to hear about your food allergy journey and what inspired you to take action.

And listeners, before we got on, I just gushed out to Tess how happy I am and how important it is to have our youth who are intelligent and kind,

loving and smart to speak out. So I'm just so excited with everybody else here. But it's not every day that we see someone make such a meaningful impact at such a young age.

So tell us, Tess, how did your story begin?

Tess: First of all, thank you. I love that. But I grew up with anaphylactic food allergies to egg. And then when I was five years old, I had an anaphylactic reaction to a DoubleTree cookie after one of my Swimming lessons.

And that's when I was diagnosed with allergies to tree nuts and sesame seeds. When I went to the physician afterwards.

But my older brother Jack was born with seven out of the top nine allergens. And so it was already very much,

very learned in my family. My grandfather also has anaphylactic food allergies to fish in shellfish.

So trust me, I've grown up around this,

and I know how important it is. And I think my story really began when I competed in pageantry. Because when you compete in pageantry, and especially in the Miss America opportunity, you have to have something called the community service initiative, which is like a platform that you run on.

And when I started, I had an anti-bullying platform. It was called Kindness counts. Slowly, I kind of realized, well, the root of me being teased as a kid, a lot of it came from having food allergies and being labeled as different.

And I think from there, I just realized, I think I would connect with this more if I started talking more about food allergies. And at first, believe me, it was very, very scary because every time I talked about it, I would start crying and get really emotional when I would just run things by my mom because it has impacted my family in such a negative way.

But I realized that situation has so much power, especially when you're advocating as a youth to other people of all ages. And so I kind of took that. I ran with it, and that's how I'm here.

Caroline: That's exciting. And actually, you're making it very easy for me, because now you're just segwaying right into the Miss America teen platform. So explain a little more about that platform, and then how will you be using it to make change in our food allergy world?

You've already teased us right in.

Tess: So I think, just for starters, I've been competing in the world of pageantry since I was 11 years old. I'm 18, about to turn 19 on March 23rd, actually, so almost there.

But I have basically grown up in this system that empowers young women.

And I've learned a lot about myself,

especially within the world of, like, advocacy. I started competing in the Miss America opportunity two years ago. I was first runner up to Miss South Carolina's team my first year.

And then second year, I won. And then I went to Miss America's teen and won that, too.

Yeah,

so awesome.

I also won. There's an award nationally called the Quality of Life Award, and for teens, it's called Teens in Action.

So all the Miss America Contestants. And all the Miss America's Teen contestants can put in like an interview and a video, and then they have to like, interview in person.

And it's completely based around your csi, your community service initiative.

And so I ended up doing that during that interview.

I think it was like two or three out of the five people that were on that panel of judges had some type of food allergy.

And it was only like a five minute interview was very quick compared to my other interview, which was about eight minutes for the job of Miss America's Teen. And I just remember immediately connecting with those people and it was just so special.

And I realized, oh my gosh, people value the work that I'm doing. People value people with food allergies because it is important.

It's just as important as food, any other chronic illness or disease.

And so with the Miss America's Team platform, once I realized that people actually care about this,

and I feel like people absolutely did before, but as someone who's lived like this and has been bullied and has been through all the things that were really negative, I realized, wait, my story is important.

And so getting the Miss America's Team platform was just an amazing addition onto that because I now have a social media platform on Instagram that has about like 7,70,000 something followers.

And I've gained a ton of followers on my personal account.

And that, to me, especially as someone who advocates for youth, is so important because that's how we get people involved and that's how we spread our story to like the national level.

It's the easiest way to do that instead of me, like hopping a flight and traveling to every, every state. Right. It's easier to just have your message on social media.

That's just been such a blessing because moms have reached out to me, kids have reached out to me.

So many people have shared their stories privately and publicly because they see something in me. And that just makes me feel like the work I'm doing is worth something.

So this platform has increased my advocacy tenfold and I'm so grateful for it.

Caroline: That's incredible. But I can see how, because you're so relatable and personable and whatever you're sharing, I know there's going to be people out there, youth who are going to see it and relate to it, or a parent too.

And it's so important to find support and to be validated.

And I just feel that's what you're doing is you're normalizing it and you're validating you're validating people, you're validating this whole food allergy experience. And I think that's just incredible.

So now let's turn to your community service initiative,

From Fear to Freedom. And the name is just so powerful. It's just really fun right there.

But can you share the story behind it and then your vision for it and where it's going? Like, where is it? How did it start? And then where is it headed?

Tess: So like I said earlier, my community service initiative started as an anti bullying platform. And then once I kind of got comfortable with my story and the depth that it had, I changed it from that to From Fear to Freedom.

And even in the name From Fear to Freedom,

I think it pretty much encapsulates the story and the lives of what it's like to live with food allergies, because you absolutely do live in fear. Food is such a huge part of our culture.

I mean,

genuinely name an event or a family gathering or something that doesn't revolve around food, seriously.

And not being able to partake in that is,

first of all, it's scary because you never know what's going to happen when you're at some function involving food. And two, it's very isolating.

And so I decided to add like to Freedom part because I realized there is a way for people to feel free and to feel more comfortable in those spaces. And that is if we make this a global movement, if we are advocating for this at an international level,

people will understand that this is something that it's not going to go away.

And one of the only ways I think that we can learn about this is by being open to learning and having empathy for people in this situation.

And I've already received amazing feedback about it. And so I really feel like this has been so important.

The story behind it is again, me getting diagnosed at a young age and food allergies, being a part of my family for so long,

the main thing I want to do with it in the future, it's not going to go away.

Like, it might not, I might not call my passion From Fear to Freedom every time, but my passion is for foodology, advocacy and awareness. And so one of the things that I'm so grateful for is partnering with FAACT as a spokesperson, because you guys are giving me the place to amplify my voice even further after my time as Miss America's Teen is done.

And so I am looking forward to continuing our relationship and cultivating,

like,

I don't know, cultivating advocacy in youth all over. So it's really special.

Caroline: That just warms my heart to no end. And I know I can speak for everyone.

At fact, what an exciting program.

Let's now turn our attention to Food Allergy Awareness Week. I understand that you'll be tapping into your vast network, into your quest to secure Food Allergy Awareness Week proclamations across the whole US So tell us more about this initiative.

Tess: This is something really excited that I don't. It hasn't really been, like, announced announced yet, but I'm sure when this airs, it will be.

But I obviously have fostered amazing relationships with 51 other girls across the country, including Puerto Rico and D.C.

so, yes, because of the Miss America's Teen Sisterhood and the program.

And I thought that it would be a really good idea because I've never seen in my 18 years of living, the Food Allergy Awareness proclamation map filled in all the way.

Never.

And I thought, okay, wait, this is the perfect opportunity because I've literally made, if not best friends, acquaintances across the country.

How could I not use that platform and those relationships to try and get this done? And so my goal is to try and get those proclamations and that map filled in as many states as possible.

And it doesn't necessarily have to be all 50,

but I do want as many of them to, like, reach out to their legislators, reach out to their representatives, and do it, because it truly does not take a long time.

I've been doing this in South Carolina for, like, three or four years now, and it's literally a simple email.

So I think it's so special that I've fostered that relationship with everybody enough to where people are open to helping me in my quest, as you said, to reaching this, like, advocacy and awareness goal.

It's such a testament to how important it is for young women to come together because we can truly make a difference and we can truly make a change in the world together as a community.

Caroline: Absolutely. One voice is powerful, but when you start adding another and another and another and then it just starts to snowball and again, it goes back to that normalizing food allergies.

And those proclamations are so important. I mean, I remember the first time we got one in Nevada, and we were just celebrating just to have other people outside of our community say, wait a minute, food allergies are here.

Tess: And it's important, it's recognition that it means so much to us. Like, we're here. We're here.

Caroline: Absolutely, we're here. And we're part of the community. And we're just another Element. And again, working together,

we can all just have these beautiful lives and we can really enjoy our community.

So I love this. I just absolutely love this.

Again, tapping into your fabulous energy and all your excitement about youth and life. I understand you're coming to Camp Tag, so you. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Tess: I would love to. Caroline.

I recently, or I found out about Camp Tag when I was at one of the conferences earlier this year and Eleanor told me about it, and I was like, how did I not know about this?

How when I was growing up, this would have been such an influential and impactful moment or week or couple of days for me as a kid growing up with food allergies or.

And even for my, my brothers and my family members, like,

it's just so important for them to see, okay, there's a space for us that we can feel safe. And so, yes, I am going to be attending the multiple days in Ohio and then a couple of days in Nashville.

But as Miss America's Teen, obviously, very, very busy schedule, especially in the summer because state pageant season's coming up, so I'm going to be flying around.

But I literally told my board. I was like,

this has to happen. Like, I need to be here. And so we blocked off those days. And I'm very, very excited. I think,

especially as an older teenager, I think it's just so special that I'm going to be able to connect with younger teenagers and kids. And I think I'm trying to get my little brother.

He doesn't have food allergies, but he has asthma. I'm trying to get him to see if he can sign up to be a counselor because I think he'd be great.

He's really sweet. He's 16. And I'm like, he should absolutely get involved. I think everyone should get involved in this because we're empowering the next generation of leaders,

truly,

especially in the food allergy world. So I'm very excited. I can't wait.

Caroline: That's really nice to hear, actually. It's very, very heartwarming. And. Okay, so here's a really silly question.

So when you do go to things, do you wear the crown? Do you wear the sash? Like, are there things that you're supposed to wear or things that you're supposed to say?

Tess: I.

I mean, absolutely. I think people sometimes don't understand that we. When you're put in that position as Miss America or Miss America's Teen. The Miss America's Teen program has only been around for about 20 years now.

I'm the 20th title holder because during COVID they repeated a year. But it is a job.

And within that, like, I've signed a contract,

an NDA, all the things. And so I am put in a position where every time I go, I absolutely have to wear my crown and sash. If they book me for an appearance, they're paying their time and their money to have me there.

So I,

of course, wear that. I was recently booked. Like, literally a couple days ago, I just got back home.

I went to D.C. for the Women's Health Conference,

and it was the first one, I think, and it was put on by the Department of Health and Human Services, which was super cool that I was like, okay, I'm 18.

I'm around these, like, experienced doctors, physicians, experts in their field, researchers, engineers, even, like, people were making this, like, incredible medical technology.

And here's me in my crowned sash.

I'm just a teenager. I. I said that in air quotes for the people listening. And I realized then and there in my speech that I actually shared with everyone,

I was like, I. Often when I walk into rooms like this, I wonder what people are thinking.

Like, what is she doing in a crown and sash? Like, why is she here? And I think it's completely reasonable because you don't see someone walking around in a crown and sash every day.

Like, that seems very.

I don't know, it seems very Disney. Like, it just doesn't seem real. But in a sense, like, it is. It is very real.

I think it is literally a physical name tag of sorts that, you know, oh, that kid is doing something pretty incredible with the platform that she has. And that's what it's been for me is whenever I put on the crown and sash, it's almost like putting on.

Not to be cliche or, like, corny, but almost like a superhero cape, I think,

because I am literally putting on my gear to make a difference.

So I do wear the crown and sash to everything, and there absolutely are, like, stipulations and everything. But I also, like, just for fun, I do love dressing up. I do love putting on hair and makeup.

And so that part's really fun for me. And at the same time, I do travel with my mom, so it's been great to spend some time with her as well and grow closer in a relationship.

But extremely, extremely grateful that I have the opportunity to put that on.

Caroline: And I love that you call it your gear because it's so true. Like, you know, as a woman, often when I get dressed, I'll wear certain earrings If I want to feel a little more powerful or if I'm going into a certain type of meeting or if I'm advocating, I want to represent.

And I love teal nail polish. So I'm always, like, putting on teal nail polish when I'm advocating. And there's just something about that physical symbolism of putting something on when you go out to do something that feels so important to you.

So I love that you've keyed into that and are enjoying that and exploring it.

Tess: Thank you. That means a lot. I think,

because I've grown up in this space, I think people haven't always taken my food allergies seriously. And then as I grew up, I realized people didn't always take young women seriously either, or they don't.

Being able to have this platform and be able to, like, put on that gear, put on that superhero cape. Everything that makes me me when I'm in my advocacy world, that has been very liberating for me because I realize now that I do have a voice and I do have so much passion and I get to encourage other young women,

especially children of all genders, ages, everything, but especially young women, that they do have a voice and they do have a place in this world, and they absolutely should use it.

I think young women,

women, period,

they are leaders.

We are naturally born leaders, like mothers, sisters, everybody. And so I think it's so important to just echo that fact whenever I get a chance because it's so important that young women feel valued in our society.

And I've truly felt like I have been valued during my time as Miss America's Teen. So very, very special.

Caroline: Wonderful words. I love listening to this. So this has gone fast. I mean, too fast. I could just keep talking. This is so fun. But we will have more podcasts in the future and a lot more time together with our listeners at different events and camp tag and so forth.

But as we come to a close,

what final thoughts do you want to with our listener?

Tess: I think of things that my mom or I would have wanted to hear growing up, because I'm sure a lot of your listeners, they might be medical professionals, but they also are probably moms and maybe teenagers or kids that are living the same way that I'm living.

And I say,

do not let dietary restrictions or anything for that matter hinder your quality of life, because it absolutely does, and it's very, very hard.

But at the same time,

there are people that want to include you. There are restaurants that I'm sure you've already established relationships with will keep you safe and there's so much out there and there's so many ways to live while also being cautious.

If you're a mother and you have a younger child that is growing up with food allergy, I am telling you right now that they will figure themselves out. They will find a place in the world and they have a place in the world and they will become advocates, truly,

and if not just for themselves, for other people as well.

So I just want to say that because I feel like I'm living proof that it is possible to take that pain and that fear into some sort of freedom. And so I just completely say all will be well.

I promise you. Just give it time and give your kids all the things that they should be equipped with going into their adult life.

Caroline: I appreciate you sharing those thoughts and all of your thoughts today and just appreciate your time. You are obviously super busy. I mean, you have school and life and all these different things going on and so we just appreciate you spending time with us.

Tess: Thank you so much, Caroline. It's been such an honor to talk with you today.

Caroline: I appreciate it. Thank you.

Before we say goodbye today, I just want to take one more moment to say thank you to Genentech for their kind sponsorship of FAACT's Roundtable podcast.

Also, I want to note that today's guest was not paid by or sponsored by Genentech to participate in this specific podcast.

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Have a great day and always be kind to one another.