Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucee Santini.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started MomJunky in 2013 as a creative outlet and a way to share the things that mattered most to me as a mother. What began as a small parenting and lifestyle blog gradually grew into a space where I could write about family travel, food, beauty, parenting, and real-life experiences.
Over the years, I had the opportunity to work with brands, tourism boards, hotels, restaurants, and destinations around the world. Travel became a major part of my work, especially family and multigenerational travel. I have written about places ranging from Arizona and Florida to Greece, England, Finland, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean. Some of my travel stories have also been syndicated by national publications, which helped expand my reach and gave me confidence that my perspective had value.
My path has not been completely linear. In addition to blogging, I returned to school and became a special education teacher. That experience changed me in many ways. It gave me a deeper understanding of children with disabilities, the importance of advocacy, and how overwhelming educational systems can feel for families. As both a teacher and a parent who has had to advocate for my own children, I began creating more content about IEPs, ADHD, autism, accommodations, and helping parents understand their rights.
Today, MomJunky reflects all of those parts of my life. It is still a travel and lifestyle site, but it has also become a place where I can share honest experiences about parenting, education, reinvention, and starting over at any age. I am now in my mid-50s, and I feel like I am entering a new chapter—one that combines travel, storytelling, advocacy, education, and even a possible return to modeling, which I did when I was younger.
What I am most proud of is that I have continued evolving. I did not allow myself to believe that I had to choose only one identity or one career. I can be a mother, writer, traveler, educator, advocate, and creative person at the same time. My story is really about reinvention and continuing to move forward, even when the path looks different from what I originally imagined.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been a smooth road. Moving to the United States as an immigrant meant adjusting to a new country and rebuilding my life from the ground up. In my twenties, I began modeling and had the opportunity to work in Europe. While it was an exciting experience, the modeling industry also came with some hard lessons, particularly when it came to self-image, confidence, and learning not to measure my worth by how others saw me.
Over the years, I balanced raising a family, working and trying to create something of my own. Writing my book was one of the first times I truly shared my voice, and later that grew into my blog, MomJunky. Building a blog has come with plenty of challenges, including learning an ever-changing industry, losing social media accounts I had worked hard to grow and finding ways to keep going when life became overwhelming. Those experiences taught me to be adaptable, persistent and willing to begin again.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
MomJunky is a lifestyle and travel website I created to help women and families find practical ideas, honest recommendations and inspiration for everyday life. I specialize in family travel, travel with teens, Arizona destinations, special education advocacy, parenting and lifestyle content.
What sets MomJunky apart is that the content comes from real experience. I do not simply write about places or products—I visit, test, photograph and share them from the perspective of a mother, educator and traveler. My goal is to create content that is useful, approachable and honest, whether I am helping a family plan a vacation, prepare for an IEP meeting or discover a new destination.
I am especially proud of the travel opportunities and brand partnerships MomJunky has created over the years. I have worked with well-known beauty, family and travel brands, and my travel stories have been featured by major media outlets. I am also proud that the site has grown beyond lifestyle content to include resources that help parents advocate for children with disabilities.
At its heart, MomJunky is about connection. I want readers to feel like they are getting advice from someone who understands real family life—the fun, the challenges and everything in between. My brand continues to evolve, but the mission remains the same: to share helpful information, meaningful stories and experiences that encourage women and families to explore, advocate and enjoy life.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Networking has worked best for me when it feels genuine rather than transactional. I have built relationships by staying in touch with other writers, creators, publicists, tourism professionals and business owners, and by supporting their work before asking for anything in return.
My advice for finding a mentor is to look for someone whose career path truly resonates with you, then start by engaging thoughtfully with their work. A mentor does not always have to be someone with a formal title. Sometimes the best guidance comes from a colleague, editor or industry contact who is willing to share what they have learned.
I have also found that being consistent matters. Following up, showing appreciation and maintaining relationships over time has opened more doors for me than simply sending one introduction. The strongest connections usually grow naturally through shared interests, mutual respect and a willingness to help one another.
Contact Info:
- Website: Lucee@momjunky.com. luceesantini@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stories/momjunky/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MomJunky
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucee-arvanitis-santini-
- Twitter: https://x.com/Mom_Junky
- Other: https://www.momjunky.com
