This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shanon Morris, a 34-year-old entrepreneur in Ithaca, New York. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
I’m a Navy veteran, Marine Corps spouse, and the CEO of Trimester Abroad, where I develop solutions that elevate the travel and hospitality experience for new and expecting parents. I’m also in a master’s program in hospitality management at Cornell.
I started my career as a surface warfare officer and public affairs officer in the US Navy. I was medically separated from the Navy due to a car accident in 2018.
For the next year, I worked as a cyber intelligence team lead at Noblis. Between July 2019 and May 2021, I served as a communications and marketing strategy consultant at Accenture Interactive.
I started working at Google in May 2021, where I held several roles, including sales development manager, strategic communications program manager, and veteran hiring lead, and served as the communications lead for Google’s global Veteran Network.
Since 2023, I’ve co-founded and now serve as CEO of Trimester Abroad, where I lead branding, go-to-market strategy, partnership development, PR, and business operations across multiple ventures.
One morning in March 2023, at 6 a.m., I got laid off from Google
I opened my laptop to troubleshoot a new work phone, only to see my termination notice. One minute, I was leading Google’s veteran hiring program; the next, I was in my parents’ kitchen with my new husband, Matthew, toasting to unemployment.
Matthew and I were preparing for him to be either medically separated after a motorcycle accident or deploy again. I was stressed, working two full-time roles and trying to get pregnant.
Losing my job was a shock, but also a relief.
On Mother’s Day, I found out I was pregnant
Two weeks later, Matthew received a call informing him he’d been separated from the Marine Corps. We went from DINKs with two six-figure salaries to dual-unemployed with a baby on the way in six months.
Luckily, we were aligned on money, values, and risk tolerance, and our different investing styles diversified our portfolio. Severance, savings, investments, real estate, unemployment insurance, and my VA disability allowance bought us time.
Around that time, my friend Gaby became our unofficial birth guru
After three extreme births, she was the first to tell me hospitals weren’t the only place to give birth. With our jobs gone, our next mission became figuring out how to bring our daughter into the world safely and intentionally.
We threw a mattress in the truck and drove 10,000 miles around North America, but it wasn’t enough. With nothing tying us down, we sold the house and the vehicles.
Europe was where our research on birthing options led us: birth centers, home births, midwives, and care models that didn’t feel industrialized. Ultimately, we were on a too-cramped timeline, so we returned home. We found a homebirth midwife group, and I gave birth in an apartment in Chicago.
We began traveling again when our daughter was around six months old.
We’ve now traveled to 28 countries as a family
Our first trip was in August 2023, when I found out a DJ I liked was performing in Aalborg, Denmark. I was around four months pregnant. After that, we mostly booked next-day flights, dodged wildfires in Italy and Greece, and coordinated loosely around military friends’ travel and a shooting competition.
Our daughter is almost two, and our second baby will arrive soon. Traveling with a baby is easier than people think. In cities, you can buy everything you need. Diapers are often cheaper abroad. Public transit in places like Taiwan is spotless. Dubai has rideshares with car seats. Breastfeeding eliminates half the packing list.
Emotionally, the hardest part was setting boundaries, like when strangers approached her to interact. Luxury hotels were another surprise. Even ultra-luxury brands assume a kids club solves everything, yet most don’t allow children under three or four, even when accompanied by a parent.
We want intentionally designed spaces for infants and toddlers. Almost no one is designing for families with kids under four, even though it’s the easiest age to travel.
That gap is what led to Trimester Abroad.
I realized the industry still treats pregnancy and early parenthood like a travel dead zone
Many hotels don’t offer pregnancy/body pillows or prenatal massages. I’ve requested the same things multiple times, yet the experience is often that pregnant and/or breastfeeding women get served alcohol as welcome gifts or celebratory amenities.
There’s no consent training. Some hotel staff will pick up your kids or poke their bellies without asking parents. When catering to American travelers, this can ruin an experience.
Trimester Abroad aims to make travel easier for new and expecting parents. We consult for hotels, airlines, and tourism boards, audit properties, and are building the first Michelin-style rating system for pregnancy and early parenthood.
We’re also training travel advisors. This summer, we plan to build out the Trimester Abroad app, an AI-powered travel intelligence platform.
Going from a six-figure Google salary to self-employment was the wild west
In entrepreneurship, there’s no guaranteed paycheck. Our income fluctuates, and we reinvest almost everything. Profit is one to two years away, so we’re still living off our investments. Matthew is a full-time MBA student, and he works on Trimester Abroad with me as my VP of strategic partnerships.
Our story proves that military talent, parenthood, and entrepreneurship aren’t mutually exclusive. Traveling while pregnant or with a baby is completely doable when you design around your needs.
If I hadn’t gotten laid off, I probably would have stayed at Google
I was in a role helping veterans and military spouses (my people) transition into the civilian world without sacrificing their pay or well-being.
My priorities are so much different now. I recently had the opportunity to visit the newest Google office in New York City for a trek I led as part of my master’s program. Even with all the free snacks, benefits, and creature comforts, I can’t see myself going back.
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