Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikayla Brunson.
Hi Mikayla, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m originally from Massachusetts, and for most of my early life, I did what many people do when they’re driven and ambitious; I built a stable, predictable career. I worked for Fortune 100 retail organizations, leading teams, building culture and delivering high-level client experiences.
Travel has always found me in persistent ways. Florida, in particular, had been a childhood dream. I remember walking down Collins Avenue as a college student in 2014, saying out loud, “One day I’ll live here.” I didn’t know how or why, I just trusted the pull.
In October of 2021, that intuition became impossible to ignore. An opportunity opened, and within three weeks I left everything I knew and moved 1,200+ miles to Florida. The move should have been chaotic, but instead it was calm. Housing aligned. Resources aligned. I had no anxiety about what came next. That experience became an early lesson in what I now teach and live by: when you move from alignment and faith instead of fear, life reorganizes itself to meet you.
Once in Florida, I gave myself space, real space, instead of immediately filling it with the next logical step. I turned down strong offers in retail because something in me knew that season was complete. That pause, that willingness to sit in uncertainty, became a defining feminine leadership moment in my life.
Shortly after, the opportunity to enter the travel industry appeared. I immediately saw beyond logistics and itineraries, I saw how travel could be used as a catalyst for impact, an identity-shaping experience and a way to amplify presence and power for those who lead. I partnered with a host agency, immersed myself fully, and built my business through genuine relationships and exceptional client care. Referrals carried me forward.
Then, in January 2024, everything changed. I became a mother and nearly lost my life. Six days postpartum, after an emergency C-section, I was diagnosed with a brain hemorrhage. What followed was a cascade of medical trauma: ICU transport, blood transfusions, spinal bruising, blood clots, temporary loss of mobility and being told it would take six months to walk on my own again. I was caring for a newborn while learning how to feed myself again.
I gave myself two months.
And I healed.
That season, holding new life and confronting mortality at the same time, permanently cultivated my leadership. It taught me how to hold duality, how to lead without force, and how to trust God at a level I never had before.
Later that year, after returning briefly to work, I experienced what I now call a “gut-punch” client call, a moment where my integrity, boundaries and nervous system all said no. That moment, layered on top of postpartum healing, forced me to confront where I was still overgiving, overexplaining and leading from performance rather than conviction.
By the end of 2024, I founded Merazh, my own agency, not as a reaction, but as a response. A response to everything I had lived, learned and been shaped by.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It hasn’t been smooth but it’s been a season of deeply cultivating my identity.
The hardest part wasn’t the logistics or even the health crisis. It was the internal work: learning emotional leadership. Learning how to be misunderstood without correcting. How to allow money to move before it stabilized. How to let relationships shift without rescuing them. How to stay present in the gap between where I was and what I was being prepared to steward next.
These past few years weren’t about visible wins. It was about becoming someone who could hold what’s coming.
I had to unlearn urgency. Release perfection. Let go of versions of myself that were competent but not congruent. I learned that resilience isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about surrendering more deeply and acting from conviction, not fear.
Today, Merazh reflects that philosophy. It’s built on trust, discernment, identity and presence, not hustle, excess, or societal norms. And the road here taught me that the most powerful leadership is forged quietly, long before it’s recognized publicly.
We’ve been impressed with Merazh, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Merazh is a luxury travel and lifestyle design firm but at its core, it exists for a very specific woman.
She’s accomplished. She’s discerning. She’s traveled well before, or aspiring to be. And yet, lately, something hasn’t been landing the way it used to.
She’s not looking for endless options, performative upgrades, or another beautifully packed itinerary that looks good on paper but feels the same once she arrives.
She loves value. She appreciates an upgrade. She just wants them to mean something.
She’s looking for travel that actually feels so good on the inside as it looks on the outside.
At Merazh, we don’t start with destinations or logistics. We start with you: your season, your capacity, your nervous system and the version of yourself you’re becoming. What I know to be true is that environments carry energy, and when you place someone into an environment that doesn’t match their inner world, it quietly drains you even if it looks stunning on paper.
Every woman I’ve worked with says some version of the same thing: “I just want it to feel special.”
What most people miss is that special isn’t created through over-planning or spectacle. It’s created through alignment. Through pacing that lets you exhale and breath deeper. Through experiences that don’t require you to perform, manage, or hold everything together.
I specialize in designing travel for women who lead: businesses, families, teams, visions, and who are done being the one responsible for every detail. These women aren’t indecisive. They’re discerning.
They don’t want more choices; they want clarity, containment and peace.
More often than not, she’s also the one planning for everyone else.: The partner, the children, the family, the group, the team.
She carries the invisible labor; timing, coordination, preferences and logistics so everyone else can simply show up and enjoy.
And when she is supported, when she doesn’t have to manage, decide, or hold the experience together, the entire trip changes. Not just for her, but for everyone traveling with her.
What sets Merazh apart is how we design. We don’t begin with logistics.
We begin with:
• your current season of life
• how you actually want to feel while traveling
• what kind of support allows you to stay present
• and what needs to be removed before it ever becomes friction
From there, everything becomes precise, calm, intentional. When travel is designed this way, the impact goes far beyond the trip.
The planner finally gets to rest.
The partner feels the difference.
Children experience their loved ones full presence.
Conversations soften. Mornings slow. Even the memories land differently.
When the one who holds everything is finally held, everyone benefits.
I’ve held conviction in this approach even when it would have been easier to follow traditional definitions of luxury or industry trends. I’m not interested in selling status or a flex for the gram. I’m interested in creating environments where you can soften without losing your power and return home clearer, richer and more alive.
To me, luxury isn’t about whether you deserve an experience. It’s about whether the experience is deserving of you.
That’s what Merazh stands for:
Luxury as alignment. Travel as evolution. And experiences that feel special not because of what was spent, but because of how deeply they were lived.
I’m excited to share with you here that I recently opened access to something I’ve been quietly building for a long time: Identity-First Luxury Living.
It’s a monthly membership designed for those who lead and are done starting over every time they want to travel. Instead of researching, comparing, managing details and re-explaining preferences for every trip, they step into an ongoing relationship where they’re known, held and guided.
At a high level, it looks like this:
📍A personalized, evolving membership that adapts as your life, work, and desires change
📍Done-for-you luxury travel design for personal and business travel
📍Advocacy, preferred access, upgrades, and value negotiated on your behalf
📍No per-trip onboarding, I already know your preferences, rhythms and standards
📍One relationship, one point of contact, one coherent way of traveling through life
It’s less about more options, and more about deeper alignment, ease and better outcomes over time.
For those interested, you can request an invitation and I personally reach out to connect and explore fit before anything moves forward.
Request Your Invitation Here: https://merazhtravel.com/travel-membership-learn-more
How do you define success?
I love this question.
If you’re familiar with Human Design, I’m a Projector, and for me success is a byproduct of alignment. When I’m living in truth, life feels at ease. Things flow without forcing, hustling or proving.
In this season of my life, success means feeling alive, rich and at home in my body while creating extraordinary external results. It looks like a thriving business built on conviction, not someone else’s definition of achievement.
It means raising a healthy, beautiful child without choosing between family and work. Integrating both into one life instead of splitting myself in two.
Success is adventure. Sometimes that’s international travel and immersing myself in different cultures. Other times it’s spending a day in one of the most beautiful parks right here in our backyard.
It’s living a both-and life. Not this or that.
And above all, success is being deeply connected to God in everything I do, allowing faith to guide how I live, lead and create.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://merazhtravel.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikaylabrunson/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikaylabrunson/
- Other: https://merazhtravel.com/travel-membership-learn-more
