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Southwest’s Brittani Morganfield and ImagineU students invent travel safety app

By Chris Caldwell 

Brittani Morganfield
Brittani Morganfield presents her group’s project,
We Trip, Too, at ImagineU Demo Day on Aug. 12,
2022 at the FedEx Institute of Technology.

Southwest student Brittani Morganfield spent the summer of 2022 learning how to fine-tune her entrepreneurial skills at the ImagineU Summer Entrepreneurship program. Much to her surprise, the experience unexpectedly led to the invention of a mobile app. 

Morganfield applied and was chosen to participate in the intensive and select 12-week program held annually through the University of Memphis Crews Center for Entrepreneurship. 

During the course of the program, she and her cohorts Sahitya Buddharaju, Amun Akil Tyz, and Carl Bledsoe Jr., co-founded We Trip Too, an app to protect women, LGBTQ+ people, and people of color from intolerance, discrimination, and harm while traveling. The app is set to launch February 2023.

“We Trip, Too was created because all four of us could relate to feeling uncomfortable or unsafe in our travels for different reasons,” Morganfield said. “That’s when we knew the problem was much bigger than we anticipated, and we needed to develop an app to help people know where they can feel safe." 

Morganfield said that when she first started the program, she wasn’t sure what to expect but kept an open mind. “This is an intense program and I had my trepidations but working with my team members on such a special project has given me so many professional and personal rewards, and lifelong friendships!” Morganfield said. 

Brittani Morganfield
Morganfield proudly holds her certificate of
completion during the UofM ImagineU Demo
Day ceremony.

There were a few challenges along the way. Morganfield contracted COVID-19, which kept her away from the Crews Center and her teammates for nearly three weeks. “It wasn't ideal, but I was determined to make it work,” she said. “I didn’t expect it to be easy and it helped that I was on an amazing team and working on something all of us are passionate about.”

The program was well worth the challenges. Her team won $2,500 for their We Trip, Too app, which they will split evenly among themselves. They also plan to take their individual winnings to invest in their own personal businesses.

“I’m so grateful for this experience. Working with my team was the best way I could’ve spent my summer. I learned how to work efficiently and to conduct presentations in front of a variety of people. I had to learn that I don’t always know everything and it’s ok as long as I keep moving forward,” she said.