Danny Boome

Growing up in Peterborough, England, Danny Boome struggled greatly with math, was known for having a shorter attention span than most, and found reading aloud to be a genuine nightmare. Boome received little support from his classmates and teachers and, in fact, was told that he would never amount to much more than average compared to his classmates. His parents, on the other hand, never lost faith and continued to support him and encourage him not to shy away from learning in and out of the classroom.

It was easy for Boome to understand complex historical stories and mechanical systems when listening about them or watching documentaries on TV, but reading a chapter of a book was a much larger mountain to climb. While Danny and his father were watching television one day, a documentary about dyslexia happened to start rolling, and Danny’s father realized that both he and his son had all of the relevant characteristics. When tests confirmed these diagnoses, Boome’s parents aided him in getting into extra courses that strengthened his reading abilities and allowed him to find some success in high school-- after a few years of college & a few years in the workforce, Boome realized that he had not yet found his niche and decided to take some time off and work in the mountains of Switzerland, where he found a new passion of cooking while working as an au pair. His love of cooking catered to his creative brain and now he lives in New York City and hosts cooking shows on ABC and the Food Network, among others. “I think of dyslexia as a creative gene,” he says, “and not as a disadvantage.” To read more about Danny Boome, his success, and his story, click here.