With COVID restrictions intensifying across the country, people are booking long-awaited travel plans. Travel content creators have defined travel guide roles for those looking to get out of town to explore.
These five travel content creators use social media to document their travel experiences and offer their followers lifestyle advice. But these women are more than just content creators. They are writers, designers, event producers, public relations experts and photographers who use travel as a vehicle for their creative pursuits.
Here’s how social media helped these creatives inspire women of color to venture into travel as a hobby and business.
IS EVERYONE GUARANTEED FOR YOUR PLANNED TRIP? :How to travel by yourself, stay safe.
“I JUST WANT TO SEE US MORE”:The importance of seeing people like you while traveling
Baia Dzagnidze, Red Fedora Diary
Baia Dzagnidze is an avid travel journalist who started her blog, Red Fedora Diary, after traveling around Southeast Asia for four months in 2014.
Back in her home country, Tbilisi, Georgia, she decided to merge her love of writing and travel. She decided to call herself “Digital Nomad” and started building her travel writing portfolio. In early 2017, she quit her office job to focus on writing articles for various publications and focused on her travel blog and racked up bylines with different travel publications.
“I mainly travel to lesser-known destinations, like the Balkans, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe,” she said. “One of my angles is destinations and things to do in a particular city. I also like to find quirky places in a city, hunt for street art or masterpieces of soviet architecture. I also give practical advice on how to get from point A to point B.”
Baia said her readership comes mostly from Google search rather than social media.
Instead, she uses social media to drive traffic to the blog while sharing micro-blogs on Instagram and Facebook. Using the story feature allows him to instantly share his first impressions and quick tips on the go. Once back home, she plans more detailed social media posts about the destinations she has explored.
Many publications that Baia wrote for during the pandemic stopped accepting pitches due to the economic shutdown. As a result, she traveled less frequently but resolved not to give up hope.
“It was quite difficult because many editors I worked with stopped commissioning stories about countries I could write about or lost their jobs,” she said. “I couldn’t get any pitches approved for several months, which was very frustrating and demotivating. Fortunately, I had my blog to focus on for a while and not think about the rejections I was repeatedly receiving. I I even got a remote job in customer service for a few months to pay the bills, but I never gave up my career as a travel blogger.”
Sarah Badran, creative currency
Sarah Badran is a Los Angeles-based event coordinator for her brand, Creative Currency, as well as Def Jam. She has produced art exhibitions, fashion events, music concerts and showcases across the United States in Austin, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, New Orleans and Atlanta.
“I grew up traveling a lot with my family,” Badran said. “We always made it a point to explore new places when I was a kid, and this exploration has influenced my way of thinking about life and my career. It influences my decision-making to think with a global mindset .”
Working in event production for a major label, Badran travels three to five times a month. During these expeditions, it seeks host cities for future events. While she’s away, she chronicles her travel experiences on her website, Creative Currency. Badran noted when selecting a city to produce an event, it looks to its cultural footprint for what makes it unique.
“Every city has its own story, and researching the culture before an event is crucial. I usually try to avoid touristy places and immerse myself with the locals. I like to find buildings and unique works of art in each city and showcase them,” she explained. .
The story continues below.
Yariella Coello, the beauty backpacker
Yariella Coello said she has always had a passion for travel and writing. When she booked a solo backpacking trip around the world, it only seemed natural to start a blog and share her adventures. She started her blog, The Beauty Backpacker, which ended up being also a way to grow her digital and creative skills, and ultimately, her business.
“My audience usually wants to mark a specific destination for their next trip,” she said. “So I tend to ask myself questions about travel logistics and costs. I’m also asked about recommended local beauty brands, best cafes and independent stores. Traveling solo is so empowering. There’s no There’s no better feeling than waking up not knowing what might happen next, every day. It might sound corny, but the internal journeys you backpack on are just as good as the external journeys.
Coello has visited more than 50 countries, including the Amazon rainforest, a remote island in the Philippines, as well as a shopping expedition to London. She uses her blog to post dispatches and pictures of her adventures, as well as travel tips and destination guides.
What really makes her blog unique is Coello’s focus on beauty. On each trip, she regularly posts global beauty discoveries she has made around the world.
“Travel and beauty have always been underrepresented by women of color. There’s still a long way to go, but I’m proud to play my part in moving things in the right direction.” she declared. “Just knowing that a young Latina can see someone like her on the road, embracing both adventure and her unruly curls, makes me very happy.”
Ginger Harper, the blog of Ginger Harper Marie
Ginger Harper is an inspiration to African American travel writers. On her travel website, The Ginger Harper Marie Blog, she discusses several elements of travel like wellness, food, and fashion.
“My blog and my brand revolve around things I already do,” she said. “And travel is such a big part of my life, it’s one of the easiest things for me to include. It’s fun to be able to give recommendations to my community and see them go on trips and do things that they otherwise might not even have known to do.”
Harper was a military brat and her family moved around a lot. When she moved to Dallas, she found a place she loved enough to call home, but missed discovering new adventures. So her blog became a forum where she could chronicle her travels, which she takes once a month where she gets to “scratch an itch that I probably should have moved to scratch sooner.”
“My brand, in general, encourages women to live life to the fullest and without shame,” she said. “So when I travel, and especially when I share my travels, I almost always have a packed itinerary so I can show people as much as I can about the places I’m visiting.”
Amber LaFrance, CultureHype
Amber LaFrance constantly scours the country for the next big names in music, art and fashion. She believes travel is essential to her career at CultureHype by connecting with journalists and expanding her network as a publicist and marketing expert.
“I’m a big foodie and prefer to stay with people around the world rather than hotels for a more personal experience,” she said. “I frame most of my travel plans around food, to be completely honest. Staying with people is such a unique experience. I ask about local recommendations and love seeing the world through their I wonder if we have the same house decor aesthetic and style, we will most likely enjoy the same kind of experiences.”
