Speakers

India Adams

India Adams is a global marketer and creator advocate. She spent 13 years in London leading UK Creator Marketing at YouTube and is now a Product Marketing Manager on the Google for Creators team. India has spent much of her career fostering community and collaboration amongst creators and seeks to empower content creators, designers, and story-tellers to create amazing and immersive digital content.

Karen Akpan

Karen is an entrepreneur and travel enthusiast, who has traveled to over 35 countries with her family and is currently traveling the U.S full time with her husband and 8 year old in an RV. She is also the founder of Black Kids Do Travel, a non-profit organization and community created to bring about diversity in travel and bridge the gap.

She has appeared on Good Morning America, Insider, CNBC, Fox News, Travel & Leisure, Essence Magazine, and Travel Noire. You can also find her writing on sites like The Points Guy & Camping World.

Bani Amor

Bani Amor is a gender/queer travel writer who explores the relationships between race, place, and power. Their work has appeared in CNN Travel, Fodor’s, AFAR, Lonely Planet, Teen Vogue, and Nowhere Magazine, among other outlets, and in the anthology Outside the XY: Queer Black and Brown Masculinity.

Alexandra Baackes

As one of the original travel bloggers, Alexandra Baackes has been sharing her life on the award-winning Alex in Wanderland since 2009. After eight years of growing a dedicated audience with her authentic and deeply personal travelogues, she launched her successful Wander Women Retreats in 2017. These female-only retreats encourage sisterhood and get women exploring new destinations through a combination of scuba diving, yoga, aerial arts, and adventure.

Casey Barks

Casey Barks is the Director of Marketing & Communications at Willamette Valley Vineyards, located in one of Oregon’s most sought after wine regions. The product of a journalist mother, he is no stranger to storytelling and the power of the written word. Prior to his post at Willamette Valley Vineyards, Casey spent nearly 8 years sharing the iconic history and service of Fairmont Hotels, from Seattle, WA to Austin, TX to Vancouver, BC. Casey’s love of travel and passion for communication continues to drive his need to find new and exciting ways to share experiences through storytelling.

Derek Baron

Derek Earl Baron has 21 years of non-stop global travel under his belt. He’s been featured by publications such as Time Magazine and The New York Times and is frequently invited to speak about his life of travel at industry events and on podcasts. Aside from his successful travel blog, WanderingEarl.com, Derek also founded a popular tour company that offers one-of-a-kind, locally-focused adventures around the world. In 2013 he ran his first small-group tour to India and now, in 2022, he will run over 20 trips to 15 different destinations.

Gabby Beckford

Gabby Beckford is a full-time digital nomad and influencer who helps young people “seek risk, seize opportunities, and see the world”. How? By sharing informative and inspirational content around fully-funded study abroad programs, seeing the world as a young solo female traveler, and building communities like her Young Travelers Network. Where? Mostly TikTok! That’s where the cool kids hang, trust her. She grew her account to 225,000 followers in less than a year, and during her session, she’ll teach you the fundamentals of establishing your brand on the platform, posting consistently, and growing an engaged following, and what you all want to know—going viral.

Mark Borum

Mark Borum is the Director of Business Development at Teachable, the go-to platform for thriving creators to turn their knowledge into scalable businesses. Mark joined Teachable in 2021 to build out the company’s business development operations in order to even better serve Teachable’s creator community through strategic partnerships, tools, and resources. Prior to joining Teachable, he’s been a three-time founder, scaling his businesses from ideation to 7- and 8-figures, and ultimately a successful acquisition by AT&T in 2018. His success at the intersection of sales, media, and the creator economy has led him to advise some of the best young companies in the ecosystem. His expertise has also enabled him to partner with Teachable’s top creators as they navigate their unique entrepreneurial journeys. Connect with Mark at [email protected] or via Instagram @markwi11is.

Jade Broadus

Jade Broadus is the Vice President and Creative Director at Travel Mindset, specializing in influencer marketing for the tourism and lifestyle industry. With her team, Travel Mindset has managed and executed more than 900 marketing campaigns for clients such as Fairmont Hotels, AccorHotels, Virgin Atlantic, Celebrity Cruises, Airbnb, and country, state, and city DMOs and CVBs from all over the world.

In addition to Travel Mindset, Jade is the CEO of Vagabond3, an award-winning travel blog with over 150K followers. She photographed and wrote travelogues for National Geographic and many in-flight magazines including Turkish Airlines, written in-depth guides and how-tos for Expedia, Forbes, Marriott, Lonely Planet, Parents Magazine, and various other print and online publications.

Colby Brown

Colby Brown is a photographer, photo educator and author that specializes is wildlife, landscape and travel photography. He is a former National Geographic Photography Instructor and is the founder of The Giving Lens, an organization the blends their passion for both art and photography with supporting sustainable development initiatives in developing countries all over the globe.

Joshua Bush

Joshua Bush inherited first-hand experience from watching his parents turn their passion for travel into a full-fledged business. Joshua went on to pursue consumer finance and commercial real estate, after graduating from the University of Richmond Jepson School of Leadership Studies. In 2006, his family called on him to join the executive leadership, leverage his experience and bring the agency into the future, even stronger.

Joshua’s vision upon joining Avenue Two Travel was to build an agency with a foundation of innovation, technology, and education through a strong mentorship program. This focus and drive have been critical to the agency’s success and continued growth, even through challenging times.

Joshua is an avid photographer and mountain climber. He loves National Parks and RV’d through most of the pandemic around the US, has explored all seven continents, and is always looking for the path less traveled.

Jason Cochran

Jason Cochran is the author of the history travelogue “Here Lies America” (2019). He was twice awarded Guide Book of the Year by the Lowell Thomas Awards (Society of American Travel Writers) and once by the North American Travel Journalists Association for his books on London and Orlando. His voice has reached millions of travelers, from the mid-’90s, when as a long-term backpacker he wrote one of the world’s first travel blogs, to his appearances as a commentator on CBS and for AOL, to his work at Frommers.com, which under his editorship won Silver for Travel Journalism Website in the 2021 Lowell Thomas Awards.

Mike Corey

Mike Corey never backs away from an adventure, no matter how strange it may be.

As a Canadian adventure travel YouTuber, Podcaster, and TV Host. Mike aims to inspire others to chase their fears in his own “teaching-by-doing” style, by plunging headfirst into beautiful, unknown locations and participating in undocumented cultural celebrations. Whether it be exploding hammer festivals, Kambo frog venom rituals, or dancing with black mambas. You’ll always find him immersed in exciting adventures on The Weather Channel’s “Uncharted Adventure,” Wondery Network’s “Against the Odds” Podcast, or on his personal Youtube Channel, Fearless & Far. His main goal is to help you conquer your fears, so you can travel the world too.

Sarah Dandashy

Sarah Dandashy is a verified travel expert, author, and TV personality with over 18 years of luxury hotel experience. Sought out for her travel tips, advice, and knowledge of trends from the “frontlines of travel,” Sarah pivoted her career from being an award-winning concierge to traveling the globe working with some of the leading brands in the travel industry. Follow her on social media under her brand, “Ask A Concierge,” or catch her on the news breaking down the latest in the travel on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, or Chedder News. Sarah has been featured in numerous publications from the New York Times, Nerdwallet, Business Insider, USNews, Reader’s Digest, and Thrillist, and she is the author of the book, Hospitality From Within.

Annemarie Dooling

Annemarie has been building and engaging with communities for over 12 years, starting as a comment moderator and, most recently, launching products that create a sense of ownership in local news. Her writing and reporting on subcultures includes works in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Salon, and a Wall Street Journal a-hed.

Brennan Dunn

Brennan Dunn is a bit of an email and personalization geek, and for the last few years has been focused on how to truly deliver on the promise that just about every marketing company makes: sending the right message, to the right people, at exactly the right time.
He’s the co-founder of RightMessage, a software company that helps creators better grow and learn about their audience, and recently founded Create & Sell, where he provides weekly intermediate/advanced growth ideas to creators. Brennan also likes to ride bikes and attempt to create things with wood, but what he really excels at – and what he’s looking forward to helping you with – is delivering actionable, fluff-free ideas at events that can be quickly and profitably put into play.

Lawrence Ferber

NYC-based travel and arts journalist Lawrence Ferber is a contributor to Tripsavvy, TravelAge West, NewNowNext, NY Post, Passport Magazine, CondeNastTraveler.com and Fodors.com, and has also written for National Geographic Traveler, Entertainment Weekly, and dozens of other outlets. A member of LGBTQ entertainment critics circle GALECA, he also co-wrote the 2010 gay romcom BearCity and authored its 2013 novelization.

Pauline Frommer

Pauline Frommer is Co-President, with her father, founder Arthur Frommer, of Frommer Media LLC, the family-owned business that publishes the Frommer’s Travel Guides and Frommers.com. The latter was awarded the Silver Medal in 2021 by the Society of American Travel Writers in the category of “Best Travel Journalism Website”. Frommer is an award-winning travel writer in her own right, having won medals over the years from both the SATW, and the North American Travel Journalists Association, for the guidebooks she’s written (her most current one is “Frommer’s New York City Day by Day”), and for her articles (published by Newsweek, Nick Jr., Budget Travel Magazine, the Dallas Morning News, Frommers.com, and elsewhere).

Today, she’s the host of the Frommer’s Travel podcast, named by the New York Times as one of the 13 best for travel. She’s the proud mother of two very well-traveled daughters and married to Columbia University Professor Mahlon Stewart.

Cal Fussman

For over four decades, Cal Fussman has interviewed hundreds of the world’s most influential individuals: Muhammad Ali, Jack Welch, Mikhail Gorbachev, Serena Williams, Jeff Bezos, Jimmy Carter, Kobe Bryant, Richard Branson, and the list goes on.

Now, as a New York Times bestselling author, keynote speaker, world-renowned interviewer, and host of the Big Questions podcast, Fussman travels the world teaching the world’s largest companies, universities, and associations about leadership, storytelling, innovation, teamwork, and more. When Cal speaks, you’re listening to everyone he’s ever interviewed. Lessons and stories from hundreds of world icons, all coming through one man.

Don George

Don George is the author of the award-winning anthology The Way of Wanderlust: The Best Travel Writing of Don George, and of How to Be a Travel Writer, the best-selling travel writing guide in the world. His most recent book is an ebook entitled Wanderlust in the Time of Coronavirus: Dispatches from a Year of Traveling Close to Home. Don is currently Editor at Large for National Geographic Travel and has been Travel Editor at the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle, Salon, and Lonely Planet. He has visited more than 90 countries and has written more than a thousand articles for print and online publications. He has been honored 18 times in the Society of American Travel Writers’ annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism competition.

Don is the co-founder and chairman of the acclaimed annual Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference and currently teaches travel writing workshops online and at Book Passage.

Lebawit Lily Girma

Lebawit Lily Girma is Skift’s global tourism reporter, where she covers the key issues and trends impacting the business of travel, from destination marketing and the evolving role of tourism boards to climate action, sustainability, and equity. Lily appears regularly in the media to share industry expert insights on Skift’s behalf, including on CNN Quest Means Business, Bloomberg, Newsy, The Washington Post, NPR, and CBC Canada, among others.

Her writing and photography have been published in BBC, CNN, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, AFAR, Sierra Magazine, and Lonely Planet, among others. Lily is also the founder of SeetheCaribbean.org, a new platform aimed at educating and encouraging sustainable tourism in the islands.

Lily is fluent in four languages, and she currently splits her time between Maryland and the Dominican Republic.

Jeff Goins

Jeff Goins is a writer, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur with a reputation for challenging the status quo. He is the best-selling author of five books including The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve. His award-winning blog Goinswriter.com is visited by millions of people every year, and his work has been featured in the Washington Post, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Psychology Today, Business Insider, Time, and many others.

Through his online courses, events, and coaching programs, Jeff helps thousands of creatives succeed every year. A father of two and a guacamole aficionado, Jeff lives just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

Sarah Groen

Sarah is the owner and CEO of Bell & Bly Travel, host of the first authoritative podcast on luxury travel (Luxury Travel Insider), and serial entrepreneur/investor.

After working in finance and tech (think private equity and Uber) and facing entrepreneurial successes and failures, Sarah finally decided to merge her two main passions – business and travel.

Bell & Bly Travel serves a very specific clientele – Investors, Executives, and successful Entrepreneurs, and is one of the fastest growing boutique travel businesses in the US. In 2021, Sarah and the team were recognized as the Most Innovative Travel Advisor by Virtuoso Travel, a consortium of nearly 12,00 top advisors around the world.

Stacy Gruen

Stacy Gruen is Intrepid Travel’s Senior PR Manager for North America. She developed an international educational curriculum around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and brings over 25 years of global communications management in diverse and dynamic environments – notably with a United States Presidential Campaign, eight Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Prince Harry’s Invictus Games, and with the Los Angeles Lakers. She is also an Emmy-award winning television producer.

Erica Hackman

Erica Virvo Hackman is a community enthusiast, connector, and purposeful traveler. Erica has been an integral part of the Nomadic Matt team since 2013. In 2019, she helped create Nomadic Matt’s community, The Nomadic Network (otherwise known as TNN). Two years ago, TNN was born. Today, there are over 10,000 people in our community empowering one another, making friends with other travel lovers, and learning how to travel cheaper, better, longer, and more. She has experience planning in-person and virtual events, working with volunteers, and building a thriving community. What she’s most proud of, is seeing all of the friendships born out of this travel network. Erica will be speaking on how to connect your community so you can provide value and create life-long fans.

Dalene and Pete Heck

Dalene and Pete Heck spent 8 years living around the globe building their blog HeckticTravels.com and amassing awards including being named National Geographic “Travelers of the Year.” They also founded HMI Marketing and developed Creator House, an innovative tourism influencer marketing initiative that earned a W3 “Best in Show” award.

When Dalene was sidelined by leukemia in 2016 (but now cured!), the couple returned home to Canada and began a series of local niche sites starting with RoadTripAlberta.com. When they are not traveling you can find them on the curling ice or catering to their one-eyed, toothless cat named Norman.

Clint Henderson

Clint is Managing Editor of News at The Points Guy. He worked in broadcast news for more than 20 years — including stints at ABC News, Fox and MSNBC — before landing his dream job at TPG in 2019. He was raised in California and Montana but has called New York home for 20 years. His goal is to travel to every country on the planet, but he can only claim 52 so far. He’s been featured as a travel expert on ABC News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox, NBC News, “Today” and “Morning Joe,” and in the Wall Street Journal.

Joseph Hernandez

Joseph Hernandez (he/him) is the deputy food editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Most recently, he served as research director at Bon Appétit and is an award-winning wine and food writer and former editor at the Chicago Tribune, Thrillist, SevenFifty Daily, and Wine Enthusiast. He has written for Eater, Condé Nast Traveler, Men’s Health and many others. He is a fellow of both the Poynter Institute’s Leadership Academy for Diversity in Media and the National Critics Institute, the winner of the Frank G. Prial Fellowship at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, and a former vice-chair for the James Beard Award Restaurant and Chefs committee. His work spans everything from female chef navigating the Me Too reckoning in traditionally male-dominated kitchens, to coverage of the country’s immigrant-run restaurants and chefs. He’s also an honorary cavaleiro (knight) with the Brotherhood of Port Winemakers and holds multiple advanced wine education certifications, but he’s not a somm. He splits his time between Philly and Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, with his husband and hedgehog, Hedgewig the Angry Inch.

Marcus Hibdon

Marcus Hibdon is the Director of Communications and Public Relations at Travel Portland. He has a lifetime of media experience dating back to high school and college where he was an editor before spending more than 10 years in various editor roles at newspapers in Montana, California and Oregon. Today he tells the stories of Portland, Ore. to a wide variety of content creators and leading the public relations effort for the dynamic destination.

Anne & Mike Howard

Mike and Anne left on their honeymoon in January 2012…and never came home. They created HoneyTrek.com to chronicle their journey across all seven continents and help people mobilize their travel dreams. Their story of “the world’s longest honeymoon,” savvy tips, and blog have been featured in hundreds of media outlets, from USA Today to Lonely Planet. The Howards authored National Geographic’s bestselling couples travel book Ultimate Journeys for Two and the Lowell Thomas award-winning guidebook, Comfortably Wild: The Best Glamping Destinations in North America.

As full-time digital nomads and travel journalists, the Howards are always on the hunt for off-the-track destinations, unique accommodations, sustainability successes, and the human stories that make each place so special.

Sheri Howell

Sheri Howell is Head of Marketing & Communications for MEDJET, the top-rated Air Medical Transport & Travel Security membership program for travelers. Before that, she spent 14 years at MTV, where she helped evolve a “little niche music television channel” into one of the most internationally recognized brands in history. Other former clients and project partners over her 20-year career in marketing, have included Walmart, Intel, Sony, Sports Illustrated, Virgin Airlines, Verizon, Snickers, Gatorade, and more. Howell’s viral content and artist integrated marketing campaigns, featuring celebrities like Miley Cyrus and will.i.am, have earned her Emmy, Clio, Webby, CES Global Media and NAACP Awards, multiple Telly Awards, and a nomination for the Titanium Lion at Cannes.

Milton Howery III

Milton Howery III known by many as “ Milton Memphis” has spent the last 15 years working in the entertainment and tourism industry. He’s currently the Director of Public Relations Manager for Memphis Tourism, responsible for generating travel-related domestic and international media coverage for Memphis. Bass Pro Shops recruited Milton as their Public Spokesperson and Promotions Manager to lead the Bass Pro Shops opening of the Memphis pyramid in 2015. During Milton’s tenure at the iconic pyramid, they received over 3 million visitors in the first year.

In addition, Milton serves on the Executive Committee for the Public Relations Society of America Travel and Tourism Section. Milton is also the founder of Milton Memphis Entertainment (MME), known for producing a variety of concerts and events like the popular Link Up Memphis networking event that continues to connect thousands of professionals in Memphis.

Teri Ijeoma

Teri Ijeoma is an entrepreneur and number-one Teachable course creator. The founder and CEO of Trade and Travel, Teri began her career in education and nonprofits before learning how to trade stocks as a way to supplement her income. After her initial success with trading in 2017, she quit her job, traveled the world, and began investing full-time. Today, she’s built a $40 million online course empire, teaching students around the world how to earn supplementary income with trading and achieve financial freedom. Teri was the Grand Champion of Teachable’s 2019 Creator Challenge and has been featured in Forbes, Black Enterprise, Yahoo Finance, ABC, NBC, and FOX. You can reach her on Instagram at @teriijeoma or online at teriijeoma.com.

Pico Iyer

With his keen-eyed observations, bestselling writer Pico Iyer is a chronicler of the desire to seek new frontiers and view familiar terrain through fresh eyes. “Arguably the world’s greatest living travel writer,” according to Outside magazine, he is the author of two novels and ten works of nonfiction, including such enduring favorites as The Lady and the Monk and The Global Soul. Iyer has been embraced by both spiritual seekers and startup entrepreneurs as a beacon of wisdom in a frenetic world. The Utne Reader included him alongside Noam Chomsky and Václav Havel as “one of 100 visionaries worldwide who could change your life.”

Jeff Jenkins

Jeff Jenkins is an award-winning content creator, travel journalist, consultant, and entrepreneur. Founder of Chubby Diaries and co-founder of Black Travel Alliance, Jeff was recently named one of Travel + Leisure’s 50 Notable People in Travel and has been featured by Forbes, The New York Times, Washington Post, Travel Noire, Essence, and Lonely Planet. An experienced motivational speaker, Jeff is 100% authentic, transparent and a ton of fun.

Alexandra Jimenez

In 2008, Alexandra Jimenez quit her corporate job in the fashion industry then spent almost a decade traveling full-time. She’s the editor-in-chief at Travel Fashion Girl, one of the highest-trafficked blogs for female travelers in 2019, where she teaches an audience of up to 1,000,000+ monthly visitors to pack in a light, stylish, and efficient way.

She’s appeared live on the Fox & Friends morning show and has been featured in national digital news outlets including Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Oprah, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Reader’s Digest, Forbes, USA Today, and Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income podcast.

Ciara Johnson

Ciara is a Texas-born blogger, writer, and full-time traveler who shares her experiences from around the world. She left the country for the first time through a college study abroad program and she’s been hooked ever since. Through her blog, she encourages women to seek meaningful experiences through travel – specifically solo travel. She believes it only takes one place or even person to expand your worldview and change your perspective. Her boundless curiosity has taken her to over 60 countries and 6 continents.

Ciara has created digital content for brands like Airbnb, American Airlines, Visit California, Aruba Tourism, Chase, Marriott, and more! Her dynamic travel content has landed her in Forbes, The New York Times, CNTraveler, Travel & Leisure, Refinery 29, The Washington Post, and countless other publications!

Christine Kaaloa

Christine Ka’aloa is a Hawaii-born travel vlogger and solo travel content creator who is passionate about filming videos, which inspire travelers with the confidence to travel alone. GRRRLTRAVELER – a blog she started in 2008 when she took a gap year to teach English in Korea – is also one of the first YouTube channels dedicated to selfie filming trip and food guides for the solo travel experience. Christine has over 15 years experience as a freelance camera operator filming for corporate, live events to reality TV show clients – as MTV Networks, Nat Geo, CBS, etc. But producing shows like MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen in single and two-man teams, turned Christine into a solo digital storyteller, who can see, host, and edit a story before she hits record.

Matthew Kepnes

Matt Kepnes runs the award-winning travel site nomadicmatt.com, which helps people travel the world on a budget. He’s the author of the NYT best-seller How to Travel the World on $50 a Day and the travel memoir Ten Years a Nomad. His writings and advice have been featured in The New York Times, CNN, The Guardian, Lifehacker, Budget Travel, BBC, Time, and countless other publications. You can follow him on Instagram at @nomadicmatt. When he’s not on the road, he lives in Austin.

Richard Kerr

Richard Kerr is the Director of Travel Rewards at Bilt Rewards – the first loyalty program to offer points on rent for no fee. A veteran naval officer and founder of the Award Travel 101 Facebook community, he’s one of the foremost experts in points and miles strategy featured in Forbes, US News, Money Magazine, Kiplinger Personal Finance and presented at #SXSW 2017. Previously Richard worked as an editor and business development director at The Points Guy. Richard has visited over 45 countries, lived in England and Japan, and spends his spare time dissecting loyalty program award charts to maximize the value of points and miles. Richard holds a BBA in International Business and has his wife and two small children in tow for his travels as often as possible.

Nadya Khoja

Nadya Khoja is a revenue-driven growth marketer who specializes in content and SEO to help businesses increase their acquisition organically, without having to rely on a large budget. She was formerly the Chief of Growth at Venngage, where helped scale the revenue from 0 to 10 Million entirely through these strategies. Nadya has been featured on Forbes, CBC, Wall Street Journal, and many other notable publications. She has spoken around the world, educating various business leaders about building and executing scalable marketing strategies. You read more about Nadya on her blog.

AJ Kinney

AJ is the Partnerships Manager at Matador Network working with brands and destinations to create engaging custom content and storytelling across Matador Network’s platform. Matador is one of the world’s largest digital publishers focused on travel + adventure. The “network” includes influencers, writers, videographers, and photographers all over the world connected via our Matador Creators platform. AJ is based in the Cayman Islands and fills his spare time with offshore fishing and helping his wife with the national synchronized swimming team.

Stefan Krasowski

Stefan Krasowski is a public speaker, blogs at Rapid Travel Chai, and founded Every Passport Stamp, the leading Facebook group for country collectors. He co-created the Extraordinary Travel Festival, to be held in Yerevan, Armenia on October 14-16, 2022.

Based in Seattle and a graduate of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Stefan has also studied in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. He worked in China for a decade in retail and property-casualty insurance and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Stefan has traveled to every country in the world and is a member of the Circumnavigators Club and on the Board of Directors of the Travelers’ Century Club.

Travis Levius

Travis Levius is a luxury travel journalist and content creator loosely based between London and Atlanta. His writing has appeared in Condé Nast Traveler, TIME, CNN Travel, Travel + Leisure, AFAR, Forbes Travel Guide, The Telegraph, and others. Travis regularly teaches freelance travel writing via workshops and coaching programs and served as a panelist for National Geographic Traveller’s The Masterclasses 2021. He currently serves as an advisory board member of The Points Guy.

Travis shares his ongoing adventures and takes on life, travel & the pursuit of happiness as a content creator on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Kelley Louise

Kelley is the founder of Impact Travel Alliance, a 501c3 nonprofit and the world’s largest community for socially and eco-conscious travelers. She is also the Head of Content Marketing at Fora Travel and was formerly Head of Marketing at ViaHero.

A leader in sustainable tourism, Kelley is currently serving as one of 30 global leaders on the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Sustainable Travel and as an advisor to the Future of Tourism Coalition.

Kelley has presented at the United Nations, MMGY’s Vail Summit and Women’s Travel Fest, and has been interviewed by press including the New York Times, Fast Company, National Geographic Travel, CNN Travel, Sustainable Brands, Forbes and Mashable.

Christine Lozada

Christine Lozada is a travel creator, drone pilot and podcast host. She makes the must-watch video before you travel to a place and has helped over 1.5M million people to travel smarter. She’s a certified drone pilot who’s taught thousands to quickly and easily get into flying drones. She’s also the host of Everyday Badassery, a podcast of inspiring travel stories.

Avagail Lozano

Avagail is a travel content creator and copywriter. After teaching English in South Korea and traveling around Asia for four years, she pivoted into the digital nomad life to combine her passions for writing and travel by blogging, creating content, and managing social media for her own blog, Avagail Adventures, as well as multiple clients in and out of the travel industry. As a Filipina-American, she is an advocate for amplifying BIPOC stories and voices in the travel sphere and empowering them to follow their travel and live abroad dreams even under the pressure of cultural norms.

Rachelle Lucas

Rachelle is a blogger, writer, speaker, and television host. Her blog, The Travel Bite, has been featured in PEOPLE Magazine, Food & Wine, and Travel + Leisure. The Travel Bite is also listed by Trip Advisor as one of the Top 25 Culinary Travel Blogs to follow, named one of USA Today’s 10 Best Food & Travel Blogs, and listed as a Top 10 Travel Hacker by Kayak for 2019. She has done work for the Travel Channel as a video journalist and regularly appears on live television as a culinary brand ambassador on the Home Shopping Network.

Kristin Luna

Tennessee-based journalist Kristin Luna is a magazine veteran with 20 years of industry experience under her belt; she has contributed to 50+ major publications, including Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Afar, Newsweek, Southern Living, Real Simple, Redbook, Forbes, Entrepreneur and USA Today, and authored more than 15 guidebooks. As a byproduct of her love for traveling and storytelling, Kristin launched Camels & Chocolate, a collection of narratives about food, travel, and home renovation, in 2007. Through her blog, she has collaborated with myriad brands and DMOs. Kristin and her husband Scott run their own content marketing agency, Odinn Media, as well as a public art 501(c)(3) DMA-events that has installed more than 30 large-scale murals in towns across the South.

Doug Mack

Doug Mack is the author of two travelogues: Europe on Five Wrong Turns a Day (Perigee/Penguin), an unconventional take on European tourism, and The Not-Quite States of America (W.W. Norton), a layered examination of the U.S. colonies, which Smithsonian named one of the top ten travel books of 2017. He has written for The New York Times, Travel + Leisure, TIME, and Slate, led travel writing workshops on a cruise ship as the opening act for Sandra Day O’Connor and Julian Bond, and was the first American author to present at the Minsk International Book Fair.

Doug is also co-editor of the travel and culture newsletter The Statesider and runs Snack Stack, a newsletter about snacks around the world. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two daughters.

Mickela Mallozzi

Mickela Mallozzi is the four-time Emmy® Award-winning Host and Executive Producer of Bare Feet with Mickela Mallozzi, a travel series highlighting the diversity of dance that airs on PBS stations nationwide and on Amazon Prime Video globally. A professional dancer and trained musician, Mickela decided to start a journey around the world, taking her camera with her to follow dance in the lives of everyday people wherever she went.

From re-discovering her family’s heritage in Southern Italy to dancing the tango on the main stage in Buenos Aires, the series covers Mickela’s adventures as she experiences the world, one dance at a time. She has been featured in The New York Times, O Magazine, The Washington Post, AFAR Media, Travel Channel, Dance Magazine, Forbes, National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler, and more, and she has performed on various television shows including Sesame Street and The Doctor Oz Show. Stay tuned for Season 5 of the Bare Feet TV series coming to PBS stations nationwide starting April 2022!

Jen Matichuk

Jen has been helping folks like yourself build, launch and grow membership programs for over 2 years. She is the Strategic Partnerships Lead at Memberful, a best-in-class membership software that gives ownership back to the creator. Previously, she was at Mythical Entertainment, building out their robust membership program for their online audience of over 30 million. She plays a lot of ice hockey!

Lyndsey Matthews

Lyndsey Matthews is the senior commerce editor at AFAR, where she oversees gear and style content. Before joining AFAR in 2018 as the destination news editor, she was the lifestyle editor at Hearst Digital Media’s centralized news desk writing for brands like Town & Country, Esquire, and Harper’s Bazaar. She has also held editorial roles at Travel + Leisure and Martha Stewart Weddings. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she’s been based in New York City since 2005.

Katalina Mayorga

As the Colombian-American founder of El Camino Travel, Katalina never meant to get into the travel industry. However, a quick conversation (about drug cartels) with a taxi driver in Guatemala dramatically changed the course of her life and veered her from international development to hospitality and tourism. 7 years, several countries, and thousands of travelers later, El Camino is now one of the fastest US growing travel companies for women that empowers them to travel boldly and off the beaten path. El Camino specializes in hidden gems, ungoogleable travel advice, and exceptional small group trips.

Chris Mercer

Chris Mercer, co-founder of MeasurementMarketing.io, is a sought after measurement marketing expert and has been helping marketers, marketing teams, and agencies, plan out what’s important to measure in their marketing, build measurement systems (using Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics), create actionable dashboard reports, and finally launch those reports to forecast and optimize their marketing results.

In short, Mercer helps marketers measure their marketing so they know what’s working and what’s not.

Chris Oldfield

Chris is the Director of Content for Nomadic Matt and the author of The Dogs of Nam, a collection of outrageous and insightful tales from over a decade of backpacking the world. Responsible for writing, editing, updating, and publishing content, Chris knows what it takes to get content seen and shared. Whether you’re publishing a novel, ebook, or something in beteween, Chris can help you get it in the hands of your readers quickly and efficiently. He will be speaking on self-publishing.

Angie Orth

Angie Orth is an award-winning content creator, recovering agency publicist, on-camera host, and consultant on all things in the digital travel space. She created AngieAway.com to chronicle a yearlong round-the-world trip that accidentally became a career. She produces and co-hosts The Jet Sisters, a video series focusing on Millennial travel. In addition to working on content campaigns with dozens of brands and DMOs including Ford, Dramamine, Virgin Atlantic, Windstar Cruises, and Visit Britain, Angie has served as a brand ambassador for Travelocity, the Rocky Mountaineer, Yahoo Travel, and AFAR. She serves as an influencer marketing advisor for top travel brands and founded the Blog Squad at Universal Orlando. Angie’s adventures have appeared on The Today Show, the New York Post, Cosmopolitan, Travel + Leisure, and Glamour.

Jessica Parker

Jessica Parker is a travel and hospitality publicist with a panache for organizing great events. With over a decade of experience in New York City, she worked for top brands such as Singapore Airlines, Expedia, The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Hilton Luxury Brands and the launch of Universal’s The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. From agency life to in-house, Jessica went on to be the Director of Marketing for hoteliers’ Denihan Hospitality Group to manage all facets in marketing and communications for two properties in Manhattan.

While she has broad experience in big brand names, she went off on her own five years ago and has been able to be extremely scrappy and achieve maximum value for her clients as a consultant. She gives tailored advice and goes above and beyond the call of duty. That’s why 90% of her business comes from referrals from the media and industry friends.

She’s built a great network from five years as chapter leader of Travel Massive NYC, and now, Sponsor Director for TravelCon with the founder Matt Kepnes, aka Nomadic Matt.

Alle Pierce

Alle Pierce is an Emmy Award-winning journalist turned on-camera host, producer, and content creator. You can catch Alle on TV screens in more than 90 airports across North America as one of the faces of reachtv. As the founder of the Alle Abroad brand and Gals Abroad Getaways – Alle empowers overpacking, luxury-loving, independent women, to travel deeper on their next adventure.

Her 8+ years of working in the TV news industry, combined with a platform of more than 22,000 travel enthusiasts have earned her the opportunity to host and produce videos for brands such as The American Society of Travel Advisors, The Langham Chicago, Choose Chicago, Visit Greater Palm Springs, Memphis Travel, the BNP Paribas Open and caught the attention of Forbes, NBC LA and earned her an American Advertising Award in 2019.

Amy Pool

After graduating college in Ohio, Amy moved west to Los Angeles to start her accounting career. Her background as a CPA includes 10 years of public accounting as an auditor, half of that time was spent working in Australia. She then spent 5 years working at start up companies in the LA area before starting her own venture as a solo accountant with her own company, Playa Project, allowing the freedom to work anywhere.

Playa Project provides accounting services to several small to medium sized companies in many different industries including wine, swimsuits, packaging, and technology. Through running her own business she has learned a lot to benefit others with theirs. Amy loves to travel and has been to 70 countries and tries to spend six months abroad each year.

Andrew Prawl

Andrew Prawl’s product team at AWeber builds solutions that empower entrepreneurs to jumpstart their business and start collecting revenue. Andrew is also a travel blogger! He has spent the past year growing a community around his newsletter, The Busy Traveler. He can’t wait to tell you how you can do the same.

Erick Prince-Heaggans

Photographer, Philanthropist, and World Traveler, Erick Prince combined his love for photography and travel, to create MinorityNomad.com. One of the premier travel blogs for African-American and Latino travelers. Inspiring low-income communities to explore the world and document their travels through photography and video. Erick has turned his hobby into a thriving business. Visiting 95 countries along the way. Through his blog and digital marketing company, Erick has worked with brands such as Facebook, Singha Corp, LAN Airlines, Lonely Planet, InterContinental Hotels, and Sony.

Catarina Rivera

Catarina Rivera, MSEd, MPH, CPACC is a public speaker and DEI consultant with over 14 years of experience in the public sector. Catarina works with companies to improve accessibility and inclusion, retain employees, and design better products. She is the founder of Blindish Latina, a platform smashing disability stigmas through storytelling, advocacy, and training. Catarina has worn hearing aids from a young age and was diagnosed with progressive vision loss at 17 years old. She has a BA from Duke University, an MSEd from Bank Street College of Education, and an MPH from Hunter College. Catarina is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (IAAP). She is a member of RespectAbility’s National Disability Speakers Bureau and KeyNote Women’s Global Speakers Directory. She is also the founder of the sustainable travel company ExplorEquity. Catarina is committed to social justice and loves sustainable travel.

Patricia Serrano

Patricia Serrano has been featured on the Travel Channel Special Best of the Road where she road-tripped across America visiting small towns to find America’s most fun small town. She learned so many things on that trip – like outstanding maple syrup is produced in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio and that Denton, Texas has such a sick music scene. She loves exploring off-the-beaten path places and is passionate about supporting independently-owned businesses. She has her own travel business (FreshTraveler.com) where she designs vacations and honeymoons to off-the-beaten-path sustainable properties around the world. She is also the Chief Sustainability Officer at Myght Travel Network, the first travel agency focused exclusively on sustainable travel.

Kelly Soderlund

Kelly Soderlund is the senior director of communications at TripActions, the all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management platform disrupting legacy T&E. A graduate of SF State’s journalism program, Kelly has spent a decade working in-house for innovative and beloved travel tech companies, including Hipmunk and TripIt. An expert in both funding news and data storytelling, Kelly pulls, analyzes, and packages data herself, working with top-tier journalists across business, finance, tech, and travel.

Valerie Stimac

Valerie Stimac is a travel blogger who recently relocated from California and has lived in Washington and Alaska. Her blog, Valerie & Valise, focuses on travel in Alaska and the American West. She also runs several other sites focused on topics including astrotourism, Harry Potter, and travel to London.

Charu Suri

Charu Suri is a freelance journalist who contributes to many publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Conde Nast Traveler, Hemispheres, Robb Report, and more. Born in South India, Suri frequently writes about under-the-radar destinations and more recently, culinary travel. Her work has won many awards including those from the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA). She is also a pianist and jazz composer, whose second album, The Book of Ragas, premiers at Carnegie Hall in December.

David Troop

David Troop is a highly experienced Affiliate Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the performance marketing industry. Originally from the state of Florida, David spent many years in the Raleigh, North Carolina area and earned a BS in Marketing from NC State University’s Poole College of Management before diving head-first into his professional marketing career with LinkConnector. Sixteen years later, David has amassed a wealth of affiliate marketing insights and is highly skilled in the areas of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, digital marketing, and Google Adwords. As a seasoned Affiliate Manager, David specializes in helping individual entrepreneurs, large companies, and everyone in between to monetize their traffic. He is excited to share his knowledge and passion for all things affiliate marketing with this year’s TravelCon attendees.

Craig Trost

Travel Wisconsin Communications Director Craig Trost is an experienced communications and public policy professional dedicated to making Wisconsin the best state in the country to play, live and work. A native of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Trost graduated from UW-Oshkosh with a degree in journalism. For two decades, Trost has spent his career in public service, working for former Governor Jim Doyle and leading strategic communications and public policy efforts for several state lawmakers. Since 2019, Trost has led Travel Wisconsin’s award-winning PR program that includes increasing Wisconsin’s earned and social media influencer footprints, pioneering a public relations Co-Op program and integrating public relations into all major marketing campaigns. Trost currently resides in Madison.

Somto Ugwueze

Born in Nigeria and raised in Los Angeles, Somto Ugwueze is an award-winning travel blogger, content marketer, and entrepreneur. She is on a mission to help adventurous women live an extraordinary life of travel, freedom, and purpose by creating a location-independent lifestyle. Her content explores topics such as solo female travel, traveling while black, moving abroad, and working from anywhere.

Somto is the founder of two blogs, Somto Seeks and Fight the Cubicle. They focus on solo travel for women of color and online business tips, respectively. She loves to help people leverage the power of blogging to generate income online and regularly hosts a free blogging masterclass, The Abundant Blogger Experience. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, Life and Money by Citi, Matador Network, and Travel Noire.

Chris Vasquez

Chris Vasquez is the chief product officer at AWeber and an obsessed email marketing geek. He loves finding and building solutions to help small businesses and creators grow audiences exponentially. Chris believes every small business owner — whether a side hustle or a main gig — deserves to make money for their time, effort, and expertise.

Nicole Walters

Nicole Walters is on a mission to inspire people to not only live better lives, but also leave a legacy. As the CEO and Founder of NapNic, LLC, Walters specializes in business development training and strategic coaching for emerging entrepreneurs and established business owners. From stay at home parents to small business owners, her transformative resources help everyday entrepreneurs get richer–in finances, relationships and health. NapNic, LLC offers insight into proven corporate strategies and business principles that can catapult barely-surviving companies into thriving enterprises. Her firm’s unique and immersive programs help business owners gain the confidence and clarity to build profitable ventures doing what they love. Viral videos of her juggling family and fortune have racked up over 30 million views and generated coverage on The Today Show, Good Morning America, Woman’s Day and Babble. Additionally, Walters has shared her business expertise with publications including Entrepreneur, Essence and Forbes.

James Warren

James Warren is a storyteller and a strategist, passionate about the intersections of human and digital, and brands, culture and communities. James is the Vice President of Brand Strategy at JMI, a brand strategy and consulting firm uniquely focused on brand community engagement. He is also the Founder and CEO of Share More Stories, a human experience research company that delivers deeper human insights and solutions through storytelling and machine learning, to help brands and organizations create more value for and with their constituents.

For nearly 25 years, James has used his unique blend of marketing, storytelling, strategic planning, organizational development and innovation experiences to help companies form lasting connections with their employees, consumers and communities. Over the last several years, James and his team have led groundbreaking studies focused on the travel experiences of historically excluded and underrepresented consumer groups, helping clients at the state and local level develop more authentic engagement and improve the visitation experience.

Amanda Williams

Amanda Williams is the former-journalist-turned-blogger behind A Dangerous Business, a travel blog that aims to inspire people to fit more travel and adventure into the lifestyle they already have. Since starting her blog in 2010, Amanda has traveled to more than 50 countries on six continents from her home base in Ohio and has been featured by major publications and websites like AFAR, The Huffington Post, and USA Today Travel. She will be speaking on partnerships and affiliate marketing.

Valerie Joy Wilson

Valerie Joy Wilson is a solo travel expert, travel host, and founder of the travel website, TrustedTravelGirl.com. As a full-time traveler, Valerie loves to venture off-the-beaten-path, discover hidden gems only locals know about, and help women travel better. A self-proclaimed experience junkie with no comfort zone, Valerie continues to scare her parents with her worldwide adventures. Valerie has been featured on CNN, HuffPost, Fox News, and more.