In Episode 9 of 85 Percent, host Beth Santos tells the story of how a trip to Iguazu Falls was a pivotal moment in Nikki Vargas’ journey from heartbreak to bestselling author.
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- 20 minute read
No more waiting: Season 2 of 85 Percent is finally here! In this season we’re all about sharing stories, and in episode 9, Nikki Vargas, the author of the best-selling memoir Call You When I Land, opens up about a pivotal moment in her life after taking a trip to Iguazu falls in Argentina.
But it’s not just about a trip to some waterfalls: Nikki’s journey is one of self-discovery, bravery, and finding her true path despite the challenges and heartbreak that followed. Check out the full transcript here for insight into the transformative power of travel and the importance of staying true to yourself.
New to 85 Percent? Here’s a quick intro
Did you know that women make 85% of travel decisions, and yet make up just a tiny fraction of who we see in travel media and leadership? 85 Percent: A Wanderful Podcast showcases the trailblazing women of travel and the stories they have to share with the world. It’s hosted by Wanderful’s founder and CEO, Beth Santos.
The format is part interview, part narrative style, sharing the powerful, passionate travel stories that have changed the lives of the women who are changing travel right back.
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New for Listeners: Share Your Travel Story with Us
At the end of each episode, we’re sharing a travel story from one of our listeners.
This should be a 2-minute recording of a moment that changed you during your travels. It may be something that surprised you, a funny or harrowing experience, or something else that gave you an important lesson about travel.
Introducing Episode 9 with Nikki Vargas
Meet Nikki Vargas, a dynamic storyteller originally from Bogotá, Colombia. Nikki is the author of Call you When I Land (HarperCollins, 2023), a memoir that’s captured hearts and headlines alike—named a best women’s memoir by Glamour Magazine, a top 50 bestseller by Hudson Books, and a book club pick by Real Simple. It also took home the 2024 Bessie Award for Impactful Writing. This powerful read has earned accolades from Good Morning America, Cosmopolitan, Forbes, Shondaland, and many more.
Beyond the page, Nikki is a force in the travel industry as the Senior Digital Editor for Fodor’s Travel and the Founder of Unearth Women, a groundbreaking women’s travel publication that champions women’s stories and spotlights women-owned businesses.
But Nikki wasn’t always a badass changing the travel landscape. There was a time before all of that when she was a young twentysomething with a 9-5 trying to figure out what it was that she really wanted. And it turns out it wasn’t at all what she was on track for.
[00:00:46] Nikki Vargas: I started talking to myself quite literally out loud. And I remember asking myself, what is it you have to say?
[00:00:53] In a very like exasperated way, as if I was traveling with somebody who had been complaining the whole [00:01:00] time and I’d been steamrolling them. There was no pause. There was no momentary, Oh, let me think about the answer and calculated response. It was, what is it you have to say? And then the answer just flew out of me very loudly.
[00:01:18] I don’t want to get married.
Welcome to the 85 Percent Podcast
[00:01:21] Beth Santos: Did you know that women make 85 percent of travel decisions, whether booking a trip for our families or cleaning the hotel rooms? Women are the backbone of the travel industry, but the people we see in travel shows, marketing, and leadership, they don’t look like us. Now we’re cutting through the noise to talk to the change makers, the trailblazers, and the women who make travel what it is and how we can make travel better.
[00:01:48] for all of us. This is 85 Percent. I’m your host, Beth Santos.
A Few Life Updates from our 85 Percent Podcast Host, Beth Santos
Hey, everyone. It’s been a minute since we last connected [00:02:00] and I’m so excited to kick off a second season of 85%. A lot has happened these past few months since we had our last season. First of all, I had a baby. Yep. Another one. Beau Alexander was born on January 29th.
[00:02:16] Just a little bundle of joy and my third child. Being a mom of three is exhausting. And exhilarating. It’s every bit as chaotic as they tell you. But it’s also every bit as loving and exciting. I saw a magnet once that said that being a parent is like having a small army around all the time. Except it’s an army that you created yourself.
[00:02:45] I’m really loving having my small army follow me around when there isn’t major fighting among the ranks.
[00:02:55] I also released another baby, one I had been working on for even longer than [00:03:00] nine months. That was my book, Wander Woman, which published with Balance, a Hachette imprint, in March. Wander Woman is so much more than words can describe. I like to call it part travel guide, part manifesto. Others have called it more of a philosophical non fiction.
[00:03:19] It’s the book I believe every woman should read before she travels alone. Not because it’s going to scare you with data about how traveling solo is unsafe, which is what a lot of articles about solo female travel do, but because it head on combat some of the biggest myths that women are told when they travel alone.
[00:03:38] And it does it in the most thoughtful, supportive way. And it’s funny and entertaining. Oh, and it’s also available as an audiobook. Which you might like, since you’re apparently the listening type. The journey of publishing Wander Woman has been every bit as fulfilling as I hope. I’ve been busy traveling on a book tour, and in April took Baby Beau with me to Salt Lake [00:04:00] City to host our 10th anniversary of the WITS Creator Summit.
[00:04:03] A major event for women content creators to gather, create connections with each other and share stories. I’m also working on a TV show concept called World Herstory, which showcases different destinations through the eyes of the women who are building those places, chefs and hoteliers and entrepreneurs.
[00:04:21] And I’m doing it all during a six hour workday between school drop off and pickup. The laser focus is real, folks.
A New Format of the 85 Percent Podcast
Speaking of laser focus, we’re going to do things a little differently around here in this season. Fellow podcasters tell me that every season you learn a little something new or do things a little bit differently.
[00:04:42] You get better and better. This season is definitely that. Rather than just cutting straight interviews, I want to tell you some stories. I want you to get deep into the minds and hearts of some of travel’s most interesting women. I want you to see [00:05:00] yourself in these stories. I want you to know that so many of these moments are the moments that make us who we are.
[00:05:07] But we don’t talk a lot about that. We don’t give ourselves enough grace to reflect on how travel truly changes us. We’re going to do that here. And here’s one of my favorite parts. Even though each episode features a different woman in travel, we’re also showcasing you and your stories. At the end of this episode, you’ll hear from one of our listeners sharing a moment that made her pause or reflect, or a moment that scared her or surprised her.
[00:05:38] One of those universal moments that we can all listen to as travelers and think, yep, I’ve been there. Maybe not in that exact place at that exact moment, but in that same headspace, you’ve had that same feeling. We’re going to trade some travel tales and I think you’re going to love every minute of it.
[00:05:58] The reality is that travel is [00:06:00] different for all of us because we are all different. We come from different places. We expect different things. When we interpret the world, the world interprets us too, but at the end of the day, those moments of discomfort and confusion and curiosity and change, a lot of us travelers know what that feels like, even if we feel it slightly differently.
The reality is that travel is different for all of us because we are all different. We come from different places. We expect different things. When we interpret the world, the world interprets us too, but at the end of the day, those moments of discomfort and confusion and curiosity and change, a lot of us travelers know what that feels like, even if we feel it slightly differently.
Beth Santos
Meet Nikki Vargas, Bestselling Author of Call You When I Land
[00:06:23] We’re going to kick off our season with a story from Nikki Vargas. Originally from Bogota, Colombia, Nikki is the author of the best selling memoir, Call You When I Land. It’s a coming of age story featuring her, in her twenties, chasing a career dream as a travel writer. Along the way, she has formative experiences that impact her life.
[00:06:46] It’s a love story. It’s a story about making wrong decisions. It’s a story about family and identity. And ultimately, it’s a story about listening to your gut. [00:07:00]
[00:07:00] Nikki Vargas: When I decided to write Call You When I Land, I both wanted to pay homage to those memoirs that had really just given me friendship at a time when I needed it in my twenties.
[00:07:12] But I also wanted to really just honor this time period in my life that I found really set the stage for many of the things that I have now that I value from my marriage to my career to my home to my friends to the experiences that I’ve had. And so call you when I land is a coming of age story. About me as a 20 something woman in New York chasing this career dream of being a travel writer, which at the time felt very out of reach and very improbable, but I chased that career dream around the world with a dogged pursuit and along the way.
[00:07:53] I had all of these formative experiences that also impacted other areas of my life. And so [00:08:00] it’s also a love story. It’s a story about making the wrong decisions and ultimately making the right ones when it comes to love and listening to your gut. It’s a story also about family and identity. And in my case, Being from Columbia originally feeling this inability to connect with my heritage and how much of being Colombian can I essentially embody and then going to Columbia to sort of figure that out and to chase that story and at the same time grappling with some ghosts of my family’s past including an unsolved murder.
[00:08:38] So there’s all of these elements that sort of come together and call you when I land and make it so that. It is more than a travel memoir. While it is absolutely rooted in travel, travel is the golden thread that carries the story through, that really weaves itself through every chapter of the book. It really is just a coming of age [00:09:00] story of a woman figuring it out and ultimately finding her footing.
[00:09:05] Call You When I Land, when I wrote it, it was really important for me to Just honor this time period in my life, my twenties, in which I took big swings. Looking back, I made pretty ballsy choices that ended up defining a lot of what my adult life would come to be. I grew up reading women’s memoirs, and they had such an impact on me, especially in my early 20s, when things in my life felt very messy and chaotic, and I was trying to find my footing as an adult in New York.
[00:09:38] And these memoirs felt like, My best friends, they felt like they gave me permission to figure it out and to make mistakes and to learn from them and that it was okay to not have everything perfect.
[00:09:53] Beth Santos: The literary community has loved it. The book was named a Best Women’s Memoir by Glamour [00:10:00] Magazine. A top 50 bestselling book by Hudson Books, a staff pick by Apple Books, a book club pick by Real Simple, and winner of the 2024 Bessie Award for impactful writing.
[00:10:12] It’s in this book that Nikki shares a moment that completely altered the course of her life’s trajectory. A trip to Iguazu Falls, but it wasn’t just going on the trip that did it for her. It was what happened when faced with the majesty of the enormous waterfalls in front of her. So let’s go there.
A Life-Changing Decision on a Trip to Iguazu Falls
[00:10:35] Tiny capuchin monkeys hop back and forth across branches of leafy rainforest. I’m going to show you how monkeys interact with tourists, calling to one another from the tree line. Normally, monkeys attract quite a bit of attention around here. Their cute antics are a joy to watch for the tourists that pass by.
[00:10:54] But in this place, their animated activity is dwarfed by something much bigger. [00:11:00] At first, it sounds like white noise, the sound of a TV left on in the 90s, or a noise machine in a sleeping baby’s room. But as you approach the steel rail guiding you alongside a cliff walk, You realize that the sound is much grander than that.
[00:11:19] It’s the unmistakable fury of the world’s largest waterfall system. Nikki Vargas is in Argentina and she’s gazing at Iguazu Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
[00:11:33] Nikki Vargas: I remember I went and I got a pastry at some local shop and then I caught a bus to Iguazu National Park. And I walked to the waterfalls.
[00:11:42] It’s absolutely stunning. I mean, you have this huge, almost like crescent of waterfalls sort of pouring down into what looks like a gorge and it’s shooting, uh, mist into the air and the mist sends rainbows in every direction because it catches the sunlight. And then you have these [00:12:00] birds swooping in and out of the rainbow.
[00:12:02] Beth Santos: Technically, she’s on assignment for work as a travel journalist, but that’s not the whole story. Okay. If you’d asked her a week ago if she had planned to travel to Argentina, she would’ve told you no. But when the opportunity arose, she took it and ran. Part of the reason was because it was an exciting work project.
[00:12:23] But she wasn’t going to lie to herself anymore. The other reason she hopped a flight to Argentina is because she was fleeing her impending wedding.
[00:12:33] Nikki Vargas: I decide to start walking away from the waterfalls and sort of following the trail as it sort of goes into the jungle. And so I find myself walking alone through this jungle.
[00:12:46] I remember this feeling while walking, this sort of almost kind of rise of butterflies in my stomach of knowing before I really understood that I was about to ask myself the tough [00:13:00] questions because at the back of my mind. This entire time that I was in Argentina, I kept thinking about the fact that I was due to get married in about a week.
[00:13:10] I started talking to myself quite literally out loud. And I remember asking myself, what is it you have to say in a very like exasperated way as if I was traveling with somebody who had been complaining the whole time and I’d been steamrolling them.
[00:13:26] Beth Santos: Something about taking this trip to Argentina allowed Nikki to separate herself from her home context.
[00:13:33] The routines of daily life, but also the expectations of her family, her loved ones, and most importantly, her own expectations of herself. Maybe that’s why. Faced with the massive Iguazu Falls in front of her and nothing else, she realized she had only one thing left to say.
[00:13:54] Nikki Vargas: There was no pause. There was no momentary, Oh, let me think about the answer [00:14:00] and calculated response.
[00:14:01] It was, what is it you have to say? And then the answer just flew out of me very loudly. I don’t want to get married. I just screamed it.
There was no pause… It was, what is it you have to say? And then the answer just flew out of me very loudly. I don’t want to get married.
Nikki Vargas
[00:14:14] Beth Santos: Her wedding was just days away. And yet Nikki found herself screaming out into the giant falls that crashed below her. The moment she announced the reality of what she was feeling, the moment she realized how true it was, and that there was no escaping it anymore, Nikki Vargas was about to call off her own wedding.
[00:14:35] The venue, the caterer with its exorbitant cancellation fees, the little place cards and the photographer. And the beautiful tiered cake, all of it, was about to go out the window. In that moment, she knew that her bravest leap was going to be far from the easiest one. But the time had come to stop delaying it.
[00:14:57] Nikki Vargas: By the time I left Iguazu National Park, I had made the [00:15:00] decision that I knew I was gonna call off this wedding. I knew that I was gonna have to go back to New York and I was gonna have to pull out of this. And I was terrified, absolutely terrified by that decision. But I also knew that there was no way in hell I was gonna walk down that aisle.
[00:15:20] It was just a gauntlet had been thrown down and there was no going back.
[00:15:24] Beth Santos: It’s easy to think that this is where the story ends. That’s usually where these valiant travel tales stop, the triumphant moment of truth. What follows is messy. It’s the reality of what it means to call off your own wedding. To break the hearts of a lot of the people that you love, in hopes to be truthful to the one heart that matters the most, yours.
[00:15:50] Nikki Vargas: Once I got back to New York, I had a very, very, very difficult conversation with my ex fiancé and then his [00:16:00] parents were roped in and then my parents were roped in and I really just had to stand by my guns and say, I don’t want to do this. And it was so hard because you have people trying to talk you out of it.
[00:16:14] You have, Oh, it’s pre wedding jitters. Oh, you know, this is normal. It’s cold feet. It’s this, it’s that. You just have to. stand firmly in this truth and say, no, this is what I know deep down to be true. I don’t want this. And it was really, really hard to hold onto that and not let myself be gaslit and not let myself be pushed in the direction of something I didn’t want.
[00:16:39] I really steadfastly held onto this truth that I had discovered back in Iguazu and I would not budge. This wasn’t a temporary lapse of judgment. I knew deep down that I could not walk down that aisle, that it wasn’t fair. Not only to me, but to him, it wasn’t fair to stand up in front of everybody that we know [00:17:00] and promise to be together forever when I had already decided, I don’t want this.
[00:17:05] And I just refused. I refused to budge on that. And I. Put my head down and I walked through the storm head on. It was really hard and it was really dramatic. And there was a lot of tension, a lot of fighting, a lot of anger, a lot of everything. But I just kept walking forward because I knew that eventually we would all come out the other side.
It was so hard because you have people trying to talk you out of it… But I just kept walking forward because I knew that eventually we would all come out the other side.
Nikki Vargas
Choosing Yourself Over All Else
[00:17:29] Beth Santos: Falling hard and letting herself grieve, then picking herself up by the bootstraps and giving herself a second chance are things that Nikki has had to learn on her journey from scorned lover to best selling author. She practiced again and again the art of being true to herself, and she found that the more she practiced it, the easier it got.
[00:17:50] She practiced it when her amazing women’s travel publication, Unearthed Women, rose to celebrity status. Unearthed Women And then crumpled under a lack of [00:18:00] funding. She practiced it when she published her first book, a women’s travel guide called Wanderess that she co authored, understanding the whole book journey and process for the first time.
[00:18:11] Each time she struggled, she learned, and she used her tools to improve her game the next time around. Now, she’s a senior digital editor for Photos Travel. An engaging speaker and, as we know, a best selling author. Despite it all, Nikki still found herself struggling with imposter syndrome all the way up.
[00:18:35] Nikki Vargas: I had many moments of imposter syndrome where I felt that, is my life interesting enough? Does this merit a book? Imposter syndrome is very hard and I think what ultimately got me through was trying very hard during the writing process to let go of this expectation or idea of The reader, what the reader [00:19:00] will think, what they’ll feel, will they like it?
[00:19:01] Will they not like it? Just trying to let go of that and remember that I’m doing this for myself. I’m doing this so that I can put my life story out into the world and, and have that there as this Testament to this time period of my life that brought so much joy out of it. I didn’t want to make myself the heroine of this book.
[00:19:24] I wanted it to be very honest and honest in the sense that I made mistakes. I hurt people. I was selfish at times and I made choices that had large consequences that impacted not only myself, but impacted my family, impacted my friends that cost me friendships. And I think it was important to show when you make these big decisions in life, they’re not always romantic.
[00:19:55] You know, when you call off a wedding last minute, the only [00:20:00] storyline there, isn’t the brave bride who ran away from her wedding. And Oh, you know, what a triumph. The other side of that coin is also important to share, which is the fallout and the ramifications of that decision. And who gets hurt when that bride runs away, it was necessary to show the ugly parts of myself.
[00:20:21] in order to show the best of myself. That’s what I hope readers take away from Call You When I Land, which is it’s a story of evolution. It’s a story of growth. And ultimately it’s a story about a woman finding herself and maybe there’s mistakes made along the way. And maybe there’s choices that weren’t the best ones, but ultimately it got me where I needed to go and it gave me the life I have today.
[00:20:45] And I cannot regret a single one of those choices as a result.
It’s a story of evolution. It’s a story of growth. And ultimately it’s a story about a woman finding herself… It got me where I needed to go and it gave me the life I have today.
Nikki vargas
[00:20:50] Beth Santos: I recently read the book Real Self Care by Pooja Lakshmin, a book that has changed the way I see the world. In the book, Pooja talks about self care as [00:21:00] a verb, not a noun. It means prioritizing yourself over others. It means saying no when you need to.
[00:21:09] It means not wavering on your boundaries or your limitations, truly caring for yourself. In a lot of ways, Call You When I Land isn’t just a book about a 20 something who calls off her wedding. It’s about a young woman who, despite everything the universe is telling her, decides to bet on herself. And it turns out that betting on herself is what led to a lot of happiness later.
[00:21:35] Nikki Vargas: I didn’t know when, I didn’t know how long it would take, I didn’t know what the other side looked like, but I knew that there would be another side. And I just kept moving forward. Having gotten married to a different man and now being 36, I really am so grateful to my younger self for making that decision.
[00:21:54] Because when I walked down the aisle last September and I saw [00:22:00] Jeff standing at the other end and I said those vows, everything about it was so pure and so honest and so beautiful. And I’m just so glad that I saved that moment for myself. That I didn’t have the first time I walked down the aisle and stand up there in a wedding dress and say vows, be a complete facade.
[00:22:18] And I’m so glad that my wedding, my first wedding wasn’t a lie. I went through the storm. I came out the other end and I saved this beautiful moment that should be cherished and honest. I saved it for my future self so that when it did happen, it was absolutely perfect. If I could go back in time and hug that girl walking in Iguazu, I would.
[00:22:42] What would I say to her? And when I was writing that, I just had such tears in my eyes. This like image of being able to go back and throw my arms around her and be like, I know what you just said is absolutely terrifying, but I promise everything is going to be okay.
What Nikki’s Story Teaches Us
[00:22:58] Beth Santos: As we wrap up, let’s take [00:23:00] a minute to reflect on some key takeaways from Nikki’s story.
[00:23:03] Number one. Embrace your unique perspective. Nikki reminded us of the power of our unique voices and our own perspectives. Whether you’re traveling or you’re storytelling, your personal experiences and viewpoints can offer really valuable insights and resonate deeply with others. You have a book in you.
[00:23:26] Yep, I know you do. So, what’s your story? Number two, the power of resilience throughout her journey, Nikki has shown us that resilience is key while they’re facing challenges and travel or in life. We have to stay determined, adapt to changing circumstances, and continue moving forward with courage and optimism.
[00:23:54] And number three, give yourself the care you deserve. Even when it hurts the [00:24:00] most, the right choice doesn’t always feel the best for others. But self care means prioritizing you and your needs. Don’t be afraid to set boundaries and say no. It hurts sometimes, but more often than not, it’s a gift that you’ll open in the future.
[00:24:18] And be so glad you did. Thanks so much to Nikki for sharing her stories and her insights with us. But there’s more, so hang tight. If you want to learn more about Nikki or purchase her book, Call You When I Land, have a look at my show notes for all the links that you need. And now, here’s my favorite part!
Our Community WanderStory
[00:24:39] Our community wander stories! Each episode, I’m sharing a story from you, one of our listeners. This one comes from Melissa at asolowomantraveling.com. She shares one of her favorite stories when she was traveling alone, and I think you’re going to love it.
[00:24:59] Melissa: Hi, [00:25:00] this is Melissa with A Solo Woman Traveling. I wanted to tell you this story about when I was first starting to solo travel.
[00:25:07] I was in Slovenia, and I showed up at Lake Bled. Trade station on my way to going somewhere in Austria and I’m waiting for the train. It’s not a whole lot of people around cause it was off season in October. And it’s like older woman kind of was like looking around as well. And we’re both just standing there and she kind of comes over to me.
[00:25:26] I think she just instinctively knew that maybe I wasn’t from there. And she says, are you going to Austria? And I said, yes, I’m going to Salzburg. She’s like, well, I think the train’s not coming. So why don’t we take the bus? I think there’s a bus that’s picking us up. over here. Let’s get on the bus and go.
[00:25:41] So we get on the bus. We then get to the train. And on our way to Austria, I started to talk to this woman about how I loved being in Europe and how, you know, someday I really, really want to live there, but I’m American. I have no other way to do it. She looked at me and she’s like, you can do anything you want to do.
[00:25:58] Just put your mind to it. [00:26:00] Find a way and that really resonated with me. And I went back to America and figured out like, how am I going to do this? I don’t have any job opportunities. I don’t have any other way to do it. Lo and behold, though, I did make it happen. So this was back in 2017. I lived in Germany and Berlin for almost four years.
[00:26:17] And then briefly moved back to America and then given the confidence I had the first time around of making something like moving abroad happen, I researched and was able to move to Greece. And then I was able to also find a visa in Portugal, uh, where I’m living now in Lisbon. So the moral of the story was basically that solo travel led me abroad and I’ve been living abroad now for another year.
[00:26:45] Total, I guess, of almost five years and this is all with someone who, you know, had no way to get in other than just to almost manifest it. So the message is, when you really, really want something, you can absolutely make it happen. [00:27:00]
[00:27:00] Beth Santos: Thanks so much, Melissa, for sharing your story. That was amazing. And don’t forget, if you want your Wander story to be shared on the 85 percent Podcast, we want to know all about the moments that have made you happy.
[00:27:13] Who you are today, go to 85percentpodcast. com, scroll on down to the community story submission section, and maybe you’ll be on our next episode.
Our Next Episode
Next on 85 Percent: We’re hearing from popular travel content creator, Gabby Beckford, about how she showed up to a trip to Iceland, having packed literally nothing and how that trip completely changed her life.
[00:27:41] Gabby Beckford: And I had never been backpacking before and I was the only person of color, period. Everyone’s white. First day, I’m in the front of the pack. I’m going up the hills and stuff and I’m like, I did gymnastics in high school. Like I’m great. And by the second day I’m like, Oh my God.[00:28:00]
[00:28:02] Beth Santos: Thank you so much for listening to 85 Percent. Make sure if you want to follow along this journey, you hit that “subscribe” button wherever you get your podcasts so you can keep up with new episodes every week. As they drop, of course, we want you to follow along online as well. Go to 85percentpodcast.com or you can follow me on Instagram at @maximumbeth. Catch you next time. Safe travels, everyone.
About the 85 Percent Podcast
Women make 85 percent of travel decisions. So why are we not 85% of travel marketing?
85 Percent explores what it means to be a woman in travel through interviews with leading women in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.
From CEOs, to travel influencers and writers, to women who work in cleaning and maintenance, we’re cutting into the underbelly of an industry that is predominantly made of women, but still fails to include them, and is hosted by Beth Santos, founder of leading women’s travel network, Wanderful.
About the Host, Beth Santos
Beth Santos is a passionate entrepreneur and community builder out to disrupt travel for women worldwide. She is founder and CEO of Wanderful, an international collective of travelers and travel content creators on a mission to make travel better for all women. She is the creator of the WITS Travel Creator Summit, a leading event for women and gender diverse travel creators, the annual Bessie Awards to honor women of impact in travel, and the first major outdoor travel festival by and for women, Wanderfest.
Beth has been named one of 17 changemakers shaping the future of the travel industry by Business Insider, one of 12 women to follow by Conde Nast Traveller, and one of 20 influential women in the travel industry by Travel Pulse. In 2022, she was named Godmother of the Azamara Onward cruise ship.
She is the author of WANDER WOMAN: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World, Solo and works to amplify underrepresented voices in travel while challenging each of us to do better in her work as a keynote speaker, an industry consultant, and a startup and small business coach. At home she is a co-owner of Ula Cafe, an inspired cafe and community hub in the Boston neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, where she lives with her husband and children.
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