What makes Wanderful special?

Sure, we’ve got great resources and travel tips. We run some pretty awesome conferences, and even a trip or two. But you know what makes us really unique?

It’s our community.

A thriving sisterhood of women who are willing to pitch in and help each other whenever we’re needed. A network of hostesses who will offer you her guest room, and hubs where you can meet other travel lovers whether at home or abroad. It’s the fact that we are creating a network so strong that wherever you are in the world, you’ve got a friend who can help you out.

Our local organizers are the cornerstone of this community.

These are women who dedicate hours every week to building a strong a supportive network in her home city, from helping set up new homeshares to hosting events for  women to meet one another, to facilitating discussions online. They are truly special leaders who help make Wanderful what it is.

That’s why we are proud to introduce you to 5 amazing new organizers in our Wanderful community, two of whom are launching brand-new chapters in Wilmington, Delaware and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

Keep an eye on them. They’re about to make an impact in their cities in a huge way.

We can’t wait to see what they create and are so excited that our community has just grown a little bit bigger.

Learn more about each organizer below and click on their corresponding button to visit their chapter pages and see what events are happening next in their cities.

Sapphire Kharyzma

Wanderful Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Sapphire Kharyzma is an accomplished travel, beauty and lifestyle writer, photographer and creative designer, using the power of travel, beauty, style, and sisterhood – to empower girls and women.

Sapphire currently freelances for various publications, such as TheVacationTimes.com, Places.Travel, and POPSUGAR – just to name a few! She has been published in Yahoo!, AOL and MTV. When she’s not traveling the world, she enjoys planting the seeds of growth and prosperity for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits. She’s an accredited Travel Advisor, specializing in Caribbean and Luxury ventures and a Social Media Marketing Strategist, who loves to make her passions her paycheck, and teaching others how to do the same.

Sapphire can be seen trending on Queens of Virtue: Travel. Beauty. Style. She’s the Chic Executive Officer of the Queens of Virtue brand – a social benefit corporation – and the Executive Director of Crowns of Glory INTL Ministries – a nonprofit – both focused on empowering, educating and inspiring women.

Ashley Sullivan

Wanderful Austin, Texas, USA

Hailing from Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, Ashley grew up the youngest of four with three older brothers. Though her favorite toy was an abacus, she was also known for playing with the world globe. How you actually “play” with either is still up for debate. Despite spending her early years idolizing Carmen Sandiego, Ashley didn’t get her first taste of travel until 2013, when she attended a civil engineering program in Ciudad Real, Spain. Since then, she has added 15 more countries to her list, including a solo backpacking trip through Australia and Southeast Asia.

Ashley is notorious for talking to strangers, and that is especially true when she travels. She loves to couchsurf or do homestays and has even been known to hitchhike. Though her heart lies on the path less traveled, she is unashamed in her love of tourist attractions (and still insists that the rainbow bagel in Brooklyn was worth the two hour wait).

When at home base, Ashley designs bridges throughout the state of Texas. She dabbles in the startup world and spends her free time rock climbing, reading, or playing soccer. She and her housemates often host people that are making their way through Austin and have given accommodation to dozens of travelers from all over the world.

More than anything, Ashley loves the sharing of culture, knowledge, and empathy that both traveling and hosting has brought, and she is excited to bring that passion to Wanderful’s Austin Chapter!

Jenna Thomas

Wanderful Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Jenna is a copywriter and enthusiastic traveler. Some of her favorite memories have been made while living in the back of a minivan in New Zealand, trekking to the top of Morocco’s tallest peak, and housesitting in rural England. After a year spent traveling full-time, she is now exploring Boston, her new home base. Originally from Colorado, Jenna loves hiking, running, and paddle-boarding, but is equally happy searching for the best local bookstores and coffee shops. She spends most of her downtime searching for flights to faraway places.

Jerusha Thomas

Wanderful Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Jerusha has always dreamed of travelling around the world to see God’s creation from a young age. A year after stumbling across the Wanderful website while abroad at university, she is excited to be organising the first Wanderful chapter in Asia and hopes to create a strong support community and inspire many young women in Asia to be able to travel confidently. She is in the midst of creating her career in the wildlife conservation and sustainable tourism industry. Top of her vacation bucket list: Maasai Mara and Serengeti. Her passion for travel is only rivaled with her passion for food-hopping in Kuala Lumpur.

 Laura Plasencia

Wanderful Madrid, Spain

Laura has a Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism & Hospitality Management and has been living abroad for years- London, Berlin and now based in Madrid. She speaks Spanish and English fluently and still improving her German. She is originally from Tenerife, Canary Islands.

When she is not traveling, she is thinking about her next trip or writing articles for her blog about travel and expat life, Hashtag #Viajeros