Activism motivates travel journalist Imani Bashir. She travels with the lens of socially responsible travel as a humanitarian witness to how travel impacts communities.

Every year, the Bessie Awards celebrate the people and companies who are shaping the future of travel for women. Hosted at WITS Creator Summit, Wanderful’s annual gathering of travel creators and industry leaders, the Bessies recognize women making an extraordinary impact across the travel ecosystem—from entrepreneurs and storytellers to innovators and community builders.

The awards honor Bessie Coleman, a pioneering figure in aviation who was the first Black and Native American woman to hold a pilot’s license. Like Bessie, the finalists represent courage, creativity, and leadership that push the travel industry forward.

The 2026 Bessie Awards will take place live on Saturday, May 30, at The Chattanoogan Hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee, during the WITS Creator Summit.

Ahead of the conference, we caught up with Creator of the Year finalist Imani Bashir and asked Imani to tell us about her work as an travel journalist and activist.

Tell us your story! How did you find your way into the travel industry? 

I started my career in communications as a sports broadcaster. Until 2015, when I booked a one-way ticket to Cairo, Egypt, to teach English literature, I had never lived outside the country. I had only traveled abroad to London for my brother’s wedding. Giving myself that opportunity in Cairo on a one-way ticket was new and exciting. I was single. I was a young 20-something. And that was ultimately my introduction to travel.

What motivates you to do your work today?

Activism motivates me to do my work today. I travel less for enjoyment now but rather with the lens of socially responsible travel. I want to be a humanitarian witness to how our presence impacts communities, whether at home or abroad. My motivation is spreading awareness of the atrocities that are happening all over the world. I feel the necessity to highlight the people in the places where we travel because they are what make destinations compelling. I believe people everywhere deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. The value of socially responsible travel empowers me and motivates me to do the work that I do. 

Your travel destination is somebody else’s home.

Imani Bashir

What is your proudest career accomplishment?

My proudest career accomplishment so far is my Travel and Leisure article about Hawaii. In the piece I aimed to truly convey what the people of Hawaii wanted to say. The article told the story of who Pacific Islanders are, how expansive they are as a people, how masterful their cultures are, and how connected they are to the land and to each other. 

When I first got a chance to go to a festival in Hawaii called FestPAC, Festival of Pacific Island Arts & Culture, I was very much opposed to going. I had seen a lot of videos by local people asking us not to come because there was a water shortage crisis. However, when a spot opened because another travel journalist couldn’t go, I prayed on it and decided to go after all.

That trip was a chance to really learn about the expansiveness of Pacific Islander culture. In the Travel and Leisure article, I was able to address how we can show up as responsible tourists. What made this possible was actually talking to local people about why they were asking travelers not to go there.

During the conference, it was beautiful to learn about Pacific Islander culture. I planted a tree. I went surfing for the first time in my entire life. The experience also pushed me into wanting to go to other places to where Pacific Islanders live. The following year, a chance arose to to go to Fiji.

Imani Bashir stands beside the tree she has just planted in Hawaii during FestPAC.

What does it mean to you to have the community nominate you for a Bessie award?

I actually was very much surprised because I’m not traveling how I was earlier. I don’t do travel content how I used to, and I don’t do travel writing how I used to either. So I was very taken aback that in all the years I’ve done travel journalism and travel content, this would be the year I would be nominated. My content today is much more spicy and boisterous about the human condition. So I was very taken aback and very, very excited.

What do you think are the most important issues facing the travel industry today?

Neocolonialism is an important side of the travel industry today. Eat here, pray here, stay here, take pictures here. And travel content doesn’t really expand beyond that. It doesn’t really speak to how travel impacts the people of a place. When I first had an opportunity in 2019 to speak at a travel conference at the Women’s Travel Fest, I coined a phrase I still use continuously: “Your travel destination is somebody else’s home.” I think the biggest issue today is that we treat destinations as if they were theme parks, like Disneyland, places you go to get your kicks but you give nothing back to. I think that is a really bad thing. 

Who in the industry do you look to as inspiration?

A travel journalist friend whom I met on a trip to Qatar, Yulia Denisyuk, is someone I love and admire. We vibed over tea and just chatted and have been mutual supporters ever since. She is just as passionate about human rights as I am, if not more so. Yulia is very big about responsible travel. That is our connection in this business. We both understand that, especially within the travel editorial industry, it is very hard to tell the stories that we really want to tell.

So shout out to Yulia Denisyuk because Yulia is still fighting the good fight for visibility in editorial. 

What’s next for you in your career? 

The next iteration of my career is to teach at the university level with a communications degree. Although I’ve been able to do a lot in my career over a pretty decent span of time, I want to be able to tap into the next generation. I want to help the next generation understand how they can see the world while also giving something back to it. So that is the next step for me, God willing. 

What do you envision for the future of the travel industry?

My greatest hope for the travel industry is that people begin to travel with much more knowledge than we usually travel with. I’ve created videos a lot of times where i tell people to pay attention to the economy or pay attention to things that are happening in those places. Unfortunately, folks respond, “l ain’t going there for all of that.” With what we have happening in places like Dubai and Qatar and Oman today, with an active war going on, it’s important that travelers actually tap into what it is that is happening in the world. You can be deeply impacted by those things.

My greatest hope for the travel industry is that people begin to travel with much more knowledge than we usually travel with.

Imani Bashir

It is important not just to know where to eat and where to stay and where to play, but also know what’s happening with the people, what’s going on with the government. It doesn’t sound like much fun, but it’s also a matter of safety. If you have no idea what’s going on in a place, you could be walking into a very dangerous situation.

In the end, I hope that in the future traveler are much more responsible neighbors and guests of the people who are so graciously hosting us, whether they have invited us to be there or not.