Image by Flickr user Kat.

The results are in! A whopping 56 people applied for the spring 2015 blogging cohort, and we’re proud to introduce you to the five amazing women who will be writing for Wanderful starting soon!

Meet our in-house mentor, Erica Laue!

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Erica first set foot on a plane when she was 10 months old. Twenty-eight years, 18 countries, and 4 continents later, the travel bug’s still strong in her veins, and she’s become increasingly engaged with issues of power, gender, sex, equality, and access around the world.

And now, meet the spring blogging cohort.

Each traveler will write a monthly column on Wanderful while learning and growing as a blogger. We’re so excited to have them with us and know you’ll love them too!

Char Stoever

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Char emigrated with her family from Mexico to Moses Lake, Washington when she was three years old. She grew up speaking English and Spanish. While at Wellesley College, she gravitated toward learning French and enjoyed being in language classrooms the most.

After studying abroad in France, she realized how empowering it was to be a female traveler. After graduating, she tutored at-risk high school students for a year in San Antonio, Texas through the City Year program. Then she returned to Boston to teach at Brooke Charter School.

In August 2014 she began her 27-month commitment to Peace Corps Nicaragua as a TEFL Teacher Trainer. She co-teaches English lessons with three Nicaraguan counterparts and gives English classes to teachers. One of her favorite parts of the job is leading LGBTQ workshops for Peace Corps Staff. She has promoted staff awareness about using LGBTQ-inclusive language to welcome and support all volunteers, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. When she is not working, she enjoys cooking bacon, going running in the hills surrounding her city, and planning her next adventure.

Colleen Hagerty

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Colleen is a freelance multimedia journalist based in New York City. She started her career at TV news channel NY1, covering breaking news and events, including Hurricane Sandy, local elections, and New York Fashion Week. Her freelance work has taken her around the world, from the jungles of Borneo to the deserts of Jordan, and she is always dreaming of her next adventure.

Leanna Johnson

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Leanna is a freelance journalist with the soul of a gypsy, who thinks getting lost is the best way to travel. As an AmeriBrit with relatives in four continents, she grew up on African food, the smell of chai, and memories of walking through soggy British fields during rainstorms. Aside from starting her own business, she hosts her own world music radio show, blogs, and works on honing her photo and video skills. Her ambitions include starring in a Bollywood film, meeting the stars of her favorite Korean dramas, and (finally) learning how to make jalebis. That, and writing from as many corners of the world as possible!

Melissa Langley

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Melissa is a current world roamer, specializing in the education of non-native English speakers. A co-owner of LEZ BACKPACK, a lifestyle and travel blog for women, her writing focuses on cultural differences and the humor generated from those mis-alignments. She is an academic, an educator, a woman-supporter, a lover of aesthetics. She is a traveling, web-savvy self-starter who wants to inspire other female-identified people to explore the world. After three years abroad, she is now living in the United States with her partner Constance.

Nisbah Hussain

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Nisbah was a lawyer and financial advisor in what feels like a previous, pre-children life. She is now a traveller, explorer, and mother  who is a nomad at heart. When she’s not cuddling (or more likely cleaning after) her little adventurers, she is longing and gazing at maps of all the adventures they can seek and experience. She wants to raise real global citizens and wishes to make the world a classroom for her children. She believes that we only have one chance at this life, so we should travel, explore, and make every day an adventure!

Want to be part of our fourth blogging cohort?

Members of our blogging program get:

–Free enrollment in a competitive training program consisting of monthly lessons and activities for emerging travel bloggers in a small group setting
–Personalized feedback and support on your articles from an institutional mentor
–A year’s worth of free space to publish your content to 10,000 globally minded women on sheswanderful.com
–A discounted ticket to the Women in Travel Summit so you can join us for even more growth as a writer
–Exclusive opportunities for our cohorts, such as up to one press trip during the program

Stay tuned for information about our fourth cohort. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter so you’re the first to know when it’s launched, or click here to learn more!

Let’s all give a big welcome to our new writers!