Women of Color Travel

One of the reasons why I took on my project of the Dining Traveler to Puerto Rico is because I felt that there was a lack of diversity in travel media.  Every time I saw a story about Puerto Rico in a mainstream travel magazine or publication, it was written by someone with no particular ties to Puerto Rico.  One of the things I do when I travel is connect with locals.

As I dive deeper into the travel media space, I realize there is a huge lack of diversity when it comes to the stories being told.  I research the people on the bylines and they all seem to fit the same profile.  However, I go to travel conferences and trade shows and the profiles are much more diverse.  In these environments, I have connected with many content creators who come from very diverse backgrounds. Women of color travel.  Trust me, I see them. I travel with them.

At the #DCTravelBlogger meetups I organize, I started to see so much interest from so many groups: Asian, Latino, African-American.  The main common factor was that audience – it was mostly women (except my hubby, and my buddies Charles McCool of McCool Travel and Evan Shaw of Get in My Mouf). I had been toying with the idea of organizing an event which brought these women together to discuss their roles in the travel media space and what they are doing to educate people in their networks about travel.

I reached out to few of my friends in the travel media space: Ashlee Tuck of Will Drink for Travel, my travel fashion guru, Metanoya Webb of Globetrotting Stiletto, Tanvi Rastogi of Tanvii about helping me create a ” Women of Color Travel” event in Washington, DC.  They jumped at the idea and we rolled with it!  The event will take place November 17^th at Park Hyatt Washington.  The event is registration only and I was overwhelmed when registration sold out in less than 48 hours!

Ashlee suggested a twitter chat to get people excited about the event.  On November 4^th, travelers came together on social media to discuss the topic of women of color in travel media.  From the misconceptions to the lack of a diverse voice in traditional travel publications, voices were heard. Here are some of my favorite observations:

A1. There is NO diversity. It’s a cookie cutter mold of storytelling. I seldom see a different point of view represented #WomenOfColorTravel

— Tanvi Rastogi (@Tanviidotcom) November 4, 2015

@aparnakris yes, I attend many tourism industry events and meetings, and it’s not very diverse at all. #womenofcolortravel — Bethany Manimbo (@MustPackSnacks) November 4, 2015

The more I travel I try to get my friends/family involve to go.They can experience a new life seeing different cultures. #womenofcolortravel

— Spicy Candy DC (@SpicyCandyDC) November 4, 2015

What was more exciting is that I reached out to many venues in Washington, DC and there was an amazing response about hosting the event.  This in itself made me realize the diverse voices of travel media are being heard.  Brands are slowly realizing that there is strength in diversity.  Several destinations and brands such as Roam Right, Visit Jordan, and SPA have reached out to share goodies and information with the attendees. The event will consist of a series of small talks of seasoned travelers and content creators such as Bren Herrera of Flamboyant Eats and Mel Burgos of Rock Yo Rizos.  The keynote speaker will be Norie Quintos, editor at Large of NatGeo Travel Media.  It will then follow with a panel discussion.  There, we will have destination public relations and marketing professionals along with content creators discuss diversity in the travel media space. The panel will be moderated by Jummy Olabanji of News Channel 7.

Truly moving #tbex opening keynote this morning @GirlGoneTravel. Thank you for sharing ‘you’ with us! @TBEXevents pic.twitter.com/UAPqhN2vBT — Julie Tran Deily (@thelittlekitchn) October 29, 2015

I feel that there is a shift when it comes to addressing diversity in travel media.  More than ever, travelers are become more diverse and reaching out to their peers for travel advice and suggestions.  I was extremely impressed when the Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) not only choose fellow Latina blogger Carol Cain as their keynote speaker but also encouraged her to speak about diversity in travel media. One thing she said that resonated with me the most was, “If you feel like you’re not being represented, create it”.  That is exactly what we are doing with the #womenofcolortravel event.  If you cannot join us in Washington, DC. Tune in to our monthly #womenofcolortravel chats, the first Wednesday of every month at 1:30pm EST.