{"id":2569,"date":"2015-11-09T03:59:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T03:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.diningtraveler.com\/?p=2569"},"modified":"2015-11-10T01:44:46","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T01:44:46","slug":"women-of-color-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diningtraveler.com\/2015\/11\/women-of-color-travel.html","title":{"rendered":"Women of Color Travel"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the reasons why I took on my project of the Dining Traveler to Puerto Rico<\/a> is because I felt that there was a lack of diversity in travel media.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 One of the things I do when I travel is connect with locals.<\/p>\n

\"Women<\/a>
Enjoying the Lavagna coastline<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.\u00a0 I research the people on the bylines and they all seem to fit the same profile.\u00a0 However, I go to travel conferences and trade shows and the profiles are much more diverse.\u00a0 In these environments, I have connected with many content creators who come from very diverse backgrounds. Women of color travel. \u00a0Trust me, I see them. I travel with them.<\/p>\n

\"Women<\/a>
One of my travel buddies, \u00a0Carlis of SpicyCandyDC<\/a> in Puerto Rico<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the #DCTravelBlogger meetups I organize, I started to see so much interest from so many groups: Asian, Latino, African-American.\u00a0 The main common factor was that audience – it was mostly women (except my hubby, and my buddies Charles McCool of McCool Travel<\/a> and Evan Shaw of Get in My Mouf<\/a>). 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.<\/p>\n

\"Women<\/a>
Fellow #DCTravelBlogger Tanvi of Tanvii.com in Copenhagen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I reached out to few of my friends in the travel media space: Ashlee Tuck of Will Drink for Travel<\/a>, my travel fashion guru, Metanoya Webb of Globetrotting Stiletto<\/a>, Tanvi Rastogi of Tanvii <\/a>about helping me create a ” Women of Color\u00a0Travel” event in Washington, DC.\u00a0 They jumped at the idea and we rolled with it!\u00a0 The event will take place November 17th<\/sup> at Park Hyatt Washington.\u00a0 The event is registration only and I was overwhelmed when registration sold out in less than 48 hours!<\/p>\n

\"Women<\/a>
Fellow #DCTravelBlogger Ashlee from Will Drink For Travel in Paris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ashlee suggested a twitter chat to get people excited about the event.\u00a0 On November 4th<\/sup>, travelers came together on social media to discuss the topic of women of color in travel media.\u00a0 From the misconceptions to the lack of a diverse voice in traditional travel publications, voices were heard. Here are some of my favorite observations:<\/p>\n

\n

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

\u2014 Tanvi Rastogi (@Tanviidotcom) November 4, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n