About the Strategic Travel Entrepreneur Podcast

Find her at….

www.strategictravelentrepreneurpodcast.com

LinkedIn: @strategictravelentrepreneurpodcast

Instagram: @takethehelmvbs

Facebook: @takethehelmvbs

Facebook Group: @strategictravelentrepreneur

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Education

We can skip right to college, right? 🙂

I attended the University of Central Florida for both my undergrad and graduate programs. I graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Management, Summa Cum Laude, in 2008, from the Rosen College of Hospitality Management. I focused a lot of my electives on Event Management courses. I immediately went on to pursue my Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management from the School of Public Administration in 2010.

I’ve also gone on to get certified in many travel industry programs like the CTA from The Travel Institute, the ACC and MCC from CLIA, and the VTA from ASTA.

In 2020, thanks to the downtime of the pandemonium, I also earned certificates in the hospitality industry from Florida Atlantic University and the University of South Florida, as well as a Content Marketing Certification from Hubspot.

Because I’m a life-long learner, I’m frequently attending educational conferences within the travel industry, and also to improve my own entrepreneurial efforts, like Podfest.

I’m currently enrolled in the Travel Coach Certification Program, which is ICF accredited, with the goal of offering business coaching to travel entrepreneurs later this year.

More About Me

“You like me, you really like me!”

I’m a Latina (Puerto Rico) Autoimmune Warrior (Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis) that deals with a few more chronic illnesses. It’s the biggest reason I decided to work on a blog for the podcast, so that I wouldn’t need to worry about generating active income, during those occasional times where I’m just not feeling my best.

My two biggest passions really are entrepreneurship and holistic health. If you ask me what kinds of books I read, when I do read, it’d be something in one of those categories.

And let’s not forget travel 🙂 Since 2022, I’ve been assisting with Marketing FAMs on cruise lines like AmaWaterways and Windstar Cruises. In July 2021, I found a new passion in mobile photography and videography for social media. In December 2021, with fellow travel advisors, I coordinated my first onboard photo shoot and found that I really thrived when it came to creative direction and content creation.

I’ve been hired by brands and businesses both in and out of the travel industry to assist with their own content creation efforts, and currently work with travel advisors through my program Marketing Business School and in 1-on-1 Marketing Power Hours to help tweak their marketing strategies.

My Travel Advisor Journey

I started my travel agency after two big events during the summer of 2010-

1. One of my life friends got married in Tunisia. The trip bonded our group of friends into family for life.
2. I was in my last semester for my Master’s Degree taking my last elective which I chose to be on Creativity. I learned that entrepreneurship was a form of creativity and when it came to our final project, I crafted the base plan for my travel agency.

I attended the then TRADE Show, ASTA’s current Travel Advisor Conference, and solidified who I chose for my host agency, and started straight away getting all my licenses and insurance in order.

While there were many really great travel education opportunities, it wasn’t until July 2018 at Travel Entrepreneurship Week, that I fully realized all the additional tasks and responsibility we have, being travel business owners.

My mindset was completely flipped in a positive direction and through my visibility efforts in 2020 and 2021, I became known as the Cruise Retreat Specialist.

My Marketing Journey

Shortly after I quit my job (story below), I attended a Marketing FAM in July 2021–my first international trip since the pandemonium happened.

I reconnected with an old friend, and met many who I consider now to be, lifelong friends.

During that river cruise on the Rhine, my eye for mobile photography and videography was formed, and I dove in deep into the content creation realm.

I created IG Reels every day for about 30 days, and my marketing efforts piqued the interest of both potential clients, and brands that later hired me to create content for their companies.

Since then, I’ve been hired on my businesses and brands to create short-form video content, take photo and video content in destination for both brands and travel advisors, and consult on marketing efforts and strategies.

Marketing and content creation really light my spirit up, but what lights me even more is helping business owners connect the dots on how to intentionally do this for their own unique marketing strategy.

Quitting My Job

I had always wanted to go full time in my business, but truthfully never had the guts to make it happen, as I was also very comfortable with my steady paycheck working at the Orlando theme parks.

But 2020 changed all that….I was furloughed for about six weeks and found that my biggest concern, getting health insurance without being employed, was actually easier than I thought.

Those six weeks, really gave me a taste of what full time entrepreneurial life could look like, and I was extremely grateful.

In May 2021, days my before my birthday, I unexpectedly submitted my two weeks notice. I conducted market research interviews shortly after to see how I could repurpose my skills, while the travel industry was still taking time to recover.

In addition to working alongside fellow travel entrepreneurs, I also run various events throughout the year to help uplift and educate the industry like Prep for Wave Week and various audio series like the inaugural Travel Tech Audio Summit.

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