Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Martin.
Michelle, before we jump into specific questions about the company, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born in Mexico and raised in California, so I suppose I’ve always had a travel streak in me. It was in college though, that travel began to define who I am. I studied abroad in Spain and during that time, I took a month to do some volunteer work in Poland. I worked at a summer camp for kids with cancer and even though we couldn’t speak the same language, we learned so much from each other. I lived with other volunteers from around the world and it was such a powerful experience that it truly changed my life.
After I graduated college, I backpacked around Southeast Asia with a friend for months. That broadened my perspective even more, as I saw varying levels of poverty, but also the beauty of simplicity.
When I came back from that trip, I knew I wanted to do something in international development, but I wasn’t quite sure what. At 23, I started a nonprofit to provide underserved youth with their first international experience. While building the organization, I was hired to do the marketing for Fuel TV, an action sports network that was launching. Completely opposite roles, but those were some enjoyable years where I gained valuable marketing and PR experience.
Fast forward to today and I’ve gathered an eclectic range of experience in the nonprofit, entertainment, media and tech industries. I’ve been a freelance journalist for the last ten years, which has allowed me to travel the world while giving me a platform to share my stories.
Has it been a smooth road?
My path has been a unique one. Not exactly the most linear, but everything I’ve done has brought me to where I am today. When I was running my nonprofit organization, we were gaining momentum and programs were taking off. Then, the recession hit. It was tough to fundraise during that time and although we continued as long as we could, it ultimately wasn’t sustainable. Shortly after that, I started working for Qualcomm and was able to continue doing international development work for a company that had more financial stability. My team was doing some incredible work around the world and I had the opportunity to produce a documentary. We had a successful premiere and I was prepared to spend the next year promoting it. Then, the company hit a rough patch and my position was eliminated. I was given a choice to stay on in a different role or take a severance package.
I had been thinking about starting my own company for a while at that point, so I took that as the sign I needed to go for it. It was the best decision I could have made and I’ve never had a single regret.
Please tell us about the company.
Today, I’m the Founder and CEO of Travara, a purpose-driven platform for the modern, socially conscious global traveler. Back when I started traveling frequently, I began freelancing as a travel writer. Oftentimes, I would drive through impoverished communities and stay in nice hotels and it just felt like such a disconnect for me. I wanted to write about travel, but in a way that covered the best of travel, the sustainable hotels and locally-owned businesses that were supporting the people in their communities. Travel can be such a powerful tool for development if it is sustainable and responsible.
There weren’t any other media outlets that covered sustainable travel in-depth, in a way that made it easy for people to understand, so I decided to create it.
I’m proud to say that Fast Company just selected Travara as one of their 2020 World Changing Ideas as a media company creating actionable change. The name Travara is a blend of the two words travel + ‘vara,’ which is the Sanskrit word for ‘the best’ of something. Travara was established to become the go-to source for the ‘best of travel,’ and it feels good to know that people value what we’ve created.
In a nutshell, we’re making sustainable travel cool by presenting it in a way that feels fresh and modern for today’s travelers. The biggest challenge with sustainable tourism is that most people don’t understand what it means.
Our goal with Travara is to demystify it, making it an approachable concept and influence people’s choices through compelling editorial content and narrative storytelling. Simply put, to travel sustainably, you need to consider three things: Footprint, Culture and Community.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Ironically, a couple of months ago we were very concerned about things like over-tourism and the air pollution caused by flying. Covid-19 has changed the travel industry drastically in a very short time. Travel has pretty much become nonexistent as global lockdowns have restricted travel.
While the immediate impact has been better air quality, cleaner waters and a resurgence of wildlife, communities have been devastated by the lack of economic activity tourism brings.
Once it is safe, travelers will venture out again, slowly and locally at first. What’s crucial is that when people do begin to travel, they do it sustainably and maintain the gains the environment has made during this hiatus. It will be more important than ever to support locally-owned businesses, visit under-the-radar destinations and tread lightly.
We just launched the Travara Membership, a first-of-its-kind travel membership for the modern global citizen. Even though people aren’t traveling at the moment, we launched the program to support the small hotels, tour operators and socially conscious businesses that are travel-inspired.
We combined everything we would want in travel membership and curated a network of partners to make sure that we are having layers of impact with the program. We made sure that the benefits pretty much pay for the membership itself, so it’s a win-win.
We also have a Bespoke Itinerary Creation service. In other words, you tell us exactly what kind of a trip you’d like to take and we’ll plan your itinerary for you. We create a personalized itinerary based on your travel style, and all of our suggestions are sustainable and eco-friendly. And to be clear, that doesn’t mean you need to sleep in a hammock or a treehouse. There are a lot of sustainable luxury hotels around the world.
When you sign up for a Travara Membership, you get a credit towards an itinerary, so you can actually save quite a bit if you do that. Travara is making it easy for you to plan and book now so that you can travel well tomorrow.
Pricing:
- Travara Explorer Membership ($60/year)
- Travara Jetsetter Membership ($75/year)
- Travara Globetrotter Membership ($99/year)
- Bespoke Itinerary Creation ($99)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.travara.com
- Email: hello@travara.com
- Instagram: @DiscoverTravara
- Facebook: @DiscoverTravara
- Twitter: @DiscoverTravara
Image Credit:
Nicole Lazar; Rhino Sands; Bali Eco Stay; Isla Palenque, Member of Cayuga Collection
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