Meet Valisha Bogart of Lioness Travel in Mission Hills

Today we’d like to introduce you to Valisha Bogart.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started working on the concept of the Lioness Travel App about 3 years ago when my schedule and my girlfriends’ schedules weren’t aligning when we attempted to plan a girls getaway. We tried to plan the getaway for a couple months and still couldn’t nail down a 4-day time frame to meet up. Coupled with that frustration and the reality of friends getting married and/or having babies added more difficulty to going on a girls’ trip, which never happened.

Basically, our busy and evolving lives gave birth to the idea of creating a travel-buddy system for female travelers. I just said to my girlfriend Jenny one day “What if we created a way for girls like us, pretty much any girl who loves to travel, find a buddy, when they need one to go on a trip?!”…. and that’s how the all-female travel-buddy app idea came to fruition. Then, after doing extensive market research and speaking to hundreds of women at travel shows over a 2 year period, I confirmed the need so many women have for connection, inspiration and peace-of-mind if and when they are going to travel.

Using that feedback, we added other cool features to make travel easier, safer and a more enriched, cultural experience: geo-locating fellow solo-travelers in real-time, connecting with female local hostesses in their travel destinations and streamlining group trip planning by using the ‘trip-planner’ feature which has a really cool social media and engagement spin to it. As of May 5th, the Lioness Travel App beta launched and is going through testing phases by various female travelers who signed up to participate to provide feedback. We are compiling all the feedback and ideas from the participants so we can fine-tune the app and develop it into an essential travel tool that every female traveler needs and uses on all of their trips!

More importantly, however, I created the Lioness Travel App to not just make an app or tool for female travelers but to create a community where women are equipped, empowered and inspired to pursue their dreams through travel. Why travel? Because I believe it’s the birthing ground for dreams. Sometimes, all it takes is one new experience or conversation with a stranger, from a different part of the world, to open your eyes to discover a dream inside or resurrect one you let die. If I can help women have that one experience or conversation, to take the first step in breaking off all fear, then I believe they’ll be one step closer to discovering who they were created to be and what their purpose in life is.

Essentially, the Lioness Travel mission is to help all women discover and pursue their dreams through travel, and while in this pursuit, discover the Lioness within. The official Lioness Travel app launch is Mid-to-late June of 2018 and will be available in both app stores for apple and android phones. Any girl who’s interested in participating in the beta testing and/or wants to sign up for the app can do so by emailing Valisha directly at valisha@lionesstravelco.com or clicking here: http://bit.ly/FreeTravelApp.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No way it has not been smooth at all! It took me 3 years to get to where I am at right now. I experienced almost every obstacle you can think of when starting a business. First, it was opposition, twice, on trademarking a name. Then, my friend who was going to partner with me on launching the app backed out due to a change of heart and was called to do outreach abroad.

After that, I quickly discovered how little I knew about the tech/app world… basically I had NO experience and knew nothing of apps, except the user end of things… so there was quite a learning curve on the app development process, what questions to ask, the app tech lingo, how to work with developers, designers, and how to know if the app developer you’re working with is honest and trustworthy. I went through 3 app developers before finding the one who is helping me now and somewhat partnered with me to build the first version of the app and help me launch it.

I lost about a year and a half due to not knowing how to choose a reputable app developer and then going through trademarking disputes with the trademark office because at first, they thought Lioness Travel was too similar to the Lions Club International, which is a community service organization.

The trademarking process is a VERY slow process, and until you have your company name secured, you can’t start your branding which means you cant really start building brand awareness and launch social media… So… overall… I would say the process has been and still is bumpy, BUT, its to be expected. Nothing great was built overnight and every successful organization will tell you to expect obstacles and some failures before you reach great success!

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Lioness Travel – what should we know?
Lioness Travel exists to equip, connect, and inspire women to pursue their dreams through travel. To do so, we offer an all-female travel app that connects like-minded women to travel-buddies, solo-travelers and local hostesses in the country they’re visiting. The app also has a fun, social-engagement trip-planning feature that can be used to organize, streamline and plan the perfect girls’ trip by sharing ideas and all things travel!

I have a finance, marketing and business background. But, after living and working abroad, I made travel a huge part of my life and it has completely changed my life and the trajectory of it after I experienced my own transformation and ‘A-Ha’ moment of what my true dreams for my life are.

Lioness travel was literally born from my traveling experiences around the world and how they have developed and transformed me into the woman I am today: fearless, adventurous and passionate about giving back and helping others in other parts of the world where there is so much need. I am most proud of the Lioness vision of creating a fearless movement of women who encourage and inspire each other to pursue their dreams through travel, make an impact while in this pursuit and to truly come together as one united force, a force to be reckoned with…

What sets Lioness Travel apart, is that our app is very niche because it’s only for women and there really isn’t anything exactly out there like it, with which all the features we are launching .  Also, when we release the impact travel feature, our app will provide a way for the users to make a difference while they are traveling. I think we all have a tiny responsibility to give back in the country we’re enjoying and visiting so we can help build more sustainable tourism in that local economy.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Passion for what you’re doing and compassion for the people you are helping along the way.  As long as you keep your passion and compassion alive, you will never lose your drive to seeing your dreams become reality…which in my mind is the ultimate definition of success.

Pricing:

• $25 background check fee for any girl who wants to become a local hostess

Contact Info:

• Address: 3033 India Street
• Website: www.lionesstravel.com
• Phone: 8585252060
• Email: valisha@lionesstravelco.com
• Instagram: @lionesstravelco
• Facebook: @lionesstravel
• Twitter: @lionesstravel
• Other: Pinterest: @lionesstravel

 

 

 

 

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