Episode 165 - Carly Oduardo, ConVerGente
In this very special episode of Soul of Travel, we take a look behind the scenes for a soulful Love-isode with podcast creator and host Christine and guest Carly Oduardo, who is SOT’s podcast producer and content magician.
A Friendship Grows into a Partnership
Christine and Carly met in 2014 through Threads Worldwide, a direct marketing company partnering with artisans around the world to sell fair trade jewelry and home goods. At their first Threads conference, the pair were seated together and had a great time chatting and getting to know one another.
When the moment came to write down an intention for the year, both Carly and Christine recorded, “Write and publish a book.” They looked at one another and knew that the Universe had pointed them toward something that would become a beautiful and powerful friendship.
Shifting Perceptions of Travel
Carly grew up without a passport, welcoming in the rush of international travel after traveling on her honeymoon and earning her SCUBA certification with her husband, Felipe. But her understanding of travel was limited to “great trips” until she traveled with Threads—and Christine—to Bali and Guatemala. After that, everything changed.
Carly’s first Sojourn with Lotus Sojourns was summiting a fourteener (a mountain reaching at or above 14,000 feet) after a training period in which the group was supported by personal adventure trainer Becky Rupp. Christine also facilitated conversations and spiritual growth practices.
“And everyone showed up,” Christine recalls. “Some hand-holding, some very gentle support, and we all made it to the top of that mountain. And it was incredible. It wasn’t just about this hike; it was about who you became through that journey. The woman who stood on the top of the mountain wasn’t the same woman on the bottom, and who we were together were very different people, and who we are since for each other is also really special.”
Shares Carly, “The trip had nothing to do with my family or these roles that I had taken on for years and years. It had everything to do with who I was and who I got to choose to be in that space.”
Carly also traveled to Alaska with Christine on a Sojourn partnership with Mollie Busby of Arctic Hive. Counting it among one of the most transformational experiences of her life, Carly still lies awake at night, checking her Aurora app for signs of the mystical and magical.
Christine and Carly warming up in the Yoga Dome at the Arctic Hive by Mollie & Sean Busby
Sharing the Love
Christine and Carly share that they both deeply appreciate the culture of mutual respect and love that permeates the Soul of Travel, Lotus Sojourns, and so many other heart-led organizations in the travel space. They are proud to call the Soul of Travel Podcast a place where conversations catalyze real transformation out in the world and look forward to deepening the relationships and partnerships forged here.
A Call to Action
Christine and Carly spend time near the end of the podcast speaking directly to you, dear listener!
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In Christine’s post-interview share, she reveals exciting upcoming plans for Soul of Travel and the Soul of Travel community! You won’t want to miss it; tune in now to catch all the details!
“The trip had nothing to do with my family or these roles that I had taken on for years and years. It had everything to do with who I was and who I got to choose to be in that space.”
Soul of Travel Episode 165 At a Glance
In this conversation, Christine and Carly discuss:
How Carly and Christine met and formed a lifelong friendship
Behind-the-scenes details of the podcast
Celebrate our milestones and accomplishments
Take a look into the future of the Soul of Travel
Join Christine now for this soulful conversation with Carly Oduardo.
LOVE these soulful conversations? We rely on listener support to produce our podcast! Make a difference by making a donation on PayPal.
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goal #4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Sustainable Development Goal #5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Sustainable Development Goal #8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Sustainable Development Goal #10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Resources & Links Mentioned in the Episode
Check out Carly’s family travel projects, Arvada Things to Do, and Growing Up Elsewhere.
Learn more about Christine’s soulful travel experiences at Lotus Sojourns.
Check out The Arctic Hive for Mollie Busby’s upcoming Alaskan adventures and yoga training, and listen to Christine’s Soul of Travel Interview with Mollie Busby here.
Learn more about Vincie Ho and RISE Travel Institute and consider making a monthly donation to this impactful 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides sustainable and mindful travel education.
Shop Threads Worldwide to make an impact through the fair trade of artisan jewelry and home goods.
Contact personal trainer and adventure coach Becki Rupp of Trailblazer Wellness to prepare for your next journey.
About the Soul Of Travel Podcast
Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of people making a positive impact in the tourism industry. In each episode, you’ll hear the stories of women who are industry professionals, seasoned travelers, and community leaders. Our expert guests represent social impact organizations, adventure-based community organizations, travel photography and videography, and entrepreneurs who know that travel is an opportunity for personal awareness and a vehicle for global change.
Join us to become a more educated and intentional traveler as you learn about new destinations, sustainable and regenerative travel, and community-based tourism. Industry professionals and those curious about a career in travel will also find value and purpose in our conversations.
We are thought leaders, action-takers, and heart-centered change-makers who inspire and create community. Join host Christine Winebrenner Irick for these soulful conversations with our global community of travelers exploring the heart, the mind, and the globe.
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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor). Carly Oduardo (Guest). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing, production, and content writing by Carly Oduardo.
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WE WON A BESSIE AWARD! The Bessie Awards recognize the achievements of women and gender-diverse people making an impact in the travel industry. To view the complete list of 2022’s winners, visit bessieawards.org.
Soul of Travel Episode 165 Transcript
Women’s travel, transformational travel, sustainable travel, women leaders in travel, social entrepreneurship
Christine: Welcome to the Soul of Travel podcast. I'm Christine Winebrenner Irik, the founder of Lotus Sojourns, a book lover, Yogi mom of three girls and your guide On this journey. We are here to discover why women who are seasoned travelers, industry professionals, and global community leaders fall in love with the people and places of this planet. Join me to explore how travel has inspired our guests to change the world. We seek to understand the driving force, unending curiosity and wanderlust that can best be described as the soul of Travel. Soul of Travel Podcast is a proud member of the Journey, woman Family, where we work to create powerful forums for women to share their wisdom and inspire meaningful change in travel. In each soulful conversation, you'll hear compelling travel stories alongside tales of what it takes to bring our creative vision to life as we're living life with purpose, chasing dreams and building businesses to make the world a better place. But the real treasure here is the story of the journey as we reflect on who we were, who we are, and who we're becoming. We are travelers, thought leaders and heart-centered change makers, and this is the Soul of Travel.
Welcome to Soul of Travel podcast. I'm so happy you're here with me today. This is a special episode. I'm going to be joined by my friend and podcast producer, Carly Oduardo. And because today is Valentine's Day, we are sharing this special behind the scenes love episode with you. We are so excited to share some of the behind the scenes details of the podcast, celebrate some of our milestones and accomplishments, and talk about where we see us headed with the future of Soul of Travel podcast. We also want to take the time to share all the love we put into this podcast building this community. This is such a special episode. You'll get to hear how we met. You're going to hear some of the really powerful transformational experiences Carly has had in travel. A few of them, I feel so privileged, have been with me.
She's going to share about some of the things she's most loved listening to the podcast because she's been here for every episode. She's heard every guest's voice, she's helped to sure they sound great, and she really has some great takeaways, and so I can't wait for you to get to hear from her. She's one of my favorite people. She's my content magician. She's a brilliant writer and she's been incredibly supportive along this journey to create Soul of Travel podcast. So here you go. You get to hear from both Carly and I and then make sure you stay after the end of the episode because we ran out of time together. But there are still a few more things I wanted to share with you listeners as we were reflect and celebrate the podcast today. So join me now for my soulful conversation and this special Valentine's Levi episode with Carly Eduardo.
Welcome to Soul of Travel podcast. I'm Christine and today is a super special episode. Today I get to, we're going to have a little behind the scenes look at Soul of Travel podcast, and I get to introduce you to my dear friend and colleague, Carly Oduardo, who is my content magician who evolved into my editor and basically my full support team. So I thought it would be a great opportunity to introduce all of my listeners to her. We're calling this our Behind the Scenes Love episode because it's coming out on Valentine's Day, and we want to share all of our soul of travel love, like the love we put into creating the podcast and the love we received back. So excited. Welcome to the podcast. Carly.
Carly: Thank you so much, Christine and listeners, it's so great to be able to connect with you. I'm just so, so excited.
Christine: Yeah, this is so fun for us. So we get to spend a lot of time talking together and as we both prepared for this, we are like, we're so nervous, but I don't know why we should be because we talk to each other all the time. But I guess it feels different when people are eavesdropping in on the conversation. But as in all of our podcast episodes, I would love to turn it over to you first, Carly, to introduce yourself and tell our listeners a little bit more about who you are and the work you do.
Carly: Yeah, so I'm Carly Oduardo. I am a former teacher turned writer, and I have founded two companies, No One Story and Co-founded ConVerGente with my husband. He recently left the corporate world. So we are launching into this universe of entrepreneurship and owning our time and choosing what we want to do with our time. And my favorite thing to do is write. So one of the blessings that I get to do with Christine is listen to all these beautiful episodes and create content around it. And yeah, that's what I do with my time. That's Ma Jam.
Christine: Yeah, which really reminds me for listeners, if you haven't ever taken the time to go to the Soul of Travel website and look at each of the episode, like show notes. If you're watching the video, see my air quotes. If you're not, you have no idea that I'm doing them, but they're not really show notes. They are these beautiful blogs for each guest that kind of summarize the episode, but they also tell a beautiful story of each guest's journey. And if you're a guest listening and you haven't done it, you definitely should. I know you put so much heart and soul and love into each one of those, and they are standalone, beautifully written pieces. So I feel really honored that that's what our podcast also puts forward with each episode. I want to share a little bit of our backstory with our listeners. I think that's something that's fun and important in this place that we've worked to create.
And Carly and I met, I'm going to say almost 10 years ago, maybe not quite, and we were both working for an organization called Threads Worldwide, which is a fair trade jewelry company filled with really incredible women founded by two women here, or three women here in Denver that Carly and I became really good friends with. And in that space of all of these incredible women talking about impact and how to support themselves and many of the things that we talk about here, how to manage our time, how to live lives that feel aligned with who we are, how to leave jobs and support ourselves doing something we love. We were marinating in that together for a long time. And we had a really beautiful moment at one of the conferences where we didn't know each other that well yet, but we really thought we liked each other, but we were both shy, so we would just sit by each other and just maybe hope it would rub off were it worked. It did work.
We had to write an exercise. Usually the conferences were in January, so kind of like what was our intention we were putting forth into the year, and so we're writing it and all these things and channeling all this big energy. And we got ready to turn to each other and share, and we both flipped our pieces of paper over and it was write a book, both of us, and we looked at each other and we're like, what do you like to write? You like to write? And then from there, just a really deep friendship I think, of seeing each other and really championing what we saw as each other's magical gifts and never letting each other stop believing in those gifts. So that's part of why solo travel even exists, and I have loved seeing you go from being someone who always said, I want to be a writer to someone who is a beautiful professed writer. So there's so many other things, but that's kind of where the energy of our connection began.
Carly: Yep. Well said. You told the story beautifully. I remember that moment. I'll never forget that moment. That's
Christine: Great. It was really powerful because I think it was really, we were both so scared to write down that thing that just felt impossible and improbable and then for it to be the same and then to just see each other, it felt really earth shaking. It was a pretty powerful moment. And also, we were just talking before we hopped on here, we've had so many opportunities to travel together, which we're going to talk about a little bit later in this episode, but that is also so fun to look back at all these pictures from trips to Bali and Alaska and in Colorado and New Orleans and all these things that we have been able to do together, which I also think is special. I was thinking, I'm like, I don't think I've actually traveled with anyone outside of my family more than you.
So that's also really, really exciting. So I think as we just get into this episode, I think it would be so fun to reflect on our journey so far. And on the podcast, I would love to hear from you some of your favorite moments. I know you've listened to every episode like me, so hopefully you're not the only person that's ever listened to every episode, but I feel like you a spent a lot of time in the energy of what we've been co-creating together. So I'd love to hear from you some of your favorite moments and things that you've taken away from all of these conversations.
Carly: Yeah. Well, I have the gift of being able to see all of the threads and all of the stories that pass through all of the episodes. I'm just always struck by how open the space is. Literally every conversation, I'm never like, oh, that was cringe. It's always amazing how open these folks are and how willing everyone is to share. That is just one of my favorite things about being able to listen to the podcast and being able to see that thread all the way through. If you just hear one episode here, one episode here, I think you feel it, but maybe you don't understand exactly how just monumental that is and how special that is. So that's definitely one thing.
An episode that meant a lot to me personally was when Carla Campos came on the podcast and talked about Puerto Rico. So my husband is from Puerto Rico. When Hurricane Maria hit, I had a little baby and he packed up his suitcase and went to the airport and he said, I don't know how I'm going to get there, but I'm going to get there. He had to be there with his family, even though everyone was saying, no, don't come. He's like, for him it was a need. And to go through that as a family and then have his family there going through this and getting pictures back from him where he's sitting, talking to his dad with no lights all of this time, he got to spend because of this horrible, horrible experience. But they went through it together and then coming back and hearing about it, it's just something we went through as a family and meant a lot for me to hear about someone like Carla, working for Puerto Rico, for the Puerto Rican people, doing everything possible to take care of folks and to make sure that everyone was safe, that everyone was fed.
It was just one of the most, I'm always emotional when I listen to the podcast. I often when I'm editing, have to pause and get my tissues out, but that specifically was really powerful and it helped me understand how tourism and travel and how these folks working in tourism and travel can really shape the future of a place just by being there, just by being willing to do the work in a heartfelt, open, passionate way. And if we show up as ourselves as our most authentic selves, that's another theme that is just in every single episode, I think of Tess Mill Holland with her house, and I look at really list everyone, but folks who made a choice to create something aligned with their soul's purpose and then did it, and then is following the thread of that story is just really, really incredible to watch and to hear and to see.
Christine: Yeah, thank you so much for sharing that. And I know Carla would be really touched to receive that, so I'm going to make sure she hears this episode. But yeah, I agree that that vulnerability that shows up that everybody brings to this space and tells the real story of their journey, that's what I mean even this season as we kind of were like, how do we want to start shaping the podcast going forward now that we have all these seasons under our belt? What is it we've actually been doing? And that was one of the things was like, okay, women are showing up and sharing who they are as people, even more than they are as professionals. And so that's where the women's wisdom part of the podcast came from. And even what I have heard from so many listeners, either people who have been guests that listen to the podcast now or who just listen to the podcast and are loving the stories, that's what they resonate with is I can't believe the stories that women share about their lives, or especially as professionals.
If someone you're hearing from is someone who you've looked up to or who is a mentor and who you've only known as the chief executive officer of some major brand, you didn't know that they spent a year living in the back of their camper truck in South America with their husband or you didn't know all these pieces. And then when you see those, then you start to understand why they have such a conviction for the work that they do. And for me, finding that thread is the magic, and that for me is what the soul of travel is. It's that part of each guest that just makes them so deeply connected to sharing that passion with the world and then that possibility that exists within the industry, not just to sell trips or connect with travelers, but that possibility to really love and appreciate the world and heal the world. So yeah, I love that you shared how you have received that from the guests. I think, again, like you said, as a collective, that's when you really start to see that energy. One episode feels good, but if you listen to 10, you're like, holy cow, something is happening here.
Carly: Exactly. You can feel the movement. It's not just like a one-off thing. It's actual momentum moving forward in a lot of different
Christine: Ways. And I think for me too, that's been the thing that I've been most surprised by, because again, I knew so many of these women, so I knew they had interesting stories. I knew doing great work, but even creating an infographic and putting six of their faces next to each other, I just like you, I'm like, okay, I just have to get a tissue and I have to sit here for a moment. Like, what the heck? All of these people together, I feel like they could make the world start spinning the other way. That's how powerful this community together feels. So I'm excited to, we'll talk about this later too, but to look at what it might look like to truly gather these women together and not just hear in this container of the podcast. But before we get to all that, I want to talk a little bit more about travel itself.
We already teased our listeners to let 'em know that we've gone to all of these places together, and part of that is through our own just travel experiences, but also you have joined me on two of my sojourns with Lotus Sojourns, which I'm so thankful for. It's always nice to have someone who thinks they're such great experiences that they would come back. But I would love to talk to you about your own mindful travel experiences and how stepping into this space, both for these travels and your own travel experiences has shifted how you perceive travel.
Carly: It's a huge question. It's perfect. I grew up without a passport, so I got my passport to go on my honeymoon with my husband. So my first years of actual travel outside of really Michigan and the Midwest and the West were very, very limited. I went to Canada when I was younger, so my husband and I traveled. We got our diving certifications, we went to Belize, we went to all these awesome places, and it was incredible. And I had an idea of what travel was, travel was going to see the world meeting, awesome people, having awesome experiences full. And then I have to thank threads worldwide again for opening my eyes to international travel that could be so much more than that. So with threads, we got to go to Guatemala and Bali, and that was my first taste of traveling with women without my husband, me as a traveler with a group of people.
And I was absolutely hooked. Christine, when you started doing these tours, these experiences, I wouldn't call them tours, small group, really intimate experiences, it was an absolute yes. My entire worldview had changed because of these trips that I had taken, and it expanded even further when I got to go to Colorado. I mean Colorado, when we got to climb a literal mountain in Colorado, I should say, that was so powerful in so many ways. I mean physically, obviously, and mentally, emotionally, all of the things. But what was really cool about that Sojo was that we were a community before we even stepped foot on the trail. So we would communicate in Marco Polos, and I just remember being on the trail on one of my training hikes on Marco Polo going like, this sucks. When does this get better? When does this get good? And then 20 minutes later, checking in with the team and going like, oh my gosh, I get it.
And I had all of these realizations and all of these just empowering moments that could not have happened had I not had the container. It was just me out hiking. Great. But because we were together, sharing this experience, sharing this whole training experience, and then actually getting to the top of this fourteener in Colorado, not something I ever thought I would do. It was just monumental really. And I counted as one of the most powerful moments in my life, truly, and had nothing to with my family or these roles that I had taken on for years and years. It had everything to do with just who I was and who I got to choose to be in that space was I liked myself a lot, and it was hard. It wasn't easy, but that specifically was an amazing trip. And yeah, it was great. And then of course, Alaska.
Oh my gosh. So I have to confess, I downloaded the Aurora tracking app and Felipe will, my husband will check over, what are you doing? And I'm just looking at Aurora webcams multiple times a week because that experience and it just being under the aurora north of the Arctic Circle was powerful. But to be there with an incredible group of people and have Christine facilitate conversations, not with any agenda, just like, what are you here for? What do you want from this experience? And yoga was involved as well. So I remember, I mean, one specific yoga, yoga experience in this incredible yoga dome that Molly Busby created just in the wilderness, you have to look up all the details. I'll share them in the show notes. But to be there and go through it was something with breath work and something with chanting. And I was like, sputtering just spewing out all of this energy that I had been holding back.
It was, and I've done yoga for a while. I've never ever had an experience like that ever, and I haven't since. And I am kind of chasing it. I felt like a different human being after I felt like I had let go of some stuff. That's the kind of magic that can happen when we choose to show up, when we choose to show up together, when we have somebody incredible facilitating the process. And for mindful travel too, it has changed how I approach my everyday life with my kids. So I have an eight-year-old and a five-year-old, and we now travel in our neighborhood. We employ all of these mindful travel experiences and this perspective into our daily travel, into our daily lives, sorry, going to the park becomes an adventure, going out becomes an adventure, all of these things. I'm actually working on a project where with my kids, we're getting to know the neighborhood, we're putting together blog posts and we're sharing about what we've learned because I didn't grow up here. I grew up in Michigan. So getting to know Colorado in this way through this childlike wonder has been really awesome. And it's just another perspective that wasn't available to me prior to all of these travel experiences with Christine and
Christine: All of amazing women. Yeah. Oh, thank you so much. And as you were just saying the last part about bringing that traveler's mindset and also using this connection with your children as a way to move through and see your local environment. I just interviewed Cat Medina and she and I were talking a lot about this. So if people are listening, that's such a great episode to talk about and hear about how you move through the world when you're traveling, who you become when you're traveling, and then creating, really looking and reflecting at that and creating a list of here's the things I notice more when I travel, or here's the things I do more when I travel. Here's the parts of me I love more when I travel. And then like, okay, where are those missing today? Which for many of us, it'll be like, oh yeah, well, all of those are missing today as I'm running to the grocery store, and then five minutes late to pick up my kids and hurrying home to do all the things that we do. I think it's so brilliant to try to pick some of those things and invite them back to your daily life. And then also just to go back and talk a little bit about the experiences you shared. I mean, for me, those were super powerful as a person participating in the experiences as a person, participating with dear friends in the experiences, and then also as the person holding the space and creating the container for that magic to happen.
For me, I don't even have words for that, but it was so incredibly powerful. And with the fourteener, as you mentioned, we spent a long time before that one building the connection that we had and that we found out we needed when we got three quarters of the way up the mountain. If we didn't have what we built before, I don't know that we would've all made it, but we spent three months doing some physical training with our friend Becky rep at Trailblazer Wellness, and Carly will link that episode in the show notes. And then we did some spiritual growth practices. We heard from a tribal elder that was sharing about the land and telling us how we could honor where we were hiking. And we did some practices when we arrived on the mountain to align with that. And all of those pieces as they came together were just incredible.
And then for me, we got almost to the top and all of a sudden we had this little straw width ridge in my mind, and the wind is blowing so hard, and we're almost there, and the last thing we have to do is cross this to get there. And my fear of heights is making my hands sweat right at this moment. And so I sat there clinging to the last big boulder before that with another one of our travelers who was having some very similar anxieties. And I was like, okay, mama Earth, if you ever listen to me, please just ease up on your wind. I definitely can't get across this thing thinking I'm going to fall off and just give us the strength to do this together. And everyone showed up some handholding, some very gentle support, and we all made it to the top of that mountain.
And it was incredible. Like you said, it wasn't just about this hike, it was who you became. Through that journey, the woman that stood on the top of the mountain was not the same woman at the bottom of the mountain and who we were together were very different people, and who we are since for each other I think is also really special. And I think that this much level of intention doesn't go into every experience when we travel, but when it does, it's just, it's really, there's no words as I'm not finding words. There are no words. Words. It's magical. And in Alaska too, again, there was a lot of physical elements to that trip. There were natural elements. It was cold. We had to pee outside when it was very cold. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We had a nine hour drive or eight hour drive to get there, which at first we were like, oh, let's figure out how to bypass that.
But that drive was kind of like that three month container that by the time we arrived at the village that we then had to hike up to where we were staying. We had created something that would be the thing that would help us navigate the rest of our time there and to love on one another and support each other. And then for me, it was particularly special. I got to really lean into some of my gifts that I don't always honor. And again, mama Earth was like, we're going to show you some real magic. And we had a beautiful yoga practice, our first one, and just so jokingly, I'm like, everyone now open your eyes, return to this space. And I was like, and let's see the Northern Lights, and then I looked at all of your faces and you're sobbing, and I turn, and the Northern Lights are literally there. I was like, oh my gosh, what just happened? And the
Carly: Coolest thing was it started when you said that, I don't know if listeners have seen the Aurora Borealis, but sometimes it starts just as a little streak across the sky, and it's sort of like a what is that? And that's exactly the moment Christine said, turn around. It was starting from basically nothing and growing into something super
Christine: Incredible. It was, it's cool. Our host, she was peeking at the little window of the igloo just waiting for us to finish because she knew they were coming, and she was like, oh my gosh, okay, everybody put your shoes on and get outside. But yeah, so I think for me, it's so special to get to share those experiences with you. And then that's the kind of thing because we have experienced it, that we see it in our guests and we hear it in their stories, and then we get so excited to just continue to push that forward because I think you'd agree. You just want every person to have that experience because it's life altering. It truly changes who you see yourself as and how you see the whole world, the natural world, all of the people in the world. It's really powerful. So I love that we have that foundation that feels really unique.
And I think for us, part of one of the things that we always joke about when we are working together is we get ready to end a call or in Zoom and we're like, okay, love you, bye. And then I was thinking, wait, that's not normal, is it? I'm like, I like it, but is that normal? And then I realized how many calls that I have with people in that way and that we have really intentionally tried to call in people to work with us. Becky, that has helped to support that sojourn. Other people that have done things for the podcast when we've been in conferences and connected, working with Carolyn Ray at Journey Woman, everybody who comes to this space kind of comes with the Love You. Bye Energy. Yeah, yeah, hugs, yeah. Like so many hugs, tears like realness. And I think it's such a privilege to be in that space.
And as I've talked with people, we have someone who's going to come on and do some guest writing to support your writing as well the next couple months. And that was one of the questions I had. I'm like, this is a real space of love and connection, and I really want people here who want to be here. This isn't a job. We don't really need someone to do this, but we would love to add more value by looking back and reflecting and writing stories that honor even more parts of women's journeys. And that was what she saw. She's like, I just want to be a part of whatever this thing is you're creating. So for me, I think that's great. And I think it also really extends to the guests that participate on the podcast and the listeners, and we get that love back and forth from them, which is great because when it's just you and I and we're like, how are we going to get this episode out? Our kids both have everything that they have, whether it's sicknesses or ball games or whatever it is, and we just think about that thing and we're like, okay, not only does that fill me up, but it gives me the thing that allows me to then continue to create. But I would love to have you share any of the love that you've received as we've been working with guests. And I'll share as well, but too.
Carly: Yeah. Yeah. I have the pleasure of sending the guests their assets. So before a podcast airs saying, here's all your stuff. Feel free to share. Your blog post is going to be live, dah, dah, dah, details. And without fail, get a response. I was so nervous and it ended up so beautiful, or Thank you so much. Or just the gratitude that comes back. And I think the love that we put into creating all these assets is really appreciated and seen. So we recently got a response from Tara Bush. She's the founder of the Conscious Travel Collective, which is, you have to go look it up. It's very cool. I'll link it in the show notes. She was nervous to listen to her episode back, which is really common. I'm nervous to listen to myself and edit myself after this, but she was nervous and then said, well, now that I've listened, I can say the conversation was just as warm and fuzzy in the replay as it was in real life.
Christine is such a dream to speak with. I agree. We went on a deep dive that exemplifies what I hope all conversations will feel like, and we bond over a shared passion for Deep connection and traveling in a way that honors our values, creating companies that do the same. Yes, conscious Travel Collective is a wonderful example of the type of business we can create when we lead with all our Heart. And I would absolutely say Soul of Travel. Flo to Sojourns is one of those types of businesses too. We get to show up and be ourselves. Like Christine said, if there's anything going on, we just let each other know and we get to show up and we get to say, I can't show up in the same way.
Christine: Yeah, thank you. I don't love hearing from guests that say they're too nervous to do the podcast, but I also do love hearing it because I can't even say how many people land in the Zoom and they're like, I'm so nervous. I'm not sure if I can do this. I don't know why anyone might want to hear my story. Are you sure? There's all these things. And then we prepare, we do the interview, and then on the other side, they're always like, gosh, one, that wasn't what I thought it would be. Two, that was so easy and so natural. And three, you saw something in my story that maybe I didn't even see in my own story or maybe I had forgotten about. And for me, again, that's also such a huge part of what I wanted Soul of Travel to be is this kind of reminder of why we really are doing this.
What is that soul essence of our businesses being reconnected to who we are? I think so many people get disconnected from that in the daily grind of operating their business. And then when they get to come back to it, they're like, oh my gosh, yeah, I haven't felt this way about my business in a really long time, or I haven't even heard myself talk about my business that way before. Which happens a lot in conversations. And actually is sparring another product that we're going to be launching soon, which I'm really excited about, which is helping people to tell their brand story in a really soulful way in creating some quick video and audio content that they can share. So we'll be sharing more about that later, but that's not even today. Later, this is a super tease. Later, later it'll be coming to listeners for that opportunity.
Hey listeners, I have an exciting announcement. I can't wait to share with you. The book, sojourn is Back in 2021, I wanted to find a way to bring women together in the absence of the travel experience I offer with Lotus Sojourns. I wanted to create a space for connection, cultural understanding, growth, and most importantly, belonging. And it was magic, pardon the use of your lingo, Liz Gilbert. But really it was big magic. We set out to read 12 books in 12 months, meeting virtually twice each month and having deep and passionate conversations about the books and all of the lessons we were learning, showing up for each other, being real and vulnerable and supporting each other in one of the hardest times of our lives. Then we decided to do it again In 2023, we were feeling life speed up and the book club was set aside.
However, over the past few months, I've spoken with so many women and the thing I've heard in common for many of them are thoughts like these, I'm running faster than ever in my business and in my life. I am tired and not prioritizing myself. I feel like I need to heal since returning to life as normal, I feel anything but normal. I feel like there's no place for me to grieve the life I used to have, and I need a supportive community. I am craving deep and meaningful connection. I need a community of women where I feel a deep sense of belonging. So this is what I've been hearing from all of the women I've been connecting with, and I'm feeling it too. All of these feels, and I have missed this special circle of women who came together for this unique journey through the pages of inspiring books.
So here we are. I am bringing it back, and I cannot wait for you to join me for this guided journey that past members have shared is so much more than a book club. We'll begin at the end of January with a community welcome call and review the books we'll enjoy in 2024. We'll go over the format of the calls, the Facebook groups and more. Then in February, we'll begin reading our first book. I cannot wait to bring you the ever-growing soul of travel community along on this journey. You'll find more information about the 2024 soulful book Sojourn on my Lotus Sojourns website. While you're there, just hit any of the Join us buttons on the page and you'll be added to our mailing list. For more information and enrollment will start soon, visit www.lotussojourns.com/ women's bookclub. Again, that's lotus sojourns.com/ women's dash book dash club.
And if you land on the website, you'll see the Women's Book Club right at the top of the header. I'm so excited that this is right around the corner and we don't have to wait long to share this sacred space with one another. And for all of you who sign up on the waiting list before the end of December, you'll be entered to win a few special prizes. One of you will win the entire year journey, and I'll give a few more month long sojourn experiences a way to you. So make sure you head over to the Lotus Sojourns website, get on the mailing list, and you'll know as soon as we open the doors for this book Sojourn, I really can't wait to be back in this space with all of you. But for now, let's head back over to our soulful conversation.
The other thing I wanted to really touch on, because it's been I think a place of growth for us and so helpful is how we can show up at work. And you and I have gone through some major ups and downs and ringers and I don't know exactly, we'll see what the universe is teaching us on the other side of this, but it's been hard. It's been really hard. And I think that foundation of respect and care for one another as humans first has really been helpful. I don't think we would've, either one of us would've been able to do this or would've wanted to do it without knowing that we could send that email that we don't want to send that says, today, I can't do this deadline. I know it messes things up. It can't happen. And the courage and the strength for both of us to get to the place to even send that email and not just grind through and make ourselves feel worse, which I know we've both done in the past, it's been huge.
So I feel like it's not been fun to have that experience of not feeling well enough that we have to send that email, but being able to find it in ourselves to create this space to heal in and still very gently keep the podcast rolling, which is I feel like where we've been really tenderly producing the podcast the last probably four months, even since I returned from my world trip, that didn't become a world trip, which is its own tender moment. But I'm really grateful that we have been able to have this space together. And I think a lot of other women on the podcast, this is something that comes up in my conversations like sidebar conversations, is what do you do when you're a solopreneur or what do you do when there's only one or two people in your business and something happens in your life, a family tragedy, a natural disaster, a personal health crisis? How do you keep going when you're the one person holding all the pieces? It's really, it's scary to say, I'm just putting you down right now, but what has your experience been like with that in the last few months?
Carly: Yeah. Well, I'll say first is there is zero fear that when I put it down, I won't be able to pick it back up again. That the harm or the damage or all of these horrible things I think I'm doing when I say no or when I draw a line or I create a boundary or something, is that I think I have a fear that these consequences will be far reaching. The world will stop turning if I mess up in quotes in air. And with soul of travel, it has just been about open communication and I know that that's the number one thing. So I've been in and out of the hospital last winter and now I'm having some lingering health effects trying to get diagnoses and trying to see doctors. And it's really interrupted my everyday life quite a bit. And it wasn't until I recognized that no, this is everyday life. I have to just accept what's going on in each moment and say what I need to say.
I like you, Christine. Always looking for the gifts in the lesson. I think that has to be one of them that I just keep having to learn over and over. But never did I fear if I send this text to Christine that we have to postpone this one week, is she going to be mad at me? And I'm like, of course there's disappointment and there's scheduling and all of the things. But when you have an environment where you can show up and be honest, then you know that you're safe to be honest. And I think that's one of the biggest things that I've learned working with you, working with my other clients who are just full of grace. And I've intentionally, it's one of the cool things too about being able to create your own business is intentionally choosing the people you work with and having people you can say, this is what's going on, being open about things, being honest about things, and then whatever the consequences are, the world literally will continue turning. It will be okay. And having folks that can reflect that back to you and just remind you like, yes, it will. The most important thing right now is health and wellness and wellbeing and approaching each day with an open mind and instead of frustration about the things I wish I could have done had I been feeling better, or if I didn't have these symptoms, I could do so much. You can't live in that world. It doesn't work. So yeah, it's all gratitude.
Christine: And I think for me too, and you also know because supported me in all of these things, but I like to have a lot of things on my plate and I like to start this thing and start this thing.
Carly: Can't relate at all.
Christine: No, sometimes it's too many things. We'll be real about that. But also then prioritizing because you're really excited about the thing that just sparked your energy and your curiosity and you want to put all your love towards that. And then you forget you have these things on the to-do list that are a little more in the want, want category. And so then not feeling well, I just have to keep this little list of the sticky note that's just the immediate priorities because maybe I might have energy for one thing on the list that day. And then just going back to that. And then the gift I hope, is being able to kind of keep doing that. And then like you said, noticing that if I didn't get the 50 things done, actually things still kept moving with even some ease and some grace. And it's like, oh, maybe I don't have to do the 50 things every day, maybe the five things every day.
That then also allows me to heal even if I'm not sick, but just heal from daily life, giving yourself a little space. Yeah, I hope, ask me in six months, but I hope that this is something that I can take forward from this time. Well, I know we don't have a full hour together, so before we run out of time, I want to celebrate some of our milestones that we've had together. I'm so grateful, like I said, to share this with you. And it is even more special to share milestones with someone who I know is equally in love with the success. It's very special. So I just wanted to share that. Looking back, our first podcast was recorded back in May of 2020. This for our listeners, was I recorded a YouTube series at the time. I actually had no idea what I was doing at the time, but I invited all of these incredibly talented and passionate people to partake in something that I think I said podcast or something like it.
And they all somehow agreed. Our first guest was Gabriela Stoll, who's now the vice president of regional development at the Adventure Travel Trade Association. And we just got to reshare her episode. It was the most popular episode of season one. And I think really just a great rock to build the whole podcast on, which I didn't know at the time, but looking back, definitely that is the case. And then we officially launched on Apple Podcast on February 4th, 2021. So this is kind of a happy birthday. We're recording this on February 5th. So yeah, just the podcast launched on Apple and all the other platforms. We did the mini season of the first 10 episodes, and then I had a whole other season, season two kicked off with Laura Greer, who is an amazing travel photographer. And now we are just reaching the goal of 30,000 lifetime downloads, which I just can't, again, there's kind of no words for that.
I remember seeing 300 downloads the first week and I was like, that's it. That's all I have to do. I feel like a success. 300 people listen to this podcast, and now there's listeners in 113 countries and almost 2200 cities, and our top countries are US and Canada and uk, which are not as surprising to me, but I love seeing the next ones that come in are Ecuador and Australia. And for me, I just visualizing all these people popping onto whatever app it is that they're listening to and hearing from my guests and hearing their stories and then hearing from them later on that they listened to this episode with so-and-so, and they realized this idea that they had actually could be something they could bring to life, or they didn't know women could show up in adventure travel space this way or all these different comments.
So for me, that thread to go back to threads worldwide, but that thread is the thing I think that is so important and really fun for me to see, because I didn't even know how to imagine it in the beginning, is seeing the podcast pop up on top charts, which is really hard to do in Canada in the us, but it's also the number four podcast in Belize all the time. I don't know what that means. I don't know how many travel podcasts there are in Belize, but it's still really cool. I'm going there in March. So I don't know, maybe it'll be like being Beyonce in Belize, probably not, but a girl could dream. And then the last one that I really am really, really proud of, and you were there with me, which is always special. I literally wouldn't have gotten to the stage without you because I was just sitting there waiting for the actual winner of the awards to walk up there.
Carly: I turn to Christine and I go, it's you. They said you. And you're like, no.
Christine: I was like, I'm sure that's not what happened. And everybody's looking. So I was like, oh, I guess it was me. But the podcast received the Bessie Award from wonderful as the brand that has gone above and beyond to support and empower and represent women in the year that I was nominated. And for me that was really special because it's amongst a community of women whose voices I feel are so important. And Beth Santos is such a powerhouse in the industry. So to just even be recognized and receive the word from her was really, really special for me as well. So yeah, I feel like it's just really cool. Sometimes you forget what you've created while you're in the middle of creating it. So it's helpful to look back and just see some of those things.
Carly: Yes, absolutely. And one more shout out. I have to honor you, Christine, and tell everyone that in 23, if you don't know this already, you need to that Christine was named Travel Pulses, one of the most influential women in travel. And in November was also recognized as one of the game changers women entrepreneurs who are disrupting travel and hospitality industry by women leadership. I know it's hard to accept accolades and talk about yourself, Christine, but you deserve all of the awards. And if I could nominate you and ensure that you win all of the other ones too, you would.
Christine: Thank you. I mean, I appreciate that and yes, it's hard to receive it. That's one of the things we're growing through. But also for me, it just says how important it is that women's voices are being heard and that what we are doing is in fact something really special. I wanted to share some of our most popular episodes, but I don't want to run out of time for the rest of our podcast. So just really quickly, if you go back, we've done a few earrings of top episodes. I definitely just want to shout out our most popular episode of the podcast ever was with Shay Sein, who's the executive director of Black Girls on the Go. And our podcast was about healing and mental wellness through travel, which I think really just also is a great example of what people are hearing here that they're not hearing other places.
And honestly, that episode was really hard for me to even get through in parts because Shay was so vulnerable. She was so honest with her experiences. She was so honest with why her life experiences led her to create her business. So for listeners, it's not number one without good cause. It's a really beautiful episode. Also, we've mentioned Tess Millholland, her episodes were the number two and number five most popular episodes. And also this seasons our most popular episodes so far is Traveling Fearless and Packing Light with Dawn Booker of Pack Light Global. And we've had a few episodes that are really popular around solo travel. So we'll put the list in the show notes of all of these episodes so you can go in detail and look and see some of the most popular ones. If you haven't already listened, it's a great place to kind of start.
But what I would really love to talk about before we do our rapid fire ish questions together, which Carly's so excited that she finally gets to do that, is I really want to talk about what we need to keep the podcast going. So we're in our fifth season, as we said, we just celebrated our third year of being streaming the podcast and sharing the podcast as a podcast and not just this conceptualized idea, but what we really need right now is your support as listeners. We love the feedback we receive on a regular basis. We would love for you to share the episodes with friends and colleagues. If you are someone who has a newsletter who's on social media, if you can just drop an episode and why you loved it, because I think that's what resonates with other women listeners, industry professionals. Men do listen to the podcast too, so we won't discount that they're not a part of the audience.
I appreciate their support as well. So I'd love for you to do that, to share in that way, to just continue to grow our listenership and to continue to amplify the voices of our guests. Like I said, that connection, you just never know who's going to hear your story or hear a story that resonated with you that will really change their own experience. And then most importantly, we really need financial support to keep the podcast going. For me, this has been a labor of love. It has been a great joy to do it, but I feel like it's time to grow this into a business. We really hope you're feeling the love and energy in this love episode and in this podcast, but we want to look at this as a business and not just this powerful forum for gathering women travel leaders and telling the story, but we want aligned sponsors to really help us keep this space alive and thriving and moving forward. Because I can't see the day of putting this down, but if I look at it with some business goggles on, it could be a reality. And so yeah, we just want to talk to our listeners about how you can get involved to support and make sure that that doesn't have to happen. So I'm going to turn it over to Carly to give you some of the details.
Carly: Yes. So as a podcast consumer and fiend, I know that ads permeate podcasts all the time that are, sometimes you fast forward and sometimes you're just like, oh, why is this in here? This is not for me, whatever. Christine works really, really hard to make sure that anybody sponsoring the podcast is thoughtfully chosen and that Christine is telling a story in the ads that she writes painstakingly and records and thoughtfully creates. So if you are signing up for an ad, the single episode ad spaces start at $600 and you're going to get so much more than just a 32nd spiel. You're going to get Christine caring about your brand and speaking about it in a way that really conveys how much it means to her. And she won't put anything in there that she doesn't feel that way about. It's just who she is and who we are at Soul Travel.
And we are also looking for additional founding sponsors. The Trafalgar Travel Corporation is our first founding sponsor. They have a 12 ad package, and that's something that's available as well. If you have long-term goals for getting more viewership, getting more audience growing your audience in this way, that's definitely available to you. And if you don't have your own business, and if you're just a listener of the podcast, take out the word just because you are so powerful and impactful and just sharing the podcast with the people. Or if you know someone who owns a business and that would be a good fit, please share and share the opportunity to take the ad space because it's there, it's available, and you'll get mentions in the blog posts in social media, all of the things, it's worth it. It's well worth the investment. We believe it's generous.
So please consider that. And if you are an individual looking for a way to support the podcast financially, Christine has set up donations through PayPal, and that's something you can do as well. Anytime. This is free content, essentially. We're not Amazon Prime over here charging. They increase their prices like $3 a month, but for a huge number of people, that puts it out of range. So this is always going to be free for listeners, but if you are somebody that connects with Soul of Travel or that has grown a business or had some gain in your life or some kind of jump forward, we would really appreciate a thank you back in the form of money. We're not afraid to ask for it. So we really appreciate all of the shares, the likes, the downloads, all of those things. And just that PayPal link is one other way that you can support the podcast and sharing to potential sponsors or becoming a potential sponsor yourself is yet another way.
Christine: Yeah. Thank you so much, and I appreciate you sharing how I create those ads. And I would say even I've done a few for our allies recently, and I've received text back, like, I'm crying, this is so beautiful. This isn't what I expected at all, and that's really what I want to show. They're kind of standalone, even like a mini so in of themselves. And even working with Trafalgar, they're like, we're so excited to tell a different story of our brand, to tell about the things that maybe isn't the perception or is just like something we're so proud of one of our values, and you really want to feature that. And that makes them feel really proud of what they've created too. And they're a huge brand. They could be anywhere. But I'm so grateful that they are really helping us to bring this podcast forward. And like Carly said, just looking for a few other brands that can really help us take this to the next level. I'm going to share all of these future offerings that we want to create a little bit later because I know Carly does need to go, and I want to quickly allow her to answer the rapid fire ish questions if you still have time. If not, we can always post production at it later.
Carly: We have to do it.
Christine: Okay, let's do it. Let's do it. Okay. So what are you reading right now?
Carly: Wow. I am rereading The Alchemist. I am reading a romance novel called The Kiss Quotient, and I'm reading Wintering as part of our soulful book.
Christine: Yeah, thank you. That's been so good. What is always in your suitcase or backpack when you travel?
Carly: You think I would have this right at the tip of my brain, but getting asked the question, what's always in my suitcase or backpack is probably my phone charger. And not because I remember it, but because I have packing lists and structures in place with my traveling partners to help me remember it because I am notoriously bad at forgetting my chargers.
Christine: Yeah, I have the list too and forget them and always my toothbrush. And there's probably extra pajamas for me in your suitcase too, right? Because
Carly: I
Christine: Always have that has
Carly: Care for Christine. Yes.
Christine: To Sojourn is to travel somewhere as if you live there for a short while. Where would you still live to Sojourn
Carly: Morocco. I don't know what it is about Morocco. I haven't been there. I've been to Spain. But just something about it is drawing me constantly and I will dream about it and I'll be thinking about it and then a show will come up like Anthony Bourdain visits Morocco or something. So there's a pull.
Christine: I love that. And I know the perfect operator for you to travel with if you go there. Oh yes. She's incredible. We can link that in the show notes too. What is something you eat that immediately connects you to a place you've been?
Carly: So in Puerto Rico they have something called Pecho. They're grilled meats and in barbecue sauce, and there's a piece of bread at the end, like soft bread that just collects all of the barbecue sauce that puts me on the beach in Puerto Rico every time and we try to make them here. It's not quite the same, but yeah, just
Christine: Who was a person that inspired or encouraged you to set out and explore the world?
Carly: My grandmother, who did not do a lot of travel that I know of in her adult life, she had five kids. She worked so hard every single day, but she was also a writer and would write about the adventures that her grandkids had, and I know if she had been in a different generation or if she was even still here, we would be traveling together.
Christine: Yeah. Thank you. Well, this may in fact answer the next question, but if you could take an adventure with one person, fictional or real alive or past, who would it be?
Carly: My grandmother, but also my daughter. I think she is just the B'S knees. This kid is amazing, and getting her in novel situations is always fascinating to see how she's going to react. And she also takes the world very seriously. She's always looking to learn from it. So just taking her with me and I know we'll travel our whole lives together, but she's a little young now to do that kind of thing more often than I would like. So yeah, I taught her.
Christine: And the last question, soul of Travel is for honoring and recognizing women in the industry. I know you helped me do this every week. Is there someone that you love to recognize in this space?
Carly: Yes. It's Vincent Ho, the founder of the Rise Travel Institute. When I decided to become a writer and be a writer and said that I was a writer, I started volunteering for Rise, and it was the first time I saw myself as someone who could contribute in a huge way because of the incredible organization she's created, teaching mindful and responsible travel practices to families, to teachers, to grownups, to kids, to everybody. So thank you Vincent.
Christine: Yeah, she's one of my favorite people in the industry as well, and I know we definitely have spent some moments celebrating Rise Together as well. So thank you for mentioning her and thank you so much for all the things. There would also be no words for that and for sharing this really fun behind the scenes love episode with me and I hope our listeners had a good time hearing a little bit more about why we do what we do and why the podcast is so important to us and what a joy it is to create it together. So thank you so much my friend for being here. I really appreciate you.
Carly: Thank you for having me. Thanks all you listeners out there. Love you so much.
Christine: Thank you. Well, that wraps up Carly and I's conversation, but we had a few more things I just really wanted to share with you today. So one of the things I wanted to share is what we're looking to create in the future. So Soul of Travel, we're really looking to host some in-person events. We'd love to gather our community. You've asked for it as listeners, you've asked for it as guests, and we really are working to figure out how we can make this happen. We've had the privilege of some of the guests at other industry events like Wits Adventure, travel World Summit, and the International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum. And there was so much energy created there as a collective. Kind of going back to what Carly and I were talking about, gathering these women together, bringing all their voices together, even just here on the platform of the podcast has been so powerful.
But bringing them together in person has even created more energy. And these are such brilliant women as you've heard, listening to one another, listening to the guests. So I really would love to create this space. We plan to start by offering Soul of Travel gatherings here in Denver where Carly and I are both located, bringing together some of the soul of travel guests that live in and around Denver, as well as inviting some other women travel professionals that I know in the area. Then we're looking at branching out and bringing these soulful gatherings to Los Angeles where there's a ton of guests that live in and around the area as well as New York. These are events that if you're interested also in finding a way to be involved and sponsor, it would be another great opportunity. If you're a local women's own business in Denver, la, New York, or another area that would love to host this community, just reach out and let us know.
I think it's such a great way to bring a spotlight to your business. That's something that we're so passionate here about at the podcast is telling the stories of all these women owned businesses. So if we can extend that to bookstores, bars, restaurants, community spaces, yoga studios, so it'd be something that would be such a great partnership. And then some of our big, big wild dreams are to bring a book together to curate a collection of all of these soulful stories, I think would be such a great way to look at some of the themes that we've covered over all of these interviews. We're at close to 170 conversations now, so to look back and see what we've talked about, some of the common themes in business and travel and in life, and just be, begin to paint an even richer picture, bringing the stories and voices together.
Then our biggest wildest dream is to host a in-person Soul of Travel Summit for again, all of the incredible women that have been on the podcast, but also as a space for women in the travel industry and to create something that is a little different than exists today. Really tapping into this space of authenticity and vulnerability, being a professional and being a person, addressing all of these different aspects of ourselves within the travel space, talking about the impact that travel can have, looking at ways we can get in the same room and collaborate and bring some of these bigger visions that everybody holds to life. So those are just some of the things that I wanted to touch on that we ran out of time for. I just want to go back and talk a little bit more about sponsorship. We are so grateful for some other important members in our community as well.
Journey Women, as many of you know, has joined us or we've joined together. Solo Travel is a part of the Journey Woman community. That partnership is meant to really help to even further amplify the reach that we have, amplify the voices of women in the industry and bring more women together. So I'm so grateful to Carolyn Ray for seeing my vision and stepping up to create an even bigger space for the podcast. And then this year working with the Travel Corporation and Trafalgar to create a really aligned sponsorship. It's been really great, as I mentioned, working with them to create some really powerful and I think meaningful and resonant advertisements that are really like these short stories about different aspects of their businesses. And so I've really loved that opportunity as well. And then we have recently announced are some of our allies, which are communities that have very aligned visions in the industry that are also all working to really support women in the industry.
Women's work is one of our allies, women travel leaders. And then the last is the Travel Coach Network. And all of these are women founded organizations, really working to create growth in entry with women's work and then support women owned businesses or women in the industry, women travel leaders. And then I love Travel Coach Network because it's really creating a way for people to be a part of the industry that maybe don't necessarily want to start their own travel company or maybe don't want to exactly be a travel agent, but they really want to influence how people show up and travel. And Sahara Rose Devora has really created something special in that space as well. So these are, again, are just really aligned partners. They're helping me to reach even wider audience. And then I am also helping to support them in growing their communities because I'm a part of all of them and they're all communities that I really believe in.
And this is what I really want to pull through. Again, that essence of the soul of travel. And this is what we want to work with with our podcast sponsors. We really want to find brands and businesses that want to speak to this very values aligned traveler to women travelers that are looking for meaningful connection, people that really value sustainability and responsibility and richer, deeper connections when they travel. I think these are all the people that you're going to find in the solar travel space. So if those are the people that you want to be reaching with your brand and business, whether you are a travel company or whether you are a brand and product, I think this is such a great space for us to be able to bring people together. And then in sponsoring the podcast, not only are you reaching a very aligned potential client for yourself, but you are helping me to continue to bring my vision to life and to continue to move the podcast forward.
So I really appreciate all the people that have come online so far, and I can't wait to find even more aligned sponsors to work with. And I think that's it for this Add-on to the behind the scenes. I'm so grateful for you spending this time today. I hope you have an even deeper and richer understanding of what we're creating here at the podcast, how it's being received by our listeners and by our guests. It's such a special place. It's such a special privilege to just be sitting in this seat listening to all of these women every week, and I'm so grateful to be here. I hope you've enjoyed what you've heard so far and I can't wait to share all of the rest of the episodes that we already have lined up for season five. So until we talk to you next time, which Carly and I are already excited to do again, I hope each and every one of you just take the time to enjoy your journey.
Thank you for listening to Soul of Travel presented by Journey Woman. I hope you enjoyed the journey. If you loved this conversation, I encourage you to subscribe and rate the podcast. Please share episodes that inspire you with others because this is how we extend the impact of this show. Learn more about each of my guests by reading our episode blogs, which are more than your average show notes. I think you'll love the connection. Find our episode blogs at www.souloftravelpodcast.com. I'm so proud of the way these conversations are bringing together people from around the world. If this sounds like your community, welcome, I'm so happy you are here. I am all about community and would love to connect. You can find me on Facebook at Soul of Travel podcast or follow me on Instagram, either at she Sojourns or at Soul of Travel podcast. Stay up to date by joining the Soul of Travel podcast mailing list. You'll also want to explore the Journey Woman community and its resources for women travelers over 50. I'd also like to share a quick thank you to my podcast producer and content magician, Carly Eduardo, CEO of Conte. I look forward to getting to know you and hopefully hear your story.
You can find me on Facebook at Lotus Sojourns on Facebook, or join the Lotus Sojourns Collective, our FB community, or follow me on Instagram either @lotussojourns or @souloftravelpodcast. Stay up to date by joining the Lotus Sojourns mailing list. I look forward to getting to know you and hopefully hearing your story.