Soul of Travel Celebrates IWTTF

In this episode of Soul of Travel, Season 6: Women's Wisdom + Mindful Travel, presented by @journeywoman_original, Christine hosts a soulful mashup showcasing wisdom from the Women in Travel CIC community about the International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum (IWTTF).

Women in Travel CIC is a UK-based, award-winning social enterprise dedicated to fostering inclusion in the travel and tourism industry, by connecting underserved, diverse female and non-binary talent to employers and enterprising opportunities.

Christine shares clips from:

· Christina Lawford of Diamond Air International

· Zina Bencheikh, Managing Director EMEA Intrepid Travel

· Sofya Muhrer Muromets, Sustainability Manager at Evaneos

· Eljesa Saciri, General Manager at the Zetter Townhouse Marylebone

· Chantal Potgieter, Themba Travel

Join Christine for this soulful mashup.

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If you would love to join us this year in London for IWTTF, visit iwttf.com to get your ticket for the forum and the IWTTF Awards!

Visit the Soul of Travel Podcast website and search for these past award honorees and nominees to hear more. Jayni Gudka - Unseen Tours, Dee Gibson - Kalukanda House, Zina Bencheikh - Intrepid Travel, Jessica Brooks - Eternal Landscapes, Shayna Zand - WeTravel, Jools Sampson - Reclaim Yourself Retreats. 

We would also like to share special recognition to our Community Partners and Podcast Allies: VanessaKarel - GreetHer, Iris Serbanexcu - wmnsWork, Vincie Ho - RISE Travel Institute, Beth Santos - Wanderful and friend the show, Tami Fairweather.

To read our episode blog post, access a complete transcript, see full show notes, and find resources and links mentioned in this episode, head to the Soul of Travel Website. 

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Visit iwttf.com to register and join us in June! 

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Looking for ways to be a part of the Lotus Sojourns community? Learn more here!

Find Lotus Sojourns on Facebook, or join the Lotus Sojourns Collective, our FB community for like-hearted women. Find solo travel trips for women over 50 on JourneyWoman.

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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing, production, and content writing by Carly Oduardo.

Transcript

Welcome to Soul of Travel podcast. I'm your host, Christine, and today I'm excited to share some wisdom from the women in travel CIC community. About the International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum, or I-W-T-T-F-A few years ago, we partnered on a series leading up to the event in London, and this year I am sharing a few takeaways from those guests to get us excited for the event happening again in London on June 18th and 19th of 2025.

It is my favorite women's travel event, and I'm looking forward to being able to attend again this year. Founded by Alessandra Alonzo, women in Travel, CIC as a UK-based award-winning social enterprise dedicated to fostering inclusion in the travel and tourism industry by connecting underserved, diverse female and non-binary talent to employers and enterprising opportunities.

They partner with employers and charities to champion the cause of all women, plus particularly those who are marginalized, vulnerable, or underrepresented. In collaboration with their esteemed partners, they provide women with visibility, confidence, access to training, mentoring, and ultimately pathways to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.

If you'd like to hear more about women in travel, CIC. You can listen to my interview with founder Alessandro Alonzo by going back and searching for episode number 63. The recognition and celebration of individuals and corporations in the I-W-T-T-F awards began in 2023 celebrating diversity, equity, and inclusion in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries.

Their mission is very much in alignment with soul of travel, and there is a lot of overlap in our communities. I am honored that so many of my past guests have received acknowledgement from women in Travel CIC at the I-W-T-T-F Awards. You can visit the Soul of Travel podcast website and search for these past award honorees and nominees, Janie Gutka, unseen tours, Dee Gibson, Kanda House, Jessica Brooks, eternal Landscapes, Zena Ben Intrepid Travel.

Shana and we travel. Jules Sampson, reclaim Yourself retreats. I also wanna share special acknowledgement of our community partners and podcast allies that have been recognized. Vanessa Carroll greet her Iris subcu from women's work. Vincent Ho at Rise Travel Institute. Beth Santos at Wonderful and Friend of myself and the show, Tammy Fairweather.

Kicking off this mashup episode, I'm going to share an outtake from Christina Lawford, founder and CEO of Diamond Air International. Here we were talking about why the work that Alessandra is doing resonated with her and how they are working to open doors and create opportunity for women in the industry.

To hear my full conversation with Christina, you can search for episode 1 32.

 I'm such a massive cheerleader for everything that Alexandra does. So, um, yeah, it's, it is great to have this platform to talk a bit more about it. So I think sort of going back to really, um, the, the foundations for me, so I, um, I've. My business is, you know, pretty much 24 7, it's operational.

And, um, many years ago when I was a lot younger, I was made a kind of, a bit of a promise to myself and said, when my business doesn't need me on the airport anymore at Christmas time, you know, I really wanted to do something a bit more worthwhile than just eating too many min pies and washing. Bad tv. So, um, I literally one year just decided to sign myself.

When the business didn't need me working anymore, I, I decided to sign myself up for a London based charity called Crisis, which is homeless charity for, uh, single people. Um, and I spent the first, it last year, I think was my 17th Christmas. Um, working with them, we invariably do six to eight days, um, over the festive period.

Um. Working with, um, rough sleepers and the homeless in London, but the first 10 years of that, um, I, um, ran the women's shelter. Now, um, they were probably some of the most inspiring women I I've ever met in my life. Actually, I, I have to say that the mixture between the volunteers that give up their time, incredible, and the women themselves who were there to give some respite to and help with move on plans, the women would just.

So, so inspiring. I think that's where I really first lent the term resilience. Um, and, um, so it's always been close to my heart in terms of, um, women that are either sex trafficked or, um, domestic violence or, you know, getting themselves into situation. Where they do end up, um, rough sleeping, they're, they're homeless.

And when I, um, many years after kind of fast forwarding, I, um, I was introduced to Alexandra at Women in Travel and I really felt quite passionate about what she was trying to do and the mission that women in travel CIC were on. Um, and when she started to explain to me about one of the programs and the projects that she was looking at, was to find women who are more marginalized, um, I wouldn't normally be given opportunities.

To enter into employment in some, some areas in, in, in the travel industry. It just felt like my two worlds were colliding. So my Christmas world and my, my, my travel world. So I, the first charity that I introduced, um. Um, Alexandra too was crisis, but I do also work with some other women's charities that, that, that help support women mainly from sex, sex trafficked, um, backgrounds.

Um, and it was great to, um, give Alexandra access to these women and these pools of women that really are, as I said, very resilient, but they are really, are looking to get out of circumstances and situations that that really hasn't been their fault that they've got into and really to better their lives.

I think there's a certain loyalty you get as well if you can give these ladies opportunities and believe in them. Um, so that was really how the, the project initially happened, and I know that since that, you know, I, I can't put the credit down. To me, Alexander's done a wonderful job of connecting with lots of women's charities out there to, to find women that are perhaps more challenged in terms of getting into these career, certain opportunities.

Um. And, uh, I've been working with, uh, Alexandra in terms of developing the whole project. Um, we are actually looking now, um, we've, we, we've, uh, been building a, a project out called Elevator, um, which is about, um, more perhaps a luxury sector, which, you know, we are in, in terms of travel, um, and building out.

Whole, um, courses and, um, facilities and all sorts of great stuff where we can get these women into employment. Now, diamond Day, we've, we've already given, um, some of these ladies, um, jobs, um, which has been fabulous, and to just see them glow, grow and flourish and, you know, it is been brilliant. Um, so yeah, it is something that, um, it is just been great to be involved with, but I think it is part of a much, much bigger.

Um, opportunity as well. So it's something that's really growing and evolving. Mm-hmm. Thank you for sharing that. I, I have really loved to see, as you mentioned, the, the way that Alessandra has been able to kind of expand impact by creating opportunities like this, especially for women. Um, as many of my listeners know listening to the podcast, it's, there are more women in the tourism and hospitality industry than pretty much any other industry in the world, however.

They're often, um, at entry level positions. Yeah. Or even working in unpaid positions within families and in, in the industry and family jobs and restaurants and, you know, b and bs and that kind of. Um, position, but looking at trying to create not only more entry into the industry, but then as you mentioned, elevate into other higher positions or in maybe opportunities that they wouldn't have access to otherwise without someone that can just open those doors.

And as you mentioned. So many of the women are so determined and driven and you know, and capable, but because of life circumstances, they've just had doors that have kind of closed to them. And so I think it's so important to create these opportunities. And I was reminded of an experience I had recently traveling in Switzerland.

And when I went to travel there, it was one of the first times traveling after the pandemic and certainly after this podcast. And I really wanted to think about how I could support women while I was traveling. And so I had Googled hotels in Zurich that were women owned, and then kind of also looked at social impact and tourism in Zurich.

And I found this change. And one of their properties, um, I think it's called the Josephine House, has half of the rooms set aside for women who have, um, been victims of domestic abuse or other circumstances. So they can come and they have a place to stay, but then they also have a program through the government where then they can start training women to work in the properties.

And they have three different hotels and they have quite a lot of different programs as well. And for me, I just thought. This is such a really inspiring program that could actually really be easily implemented anywhere and offers the opportunity for businesses to serve communities and also create opportunities.

And like you said, find employees that are actually probably going to be the most loyal employees because they've been in an environment that's so supportive of, supportive of their success and their growth. 

Christina mentioned Elevate her Women in Travel CI's employability program focused on underserved female talent, where they partner with employers to support groups of 10 to 15 underserved women through mentoring, upskilling networking, access to work 

and income. These women often face multiple barriers.

Be it refugees and asylum seekers, survivors of slavery, gender-based violence, and long-term unemployment, which is why they're remote from the job market. These women are also talented, motivated, and often highly qualified, which is the reason why women in travel, CIC, wants them to stay in our great industry and elevate her offers the space for this to happen.

In my next outtake, I share from episode 1 26 and my conversation with Zena ick, managing director EMEA at Intrepid Travel. She shares about her first connection with Alessandro Alonzo and the experience that became the catalyst to create I-W-T-T-F. to tell you the story, back in 2018, I was on my one year, one year and a half in my GM role. Um, I was contacted by Alessandra, who is the founder and CEO of women in Travel to join a panel in at WTM, the World Trial Market in, in London. Um, that was about gender. Um. You know, it was, it was focused on gender, but gender equality.

And she's, um, she's invited me. I've never been, at that time I was, I haven't been to WTM yet, so it was, it was something completely new for me. And I think, I've never been on a panel anyway, so never been doing any public speaking. So I, I've accepted gladly and I joined and I found myself sharing a panel with the BBC presenter.

I think she's BBC or TV presenter, and then the first lady of Iceland. So that was quite a, quite a challenge. But what we found in that. Conversation that was really well attended and, and a great conversation is that it was a start. Something started, it was the first time ever that in a very large international space in the travel industry, the question of women in travel was raised and was discussed.

And we ended up the panel and I'm a very, um, very action focused type of person, and I. Thinking and talking publicly about, okay, so what's next? And we literally talked about the need of a forum, that's a regular forum where we can talk about challenges that women face, uh, best practices, you know, learn about some of the examples of, you know, great practices or best practice that individual businesses are doing and, and just create that, create that space that didn't exist.

And that's how the International Women in Travel Forum idea came. And that was in November, 2018. In January, 2020. So a year and a couple of months later, we actually hold the first one in Iceland and the first date of Iceland hosted it. So as part of that conversation, so that was, that was incredible in my opinion, to see the actions, you know, like just following the, the talks and that doesn't happen always like this.

And that first forum was exactly about what I was saying about, it was about sharing, learning. I remember discussions or panels that happened where we had very high level. Um, women in, in, like women in very high level positions, talk about the challenges of, you know, the triple loads when you start to have kids and you've got to juggle with, juggle with, you know, kids and work and, and being a wife or partner or whatever.

Like, just this kind of very honest and um, kind of role discussions that we, we didn't really have a space to talk about, to share about and just being able to talk about them was already, uh, great because you could see, um, you know, that you're not the only one. Um, and so. That was the, the first step. And then since then we hold two more.

Um, one virtually during the pandemic and another one in London last year. And each time it become, to me the best. Travel industry events in the year, and it was so well attended that we had a, like a waiting list. I think more than a hundred people were in the waiting list for last year. So we didn't have enough space.

So Google, who are hosting the, the event since then have decided to double the capacity. So we've got now the, the biggest, I think one of the biggest venue in, in London, uh, to host it. And again, the topic and the, the. Conversations are all about the same thing. It's just really learning, sharing, improving.

Um, so we all get better and the industry is, gets better. And if I wanna finish on one thing is we, we are in an industry that is ahead of the larger. Or the wider economy. When you look at the statistic, and this is from the U-N-W-T-O report that went in 2018 about women in travel and in tourism, 54% of the workforce are women in travel versus 39% in the wider industry.

25% of ministry of tourism are women versus 20% in wider industry. Um. You know, I've got more of, of those stats. Oh, the gender pay gap is actually still not good enough, but it's still, uh, less, uh, big in the travel industry than it is in wild industry. So what we feel, and also I think it's more than 70% that the travel purchase are done by women.

We sit in our old company, our, the majority of our travel are actually women. So all of the statistics show that there is a, a. Potential and opportunity for the travel industry to be a massive driver of, uh, gender equality or reducing gender inequalities. Um, it employs one in 10 people in the world. So, you know, just these, these, these are kind of clear stat that show if we invest in travel, we can make change in the world for everyone.

And, um, and yeah, that's, that's really what fa fascinated me about meeting Alessandra, learning about her work and, and that conference really. Highlights a lot of this information and gives tips to, to business leaders to make their business, you know, um, better, uh, more diverse, um, not just about women, but in general.

Yeah. Uh, thank you for running through some of those statistics. That's definitely a space I've been spending a lot of time in the, this year I've really been focusing personally on research in how sustainable travel can really support gender equity globally. And I think once you start looking at. All the areas that tourism really does touch, you know, women and how you can create opportunity for women.

You can see pretty quickly how there is so much opportunity to create a change and um, you know, I get pretty fired up and excited as well. And so I'm really excited to attend this event for the first time this year in London and just be in the space that Alessandra has created with all of these other incredible women to be able to have these conversations.

I think. Just has seen such a shift in the last few years, even how women are coming together in the industry. When I spoke with Sophia Murra Morowitz, she was working for Tour Radar. She's now the sustainability manager at Venos. She and I dove into our shared passion for gender equity in the industry. And we talked about how I-W-T-T-F is a place for important conversations where women are stepping into leadership roles and exploring how tourism can support gender equity. We discuss how professionals can understand how they are or are not supporting women's rights in the industry, and focus on topics such as gender, pay gap, family, or professional roles for women, and how these all become a part of supporting gender equity in the industry.

 Yeah. Um, super.

Spear company on three different continents in Australia, north America and Canada, and in Europe, in Vienna, um, and tourism industry. Um, you know, like just looking into statistics that employs every 10 person in the world. And actually 58% of the people are females who work in tourism industry. Um, and I'm always Who tell.

Not a taboo anymore that, um, the, how you address gender, like Yeah, gender gap in your company. Um, how you talk about it to.

Don't feel appreciated or valued or, you know, like have open talks about it, um, and generate this safe pace in at work. You know, like that people actually feel comfortable to talk about it. Um, and it comes to everything. It's not that a gender baggage and that's, um, being a mother or um, being a father because.

A lot of very equity, um, going, you know, like with maternity and maternity leave. Um, so it's um, not just always about the mothers. We have a lot of others as well. So how we make this work place, especially as a tech company, a fast space place, um, really like not affordable to them, but that they value and they know that.

We don't, if they go at three to pick up their and really precious quality time with them and on the call.

Time, uh, working time remote, working, this kind of policies, opportunities, employee work, who you life and your life, um, and as. All of those components, you know, like in harmony. Um, it always works out and I see it tour because we have remote working opportunities, we have flexible working hours, um, and we're doing great and everyone loves working here.

And, um, it's like really to see all of this, um, I.

Um, female and they are mothers. And I always feel when I grow up, I wanna be like them because how they manage it, um, it's just incredible. And just to see how Tour is supporting them, uh, by giving this flexibility. Um, it's just, um, this is the place you want to be, but not just in tour. It's just, you know, like, it just shows you that it's possible.

If you listen to the people, what they need, uh, because, uh, before the pandemic it wasn't like that. Um, and pandemic showed a lot how much the private life, um, actually means to people how valuable this time is. Um, and it opened a lot of new doors and it closed the old ones. Um, and everyone adjusted super quickly.

Um, and only good came out of it. Um, so like why don't implement it everywhere, um, as. Company or, um, if you are travel agent, um, society, like anywhere you can adopt it. So

make. And take the risk, I would say. Um, but yeah, so like, and especially in our industry, andand and doing, sharing the knowledge. Um, and you know, like sometimes I. Brainstorming session. So why don't, um, you know, like to jump on a call with someone who maybe before the pandemic was your competitor, but when it comes to sustainability or to gender equity, um, we all struggle with the same problems.

We all have the same challenges, so why don't work on them together and.

So pandemic, there's answer to, to everything, and there's solution for everything. So, but you can achieve it together collectively. And this is actually all of, um, these amazing small companies or organizations, you know, like who are doing to support female. Um, they're really doing a great job and showing that, um, the female, you know, like woman just can step up.

Finally, you know, like feeling, um, elevated, you know, like feeling supported. That industry behind them, uh, they value them, they recognize them. We know what they're doing. Um, and we just want to take leap of faith with them, you know, like, and to go the next step. In episode one 30, during another conversation for the I-W-T-T-F series, I spoke with Eliza Securi, general manager at the Zeer Townhouse Marley Bone. About why communities like women in Travel CIC are so important and why the International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum is important in the context of community and networking and how this supports you in having a successful career.

She shares why it has been personally important and why she would encourage women to be a part of a community like this. I think it's very simply expressed 10 years ago. You would have never, and I promise I can vouch for it, never have seen someone that looks like me and that acts like me. In the position that I am in right now,

in today's industry, it's becoming normal. There's still ways to go. I won't deny that, but it is becoming a normal. I would've given at the time, 10 years ago, anything to have seen someone that, and I'm not saying looks like me, aesthetically, I'm saying someone that puts on the makeup like I do, dresses up, does the hair, has the nails, because for me it's would've been.

You can be super powerful and have your feminine energy at the same time. It's that balance of feminine and masculine energy, which we all have, and it takes a while to learn it and understand it within yourself. Things like women in travel are opening up. The space for those conversations to be had are opening up the space for women to see each other and seek each other in their development and in supporting.

The growth of others within the industry of presenting fearless women, of presenting powerful women powerhouses within the industry, and ensuring that voices are being heard by those who may be in the position that I was in 10 years ago and showing, Hey, we are here and it's happening, and the change is happening, and we are the change, and we want you to be that change with us.

You are not alone. And it's very, it was previously very difficult to have certain conversations because you didn't have a support network of women around you to have those conversations with. And at times, and I'm speaking back here of my earlier days within my career, you would think, is this normal or am I crazy?

Because things that work. That should not be tolerable, seemed to be okay because I was a woman. Whereas now with platforms like Women in Travel, those conversations are being had much more openly and we're able to normalize subjects that may have been taboo within the industry previously, and I think it's a fantastic opportunity.

To meet others and seek that relationship and network and essentially a safety network. I hope you've enjoyed reconnecting with these guests and learning more about the value and importance of I-W-T-T-F. I'll end our conversation with this recognition from Chantel Patter from Timba Travel, who I spoke with in episode 1 0 9.

 Uh, that's an easy one.

Um, I suppose Alessandra Alonso chairperson and CEO of women in CIC. Maybe for the fact that three years ago when I started with all excitement and then COVID hit, she was there drawing women in and creating a space for them to be sharing about their challenges and their struggles, and it really meant such a lot to me.

It was a safe space. We were all struggling. And, uh, the support that she has created in those circles were really, really powerful to me. And if I think about that first year to this third year, I still now have opportunities that she created for me, and I'm really forever grateful for that. And I still see us going places.

I've said to her, um, yeah, such a seasoned, intelligent, powerful, um. Stanley and Chantel, thank you so much for your recognition of Alessandra Alonso, founder of Women in Travel, CIC, and I-W-T-T-F. Thank you to all of you for listening to this episode. If you would love to join us this year in London for I-W-T-T-F, you can visit. I wttf.com to get your ticket for the forum and the I-W-T-T-F awards.

I look forward to seeing you there. I.