Special Bonus Episode: wmnsWORK Tourism Business Accelerator Cohort 6 Demo Day!

In this special episode of Soul of Travel, Season 6: Women's Wisdom + Mindful Travel, presented by @journeywoman_original, we are thrilled to share the inspiring wmnsWORK 2025 Cohort 6 Demo Day presentations.

wmnsWORK is an accelerator focused on women and non-binary early-stage entrepreneurs designed to help you get a leg up on your tourism business and rally a community while you build it. They do this through 3 main pillars: Education, Mentorship, and Community.

Through each company's 5-minute pitch, you'll get a glimpse of their passion and dedication as they unveil their unique ventures to fellow members of the tourism industry, and learn how YOU can support them. We encourage you to connect and collaborate with these fabulous wmn+!

Featuring:

WellGather | Marla Mae Ramos

Morocco with Hope | Amal Bachikh

Blue Lobster Travel | Caroline Quinn

Three Waves Retreats | Tanya Stojovic, Sam Mikhael, and Hailey Martin

Adventure Collective | Lindsay White

Amble Journeys | Tina Finan

Avventura Vida Travel | Maria Herrera

Lovely Little Adventures | Jodi Suckle

Join us for this special soulful presentation from the graduates of WmnsWork Cohort 6.

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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. 

Support the podcast on Buy Me a Coffee!

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Visit https://wmnswork.com/ to learn more about Tourism Business Accelerator!

Casey Hanisko’s Leading People Program is for leaders looking to deepen your leadership skills, strengthen your team, and create a thriving workplace. Learn more at caseyhanisko.com or contact hello@caseyhanisko.com to register.

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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. Follow us on Instagram: @journeywoman_original, @lotussojourns and

Transcript

Chris Chow: Welcome everybody. We are so excited to welcome you to cohort six and demo day, so get comfortable. We've got an exciting hour and a half ahead of you. We are so thrilled to be joined by the these graduates and all of our supporters and community here.

So thank you again for joining us today. And because we have a full jam packed day, I am just gonna start and kick it off. So officially welcome everyone to Cohort six Demo Day at Women's Work here. I am Chris Chow, and I am the program manager here, and I'm gonna be your host today. And I'm so thrilled to be joined alongside our incredible founder and CEO, Iris Ku, who you're gonna hear from shortly.

But we also have our program coordinator, Claire Burt here today, and Claire has been instrumental in behind the scenes bringing together today. So thank you so much, Claire. She's also going to be looking after the chat and posting some important links for you all throughout the event. So keep an eye on that.

Now, the reason why we're all gathered here today is it's all about celebration and inspiration. You're gonna hear from eight incredible graduates of the Women's Work Tourism Business Accelerator, and they've all been working really hard at shaping their businesses, refining their pitches, and we could not be prouder of them.

And you know, here at Women's Work, our mission is to strengthen the travel industry by empowering more women in leadership and ownership roles. You know, as someone who is a small business owner myself, I know how like firsthand, like it is vital to receive this kind of guidance, you know, mentorship and peer support.

And that's exactly what our program provides. And so over the next hour and a half, you're gonna meet founders representing a diverse mix of businesses. We have travel tech, we've got inbound and outbound tour operators, and we've also got advisors and more. And each of these graduates, they're gonna get only five minutes to share their vision and tell you exactly how you can support them.

So to all of you, our lovely audience, I encourage you to actively listen, you know, cheer them on in the chat and think about how we might be able to connect them or collaborate with them and champion their work. 'cause that's what it's all about. You know, this is not just a showcase, this is an opportunity for us all to invest in the future of travel and women-led businesses.

And you know, for any of you here who might be looking for new suppliers or partners, or maybe you're even thinking about joining us at women's work, this is the exact place to be. So with that, why don't we all dive in and get inspired? So first of all, let's take a look at our agenda today, what you're gonna expect.

We are going to have a short welcome by our, our founder, Iris, and a word from our sponsors. And then we have a special presentation today from Unto Foundation and greet her. This is all about values aligned funding and how that can impact early stage entrepreneurs, just like the ones you're about to see.

And then we have the main show. All of our graduates are gonna start pitching. We're gonna start with travel tech, followed by inbound tour operators and DMCs, and we've got outbound tour operators and then wrapping up with advisors and consultants. It's super exciting. I hope you are all jazzed. I am. I think it could be maybe just the a million coffees I had this morning.

But no, I am also just so excited to have all of you here to support these wonderful women-led businesses. I am so delighted to hand this over to our incredible founder, and for those who might not know her, here's a little bit of background on Iris Serbanescu.

She is the founder and CEO of women's work that launched in 2022. And Iris did this because she wanted to create a space where women and non-binary entrepreneurs, you know, had a space that was safe to grow their tourism businesses with the lens of self-compassion, sustainability, and inclusivity at its core.

So with more than a decade in the travel industry, Iris is also founded by Iris, which is a tourism representation agency, and it connects women owned and locally owned suppliers with the North American travel trade. We are so grateful for her leadership and vision. I'm gonna happily pass it over to you, Iris.

Iris Serbanescu: Thanks, Chris for that lovely introduction. Really appreciate it. And hello everybody, and welcome to my favorite day of the year cohort SE six Demo Day. I'm coming to you from Toronto, Ontario on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the credit, the Anishnabe, Chippewa Hut, Ani, and Wda Peoples.

As some of you already know, women's work is the tourism industry's first global accelerator program for women and non-binary entrepreneurs in the early stages of their business. Our 12 week program leaves participants with the industry knowledge, networks, and confidence to reach their version of success.

We launched in January of 2022, as Chris mentioned, and we're heading into our seventh cohort next year. I wanna share that women's work is solving a problem in our industry. The UN second report on women in tourism shares that tourism as a sector offers women considerable options for entrepreneurship that do not require heavy startup financing.

However, women's ent, tourism entrepreneurship is held back by a lack of access for various reasons, to key tools that help them grow a business. I personally launched women's work after a decade long career in the travel industry, noticing that many of the top level positions were filled by people that didn't necessarily have my lived experience or look like me.

And so I never really saw myself on a path to leadership. To reach my goals, I ended up turning to entrepreneurship to have an impact and to chart my own path. The reality is that many women turn to entrepreneurship due to unfavorable working environments, inequities, and glass ceilings. My hope, though, is that entrepreneurship is a joyful and freedom creating experience for women and all genders, and that's why we're all here today.

Our mission is to create a space where women and non-binary business owners are set up with the tools and self-belief to thrive in entrepreneurship and in turn end up creating a more equitable industry that better serves the needs of the market. Because I'm not sure if you've heard the stat, but 85% of purchase decisions for travel are made by women.

So when more women hold power and influence by being business owners, they can make decisions that match their lived experience and in turn match the needs of the biggest market for travel. But if you're a corporation who's listening to this, it's not just about entrepreneurship. Getting women into leadership is also not just the right thing to do.

It's a strategy for business survival. In the Journal of World Business research shows that increasing the share of women and top management by just 13% boosts to company's commitment to the UN sustainable development goals by seven times. In other words, having women in power drives climate action accelerates innovation and builds a future that ensures we all thrive.

And if you're a woman or non-binary entrepreneur listening to this, you're already changing the world just by being you. And now I'm happy to report that four years later we've had almost 70 entrepreneurs go through women's work since our inception from 23 different countries, and a handful of whom you're gonna hear from today.

Plus lots more in the chat that are here to support who are fellow alumni. Diversity and leadership and ownership is really important to me and and to a thriving industry. So I'm proud to report that 40% of our graduates identify as bipoc and 20% identify as LGBTQ plus. Throughout the last few years of being in business, we've had the honor of multiple nominations, including winning a Bessie Award in 2023, and most recently, we were honored to receive the Allyship Hero of the Year Award at I-W-T-T-F, the International Women in Travel and Tourism Forum 2025.

We're also a recipient of the Reset Tourism Fund, who you'll be hearing from in just a few minutes. We couldn't do all of this without our amazing sponsors, though these travel brands have shown their tangible commitment to a more equitable industry through sponsoring scholarships for women Plus who identify as bipoc, lgbtq plus plus, and or disabled to attend our cohorts at a fraction of the cost.

Many of our sponsors have renewed their support year after year and cohort after cohort because basically they know that when women are at the helm, good things happen and they wanna be a part of it. Thanks to them. We've been able to offer 33 scholarships to our participants since 2022. So I wanna give you all a chance to hear from each of the sponsors as they take the stage for one minute.

First up, we have our Equity Champion title sponsor for 2025, and that is Zas Shake, head of Brand, content and Community at Tour Radar. Tour Radar is a leading online marketplace for multi-day tours, and they also happen to be my former employer before I started women's work. So I'm so, so proud that they've come on board as a sponsor.

Um, and thanks for being here. I'm handing it over to you now. Azaz.

Aizaz Sheik: Hey Iris. Hey everyone. I'm honored to be here and be the equity champion sponsor for women's work. What a phenomenal, fantastic initiative. And yeah, we couldn't be prouder. So Iris, um, said, I. The fact that she's an alumni from TO Radar, um, how rare it is that we get to actually sponsor the work of someone who's now an alumni at to Radar.

But when you look at everything that's happening in this space, um, and this particularly through women's work, we couldn't be prouder to be equity champion sponsors. So, um, yeah, from our perspective, you can go on our website and you can check our latest press releases to see all of the cool things we are doing.

But for today, um, this is more about being intentional, about being very present here in regards to supporting women's work, women in the travel industry, as well as non-binary, the leadership, everything that we, we've discussed in the introduction, um, and hoping to make this a really inclusive space and a fantastic experience for you all.

Thank you. 

Iris Serbanescu: Thank you, Azaiz. Our equity champion sponsors are the largest contributors that allow us to have the biggest impact, so we're really, really grateful. Thanks for taking a minute. Next up, please welcome Caitlin over end marketing manager at Explore Worldwide North America. They are a scholarship sponsor, and Explore is a B Corp that offers small group active adventures in over 100 countries.

They are fantastic. I'm handing it over to Caitlin now. Thanks for joining. 

Caitlin Overend: , thanks Iris. Uh, and thanks to the whole women's work team for everything that you do. It is not Explorer's first demo day, but it is mine and I am very excited to be here today. Um, so like Ira said, if you don't know us, uh, explore is a tour operator and we specialize in small group adventure travel.

Uh, we do a hundred countries around the world. I won't list all of our itineraries, but we do walking, hiking, cycling, uh, and then we've got some more cultural, uh, food and wine, wildlife tours, all that kind of stuff. And all of our trips are led by local guides who really just live and breathe adventure, and they bring all of our tours to life.

Uh, we are very proudly B Corp certified, which means that we believe in the importance of empowering the communities that give us so much, both at home and abroad. Uh, and we believe that travel should celebrate diversity and open doors for new voices in our industry. And we're just really excited to be here today and hear from everybody.

Iris Serbanescu: Thanks for your support, Caitlyn, and thanks for being here. Now I will welcome up Lo Ann Halden, who's the VP of Communications at the I-G-L-T-A Foundation. The I-G-L-T-A Foundation is an association of tourism businesses that welcome the LGBTQ plus community. They provide free travel resources and information while continuously working to promote equality and safety within the community in tourism worldwide.

So I'll hand it over now to Lo Ann. If you'd like to come on stage, turn on your camera and unmute yourself and say a few words.

LoAnn Halden: . I am so proud, as is the I-G-L-T-A organization, the Association and Foundation Sides, to support women's work. We've, um, been a supporter for a couple of cohorts now and it's just been an incredible experience to be able to uplift women and LBT plus voices within this space.

As IRA said, we are a global association supporting safe and inclusive travel, and our philanthropic foundation really leans into research leadership and education. And so it's because of that alignment with women's work. You can see how much synergy there is here. We actually have a current program that we've launched with the two E Care Foundation that's similar in the sense that.

Um, the two e Future Shapers, L-G-B-T-Q-I-A Travel Innovators Program, uplifts queer entrepreneurs in emerging destinations. So while it's not women centric, it is a program that is very much aligned with what's happening here at Women's Work and through these collaborations, through all of these cohorts, this is how we support the most undervalued, underrepresented people in our industry and really make a difference in the world.

So, um, hats off to all of you. Have an amazing demo day. I can't wait to hear your pitches and thank you. Thank you, Iris, for always including this. We love being here. 

Iris Serbanescu: Thanks for being here, Luann, and doing all of this important work. It's really fantastic. Last but not least, please welcome our newest sponsor, Reva Beque, managing director of Rocket Place and SA Expeditions.

They are our knowledge sponsor for 2026, which means they are gonna help us pay our experts, pay our team, and just keep women's running as much as possible. Thank you. Uh, Reva Rocket Place is the global marketplace, empowering travel experts and suppliers to design and deliver custom travel at scale. And we're so excited to have you here to tell us a little bit more about this brand new business.

Riva Bacquet: Hi everyone, and thank you so much for having me. It's really such a privilege to be here. We are so excited to sponsor this initiative and to support a community that is uplifting early stage entrepreneurs. We share your vision of building businesses with purpose. So, uh, in case it can be of help to you, I wanna share a little bit about Rocket Place.

What is Rocket Place? It is a global marketplace for independent travel advisors. We call them destination experts, to design and sell custom high-end travel without starting from scratch. So the platform provides you with, uh, streamlined quoting and operational tools, a vetted network of world-class DMC partners, um, ready-made itinerary templates and, and their corresponding broken down transparent rates as well as a supportive peer community and, and much, much more really.

You have the option when you join our network. You can either go to market with your own travel brand or you can tap into the strength of the B Corp certified SA Expeditions brand. So giving you that kind of flexibility no matter where you are. So in short Rocket Place, it helps entrepreneurs go independent without having to go it alone.

And if you are interested in building your own travel brand and focusing on creating life-changing experiences for your clients Rocket Place, it was designed for you. So I actually wanna take a second to show you a quick video which demonstrates Rocket place in action. If you wanna just go to rocket place.com, you can actually see the video there.

Thank you so much. Glad to be here. Thanks so much, Reva.

Iris Serbanescu: Love the technical difficulties that we sometimes experience on live events. Thank you Reva, for jumping on board and we're so excited about Rocket Place. Being a sponsor, their product is actually incredible. actually incredible. So I will go ahead and share my screen again and we'll keep going. So thanks again to our amazing sponsors who really women's work would not be possible without.

We also have our Women's Work Scholarship Fund, which is a collaborative initiative for organizations that are passionate about supporting gender equity as part of the um. Uh, sustainability equation in the travel industry. So I've just put them all up here, check them out. They're awesome. We've got Flexpay Propell, journey Woman Mentor Law Group at Ken Jones, Butterfield and Robinson, and Future Travel.

They're all on our website. If you wanna take a look at their individual sites and learn a little bit more about them. So you've already met Chris, our program manager, extraordinaire and host for today. Chris has been an incredible leader curating our program and facilitating all our sessions, including group coaching.

Uh, she's gonna lead us through the pitches now, so I'm gonna hand it over to her to introduce our next speakers. Thank you so much, 

Chris Chow: Iris. We're actually excited to have a special twist on Demo Day this year. In addition to hearing from our graduates, we've invited two incredible organizations, the UN Tours Foundation, and greet her, and they're gonna share how values Aligned funding can help support and grow businesses like the ones you're gonna see today.

And as Iris mentioned, you know, this is especially meaningful because we were actually a proud recipient of the UN Tours Foundation Reset Tourism Fund this year. And this fund exists to support change making businesses that are tackling some of the world's greatest challenges, and they're providing affordable and flexible investment capital to help them grow.

So representing UN Tours today is Lisa Mitchell, the Director of Growth and Engagement. Welcome, Lisa.

Lisa Mitchell: Hi. Thank you for having me. I first wanna start off by saying that we are at the Contours Foundation. We are, we have tremendous respect for the work that Iris and her team are doing, and we are honored to be here. We're, we're excited for the day, uh, for demo day, and we're just really excited to be here.

 I'm here from, to talk a little bit about the Reset Tourism Fund, but I wanna begin, , by kind of just introducing you to the UN Tours Foundation and the work that we do. So I'm gonna give you a little bit of our origin story. So we started from a travel company called The un, called UN Tours. It was founded by a visionary, uh, entrepreneur named Hal Taek.

He believed that business could be, um, could, could be a force of good, and that it could change the world, that you have a choice in how you do business. Uh, it doesn't have to be extractive. It can, we can share profits with employees. It's not all about, you know. What you get, but, but what you can give back.

So, and he founded this company back probably before most of you were born in the seventies. So buzzwords like social enterprise, impact investing, social entrepreneurship are in the fabric of who we are. And we were doing the work long before it became, you know, a popular thing to do. He is, uh, the UN Tours travel company is the inspiration for B Corp movement, and we are the world's first B Corp.

Um, so we're like proud of that and excited about that. And, um, we, we always love to share that. So what Hal decided to do was take all the profits from the Unto Travel company and invest them into a foundation. And part of the foundation would be a revolving loan fan fund. Which is not a handout, but a hand up.

Right? Teach a person to fish and they'll eat the rest of their lives type thought. Um, to date, let me go here. So this is, this is our origin story. Um, so we pour all of the profits from our travel company into the foundation to support entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs. To date, we've invested over $11 million directly into world changing businesses.

A hundred percent of our endowment is reinvested. Uh, we make no compromise on who we're investing with. We've made 400, over 400 actual loan investments, uh, or loans to entrepreneurs building stronger communities. Our leadership is also focused on mission aligned investing, and we are advocates, uh, for that and have inspired over 50 foundations.

To shift their assets into mission aligned investments very similarly to what we're doing, as opposed to putting their money in the stock market. We say, Hey, give, uh, entrepreneurs a shot. You know, and the results are out there. The, the data is out there. It's not, uh, concessionary investing. These businesses pay off the same way you would in many other, uh, traditional investments.

So this is not charity. Uh, this is catalytic investing that gives entrepreneurs, uh, an opportunity to thrive. So from that, we decided to start the, oops, too quick. We decided to start, um, the reset tourism fund, right? We're deep into travel and what we can see is there is a need, um, to. Reset, right? Tourism is one of the largest industries on earth, but it definitely needs to evolve and become more inclusive.

It needs to become better for the planet. Um, so what we do is we focus on businesses. Uh, we invest in businesses that are mission aligned, right? In terms of, what we believe and they're create, which is when what we believe is very aligned with, uh, the UN's s Stg, SDG chart, right? So these businesses are shaping a more sustainable and inclusive, uh, future for travel.

So we support tourism models that empower communities. Uh, it's about equity. It's about protecting the environment and reimagining how we travel through the world. And, and that is basically the why, right? That's why we do what we do. We believe that through business we can reshape the travel industry, we can build stronger communities, and we can make the world a little bit better.

So the question is, how do we do it? So our capital is catalytic, it's affordable, and it's flexible whether, um, through debt or equity, we help founders, uh, unlock growth and scale impact. So we have some, we are fortunate to partner with two E carers, Expedia, um. Leaders that advance inclusive travel. So these partnerships allow us to amplify impact.

Uh, we connect our capital with corporate allies who believe in reshaping tourism, and we are funding businesses that are making a difference. We're also a 1% for the planet, uh, environmental partner, which reinforces our commitment to regeneration.

And this is, people often ask us, when you're looking for an entrepreneur to support, what, what are you looking for? And I always explain to people, we're not Shark Tank. We're not saying, we're not looking for who has the best revenue. Who has, you know, uh, the best bottom line, we're looking for entrepreneurs that have strong entrepreneurial vision, right?

Like Iris, like founders who bring passion, a lived experience, and a commitment to building inclusive, resilient tourism businesses. I think that's our number one, because we see businesses and we fund businesses at all stages of growth. So we have people who are just getting started, people who've been going for a while, and we also have some more mature businesses who maybe need a gap loan or something like that.

So we're not bottom line. While it's important obviously, right, we wanna get our loan payback, it's not our number one. So you also need to have alignment with inclusive travel. We're looking for businesses that make tourism safe, uh, more accessible. Uh, more equitable. For women bipoc, LGBTQ plus and other underserved travelers, you need to have positive social and environmental impact.

So we're looking for models that support local communities, empower underrepresented groups, uh, and advance sustainability and environmental regeneration. We are also looking for scalable business potential. So while yes, there are some great businesses, um, that we think are deserving, if you can't grow, then you probably won't be able to pay the loan back, and that makes it tough.

So we're looking for some, a business that's scalable that can amplify impact over time. And a clear market demand. So evidence of customers, partnerships or traction that shows a real need for your product or service. So nowhere in there did we say must have a huge, strong bottom line for us to look at you.

This is what we value first, because we believe that if these things are here, then we're naturally going to get, um, a return. And it doesn't have to be an immediate, immediate return. Some of our capital is very patient, but this is the type of, uh, founder, uh, that we're looking for. And here's our investee spotlight.

Um, I'm, you heard, uh, Iris speak earlier and this is exactly why we loved women's work. Um, it's. Promoting leadership. You know, we need to see people. All people need to be represented at the table. And if you're not represented at the leadership table, very often your interest, the things that you're passionate about, will never come to the top right.

They might not make it on onto the list. So that's why we were super excited about this business. Um, and down here it says we invested in women's work because it addresses one of tourism's biggest gaps. Women and non-binary individuals make up the majority of the workforce, yet remain underrepresented in leadership and ownership.

Um, so we were really excited to partner here. We felt that it was filling a gap and we thought this business is gonna make a difference in the world. So that's why we were excited to, uh, invest in women's work. 

Chris Chow: I love it. Thank you so much, Lisa. This has been incredible to learn about the fund, especially to understand that you serve, um, you know, you give out funds for different stages of entrepreneurs, not just the early, kind of all over the range.

So again, if you are interested, please definitely check out, um, on Tours Foundation. They are doing some wonderful work and we really appreciate your time, Lisa. Thank you. And what we thought would be really great is to hear from a recipient other than us, um, that is also had felt the impact of the reset tourism, uh, fund.

And so I'd like to welcome Vanessa Carell. She's the CEO of greet, her. And they're pioneering. It's a pioneering platform that really connects female travelers with local, uh, female guides so that you have a safe and inclusive and empowering travel experience, which is incredible. So I'm gonna pass it off to Vanessa to talk about her experience and as well how the reset tourism fund has had an impact.

Thank you, Vanessa.

Vanessa Karel: Thank you for the introduction. Really excited to be here today and I love the work that you all are doing here in Iris. Uh, what a vision. I mean, this is so needed and I wish it had existed when I began career for sure. That would've been really helpful and I would've have avoided to have to learn everything on my, on my own and find a community, you know, by myself.

 And Lisa, it's really nice to meet you. I heard great things about you. Really excited to hear that you have joined on Tours Foundation. As um, Chris and Iris mentioned, um, I'm the founder of Greet Her and my name is Vanessa. I'm really excited to present you what I have built. It's really unfortunate 'cause a lot of women want to travel, but they don't feel confident, they feel scared, um, they feel like they will get lost or they have a lot of anxiety. So I created a product that helps alleviate some of that stress.

Um, through my experiences in trouble, I realized that a lot of the times when I was traveling on my own, what I really wanted was to collect, connect with someone local who could give me the best guidance. It could help me feel confident that I wasn't alone in that place. So Greet her is a platform that connects female travelers to local female greeters around the world who you can book to get navigated in a really personalized and authentic way.

Everything is really tailored to travelers' needs. So we understand that, you know, if we as women, we, and we have different, you know, interests and we want to do com completely different things. So every traveler is able to tell their creator what they're interested in seeing in that destination. Select the meetup spot, which is really helpful because sometimes when you land to a new destination that you've never been to, the first part of traveling is like, how do I figure out where I'm going when I arrive?

Or like, will I be able to communicate, um, or will I know how to move through public transportation? So our greeters are matched. Our travelers before their meetups, before their trip begins, which is super helpful because you get access to someone in the place that you're traveling to, to ask them all the questions and tips, um, and recommendations that you want before you even arrive.

But when you land, you have someone there ready to welcome you and show you around for the time you booked her. Um, and our travelers are loving it. We have had Travelers book our services in over a hundred cities and almost 60 countries, and our community has grown a lot and it has all been organic growth.

It is really exciting to see that women are thrilled to use Greet her because of how it also supports women. Um, our business model generates income opportunities for women and, um, through sustainable tourism. So we are a for progress company. As mentioned before, one of our missions, um, is to really be aligned with the SDGs.

Um, and that's where On Tours has found, um, commonalities with us. Every time a book a Traveler is booking our services, it's generating. Revenue and, and income for women around the world. So it's really exciting and in fact we have received a lot of recognition for this. We have been named as one of the most innovative female empowerment company by the UN world travel tourism.

Um, we have won multiple awards globally, including, um, winning the travel startup of the year last year in world travel market. And we have also been selected by Expedia to be accelerated. And have received press globally, 

 But, um, I couldn't do this alone.

And of course I have an incredible team that, um, has joined me on the journey. But as you know, the topic calls, um, our investors have been fundamental and we are lucky to have investors on our. Um, cap table that really see the value of what we are doing and have found other ways to support us other than just writing a check for us and on Tourist Foundation has been really a great, um, early supporter for us that has helped us, um, you know, through even shout outs at events or connecting us with potential partners.

Um, actually in fact, we have had some of On Tours Foundation members, you greet her. Uh, in fact, Jonathan is the first man to ever try greet her. We only allowed him because he's one of our investors and we were like, let's try it. Um, but we've also had Sarah join us for a few greet her experiences. And URS Foundation has gone above and beyond to find ways to support us outside of the investment.

In fact, they have also, um, helped us create content with video hiring people in other parts of the world to, uh, film our experiences and help us with content. Um, they're often elevating us at events that they're speaking at, even at events I'm not attending. So it is really exciting to find the investor who is gonna be your cheerleader.

I think when you are beginning your business is really important that you find people who get it. You know, people who really understand what you're building, don't wanna change your vision so quickly, but really want to see you flourish. Right? And I think, um, the first investors you get in your business are, you know, your.

Your, uh, early supporters, but also your cheerleaders because they know that your business may evolve and change as you grow, but they will be with you, you know, to find how to, uh, pivot and like how to elevate, you know, your next chapter. Um, so really happy to answer any question any of you have on my journey.

Uh, we are currently raising a seed round, so I am back on talking to investors and it's always re really, um, intimidating to do that, especially if you've never done it before. So if any of you are considering, um, raising funds from VC funds or angel investors, please connect with me. Happy to be a resource.

And if any of you have questions, please, I'm here for you. 

Chris Chow: That is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your platform with us, and it's so incredible to see that this is the message we all want to get out here today, right? You know, when we give businesses access to the right support, whether that's through capital mentorship or community, the potential to create something meaningful, you know, that impact grows exponentially.

And that's what we're all here about today. So, uh, before we dive into our pitches, I just wanna give a quick shout out to our incredible cohort six graduates. We had 10 phenomenal entrepreneurs, and out of those 10, seven are presenting today. And we also are thrilled to have a bonus pitch from a Cohort five graduate.

And we also couldn't do this without the help of our industry experts, as well as our mentors. You know, these leaders are people who are sharing their knowledge, their tools, their experience, which is so valuable to our graduates. So thank you all for showing up with heart and helping the next generation of leaders in tourism.

Alright, so let's dive in and hear directly from our graduates. We're gonna kick things off by giving a warm welcome to Marla Mae Ramos of Well Gather. So you know, Marla, join us on the virtual stage and I'll hand that off to you. 

Marla Mae Ramos: Good morning everyone. Great. Let me start by asking you this question. Are you physically inactive?

Well, I hate to tell you, but research says that you have 147 increased risk. It's 147% increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease if you're living as an entire lifestyle. On the next slide, you'll see that there is an emergency because it's a silent killer that takes 3.2 million deaths globally and every, every single year.

It's even more than aids, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. But there's good news on the next slide. Slide. According to WHO, 80% of chronic diseases can actually be prevented with just regular healthy habits. And guess what's the most effective way to learn a new habit? Traveling. The wellness tourism industry understands this as a potential, and that is the reason why it's a booming 1 trillion industry in its global market size.

The Philippines alone, it ranks eight out of other 45 Asia Pacific countries in total market size, and we're 23rd out of 218 countries globally with forecast projections that will continuously grow in the coming years. We know that tourism is one of the forefront of this wellness initiative, but there is a problem.

On the next slide, you'll see that there's a missing link in the industry. All wellness providers and wellness consumers are facing the same challenge. They don't know where to find each other. How is that even possible? Possible, given that we are living in an era of social communication, the consumer has no simple way to find varieties of wellness activities near them.

While we have providers, um, but they still have difficulty in selling their activity slots, and it's hard for the consumers to find them. So how do we make a wellness habit more fun? Address this challenge and make it more accessible to people. That's the reason why we built Well Gather. So it'll be easy for you to find the best wellness activities wherever you are.

We are a wellness social media platform, an ecosystem that allows you to find book and share wellness experiences. Um, with Well Gather, you can now organize a wellness date with your preferred wellness provider as on a party with your girlfriends maybe, or a tennis group match with your team and the bonuses.

You can share this to all of your friends in one single platform. Your wellness, creativity is the limit in the future. We will also create systems to be integrated with the big platforms in the tourism industry to ensure that wellness gather is the first choice of mind. Um, we are not making it limited to your local gym, yoga and PAL lab studios.

On the next slide, you'll see that wellness is more than a typical massage because wellness, we have our mental, emotional, physical and mental state of mind that can be nurtured through trips, cultural immersions, healing practices of the indigenous communities and other healing modalities. You don't even have to go too far with well gathered.

You can find upcoming wellness activities by date, by category within your area. We are on the mission to make wellness experiences accessible and a part of the daily lives of the people. If we can go to the next slide, as a wellness tourism specialist with my team of an experienced developer and a lovely managing partner, we at Well Gather is raising the Filipino brand of wellness.

We've connected with the Department of Tourism and Wellness Tourism Association of the Philippines, and we've given launch presentations in the recent wellness conferences and seminars, and we've received a big number of impact and enthusiasm. So we're planning to do, um, wellness caravans for our soft, soft launching, and that will be on September.

So our goal is also to provide, all of those activities, but we need your help on this movement with, um, well gather. We can create collaborations that can help us, um, amplify this movement, start creating an account. Encourage your favorite wellness practitioners to list their wellness activities on the app, and we would like your support in any way possible.

So by joining this community, you take part in a bigger movement. On the next slide, you'll see the SDG goals that we are targeting. It's free to create an account with, well gather, um, on, in the very last slide. Yep. We hope to, um, we hope for you to become our wellness ambassador. And as a gift for you, please sign up and you'll be one of our 51st founding memberships and you'll get our first month subscription for free.

Thank you so much.

Chris Chow: Thank you so much Marla. Um, and sorry about that little Oscar sound there. Um, I know that's just our timer saying it's time up, but you did wonderful and like also you give an extra hand for Marla. She's coming in from the Philippines and it's like almost midnight there. So that was fantastic. We really appreciate you joining us.

Thank you again and be sure everybody to check out, well gather and put your thinking caps on as to how you might support this wonderful new business launch. So next up, we are excited to hear from Morocco with Hope and here to share their vision is the amazing Amal Baic. Amal. I'm gonna pass it over to you.

Welcome. 

Amal Bachikh: Hey everyone. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Amal. I'm from Morocco, and I'm very happy to be here with you. So in this session we'll explore a little bit about Morocco as destination and our company Morocco with Hope. So in the next slide we'll see. We'll learn a little bit about Morocco with Hope as a dis as a company.

Morocco with Hope is a destination management company specialized in immersive culture and wellness travel. With every journey we designed, it's around sustainability and community. Our main focus here is on create experience that's go deeper where traveler return, not only with souvenirs, pictures or memories.

It goes always by connection and true sense of Morocco. This is something we don't see it too much. A lot of, most of the time we see people, they're just like tourists going to nice places, nice restaurants, but they don't go deeper and get to interact with locals. This is our main goal from, uh, creating Morocco with Hope.

Here in the next slide, I'll be presenting myself ml, the founder of Morocco with Hope. I was born and raised in Marrakesh. It's one of the biggest touristic city here in Morocco, and I was passionate about travel, uh, travel and culture exchange in a very early age. And also with the background in business management, I have created Morocco with hope to share my culture through sustainable journey.

In the next slide, we'll learn about Morocco as a destination. We know a lot of countries all over the world are a nice destination to where to go, but Morocco is a land of everything. We can farm, mountains, deserts, ocean vibrancy, but beyond all this landscape, it's a place of forms, slowly telling and deep tradition.

When you can come here, you will learn about our Moroccan culture foods and also our heritage. On the next slide, we'll learn about the mission and division of Morocco with Hope. Our mission is to provide meaningful and authentic travel experience that go beyond traditional tourism, but it's goes specially to create true connection.

When we come to Morocco, it's not a place but people that we've been with. Also, our mission is to promote sustainable travel preserve Morocco's tradition for our future generation. And the most important things is support women businesses, so that's community can grow and thrive. On the next slide, we'll learn a little bit about our services.

We offer a range of services from private tours, women journey students, program and wellness and retreat, et cetera, et cetera. But our main goal is like to first of all have a hundred person safe, one, uh, women's only tours and the students program, like, uh, like that we can teach the students and also we can encourage the womens that they can travel themselves for us.

In the next slide, we'll see what is the impact of travel. For us, the impact is more than in numbers travel. It's not only about seeing the place, as I say, or eating food or like nice pictures and memory, but for us it's leaving something behind, something that's worked for everyone and for yourself too.

In the next slide, we will see why we need, like, what we need, the support and what to why to partner with us, partner with us. It's because together we can scale and impact. Morocco with Hope is built a hundred percent on local resource guide Artisans community. We don't just design a trip, we create a real connection routed in Morocco culture and people, uh, being based here in Morocco, we take care of everything.

But our main goal and our first priority is safety. And also how you can support us is by like, uh, many simple but powerful way. For example, send us a reference partner with us sharing our story. Uh, within your network here, you're gonna see a very short video and that's, uh, you can imagine how Morocco Hope work.

And also you can see from Morocco.

Speaker 13: Based in Marrakesh, creating a meaningful journey all across Morocco. As Morocco with hope. It's never just a trip, it's a journey towards something you've been hoping for. Whether it's a connection, healing, adventure, or just a simply moment to breathe, we are here to hold that space for you. My name is Amal.

That means hope. And this is exactly what I promised for you to bring to every experience we create. We are specialized in educational travel, student program, women's journey, and wellness and retreat program. All these experience are designed to be immersive IC culture. Don't hesitate to contact us and to contact us.

Thank you. 

Amal Bachikh: Thank you so much everyone. So here on the last slide, I'm gonna Saya, this means goodbye. This is in our, the original language. Thank you everyone.

Chris Chow: Love it. Thank you so much. What a fantastic pitch. Amal and all these photos are just, you know, inspiring us all to get away and visit you. So, you know, there's been lots of love dropped in that chat and let's again, just keep thinking about how we might be able to support this business.

All right, so next up, we have our third presenter today, which is Caroline Quinn. She's the co-founder of Blue Lobster Travel Co. And, uh, please welcome her like as we all are and cheering her on for her business. Thanks. 

Caroline Quinn: Thank you so much, Chris. Um, and thank you to women's work and all of the partners and attendees who are here today supporting us.

And welcome to Blue Lobster Travel Company.

Last year New England welcomed. 109 million visitors, yet most settled for fragmented off the shelf trips. The market for authentic full service experiences is underserved. As travel preferences shift toward curated seamless journeys, that gap is exactly the opportunity we're here to fill. I'm Caroline Quinn, a travel expert with more than a decade of experience designing luxury global itineraries.

Together with my co-founder Andy McLaughlin, we launched Blue Lobster Travel to bring the same exclusivity to storytelling and insider access home to New England. This region has world-class charm history and culture, but until now, it hasn't been packaged for the luxury traveler. From our base in Boston, we founded Blue Lobster Travel, the first destination management company dedicated to creating authentic, meaningful New England experiences.

 What makes us different At Blue Lobster Travel, we are looking to redefine luxury. It's not just about five star hotels, it's about creating authentic, meaningful connections. We're looking to create opportunities to meet real New Englanders from artisans to Lobstermen and hear their stories.

We're both from New England, based in New England, and have local insight and personal connection to the region. We're passionate about supporting local businesses and building community in our own backyard. And finally, we are the only DMC in the US focused exclusively on travel within New England. 

Um, I wanna talk a bit about the product and services we're we'll be offering at Blue Lobster Travel and how we can work together. We'll be partnering with tour operators and travel agents to be their go-to New England DMC. We will work one-on-one with our partners and agents to learn about their clients and gather info.

To design a unique trip, we're looking to create customized itineraries, all inclusive of hotels, authentic private experiences, and transportation. We'll be offering pre-departure assistance from the time of booking, and we'll be managing the details from restaurant reservations to logistics. So every trip begins effortlessly.

And finally, we'll be offering on the ground personalized concierge service. We'll offer on-call support for special requests, last minute changes and emergencies during the trip. Our road to launch this slide looks a little bit different for us because we are still in the process of launching Blue Lobster Travel.

Um, I wanted to take a moment where to share where we are on the road to launch. We have taken Blue Lobster travel from an idea to an entity. We have done comprehensive competitor analysis and market research. We're fully incorporated and ready to accept bookings as soon as tomorrow. We have conducted countless research trips across the region.

We sourced unique product offerings and discovered gaps in opportunities for high-touch travel. We've established partnerships throughout the region, including hotels, transportation companies, guides, and excursions and chefs. And we'll be ready to launch on January 1st,

how you can help us grow. Our ask today is looking for connections to the following people. First, we are looking to connect with TR Top Luxury Travel Advisors. They're on the front line with clients seeking authentic curated travel. We're looking to build connections with leading advisors who drive high-end client business.

We're also looking to collaborate with product managers at tour operators specializing in private travel. We want them to add New England to their portfolios and be their go-to DMC in the region. We're also looking to connect with influential leaders in the industry, from consortium directors to thought leaders.

We're seeking champions who can help our position, who can help us position New England as a must do luxury destination. And finally, partner relationships. We are looking to grow our network of local providers. Our strength lies in authentic partnerships. By expanding our network, we can deliver truly one of a kind experiences for clients.

So if you know anyone in the above four categories, we would love to be connected with them. What's next for Blue Lobster Travel? We are planning to launch, um, as mentioned in January, 2026. We will be open for business at that point. We are be, we will be ready to take inquiries and start building itineraries with our B2B partners.

We'll be sharing sneak peeks of sample itineraries, destination highlights and storytelling content on our website. We'll be also adding a detailed inquiry form so we can capture travel preferences. Um, on the marketing side, we'll be launching social media campaigns that highlight insider experiences and our unique service offerings.

We'll engage with influencers, press and travel networks to raise awareness and target both our B2B partners and high value travelers.

Blue Lobster Travel is here to define luxury travel in New England and become the go-to DMC for partners seeking the exceptional. If you have any follow-up questions or looking to connect with us directly, you can reach us at the emails on the slide. I wanna thank you so much all again for your time and support and this has been an incredible journey with women's work.

Chris Chow: Thank you so much Caroline. We are so excited for your launch. That's very exciting. Um, and I just wanna take a moment here to acknowledge all of how inspiring all of these pitches have been so far. I'm feeling so energized from it all. I hope you all are as well. I can see the chat lighting up, so that is great.

So we're gonna move on to our next section of businesses, outbound tour operators, and we're gonna turn this over to Three Waves. Retreat and representing the company are all three of the co-founders. We've got Tanya Kovich, uh, Samantha Mikel and Haley Martin here today. Over to you 

Tanya Stojovic: ladies. Awesome. Thank you so much.

Hi everyone, and thank you so much for being here. We're very excited to talk to you about Three Waves Retreats, so starting with who we are on the next slide. We're Tanya, Sam, and Haley, and we started off as colleagues and quickly turned into best friends. After meeting in the fast-paced world of FinTech in Toronto and after having worked together and traveling together, we founded Three Waves Retreats in 2024, where we host all-inclusive international retreats, blending, adventure, wellness, and culture.

 Our all-inclusive international group trips primarily focus on surfing, hiking, and yoga, but also include many more activities. Our trips are designed for relaxation, adventure, meeting like-minded people and discovering unique destinations around the world. Last year, we hosted our first retreat in Guatemala, starting in the beautiful surf town of El Patan, then exploring the historic city of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

And we ended the trip with watching one of Guatemala's renowned volcanoes erupt. And yes, we took the volcano pictures, our mission at three ways. Retreats is all about fun and meaningful growth. We may travel effortless and adventure packed, helping even first time explorers get active, dive into new cultures, and build unforgettable memories with the like-minded community. We attract 25 to 30 5-year-old travelers who are curious, adventurous, and open-minded. They value unique experiences and affordable luxury, and they crave a mix of movement, relaxation, and exploration. And they see travel as a way to connect and grow. So me, Alex, she's 27. She's a remote product designer in Toronto with a flexible schedule and a solid income.

She likes to spend on experiences over things. She likes to stay active with yoga and hiking and loves being outdoors, and she loves challenging herself to step out outside of her comfort zone. Culturally curious. She enjoys exploring new places and learning about other parts of the world, and she loves sharing her travels on social media.

Alex typically books boutique accommodations and extends her trips with work from anywhere days, and she enjoys trips that balance activity with downtime. So she'll do a surf lesson in the morning and relax and read in a hammock in the afternoon. She plans enough to feel prepared, but she leaves room for spontaneity and loves meeting like-minded people and, um, whether she's solo or traveling with friends.

 It over to Sam. 

Sam Mikhael: Hi everyone. Nice to meet you. Um, pushing yourself to try new things, getting out of your comfort zone and being surrounded by people who inspire you. That's what our retreats are all about. They're chance to break out of the routine, shake off the every day and dive into something fresh.

So you feel, so you leave feeling energized and alive. Why us? Well, we lead these trips because we've been there ourselves. We know what it's like to crave that adventure and connection, and we've learned what makes a trip truly memorable. The balance, the details, and those little moments that stick with you.

And that's exactly the experience that we're trying to create. Our retreats are about bringing community, um, bringing people together who want more than just a getaway. They're about balance, mixing, adventure, movement, and downtime in a way that feels right. We curate stunning luxury accommodations at competitive prices so you can enjoy comfort while still keeping it affordable. So, what makes our retreat really unique and stands out, comes down to the three pillars that I previously mentioned. So, adventure movement and relaxation. Adventure to encourage our guests to explore new places, try new things, and potentially climb an active volcano or two movement to keep us active, energized, um, from yoga to surfing to volleyball on the beach, and so much more and relaxation to ensure our guests still get the chance to unwind and recharge from their busy schedules.

Um, this is different from what we've seen in the past. A lot of our competitors will stick to one or two activities, so mainly focusing on the surf side or the yoga side, or maybe a little bit mix of both, but they also usually just stay in one spot. So we like to mix it up, like I said, always ensuring that there's something adventurous, lots of movement, and as well as that much needed relaxation time.

Um, all across different locations as well. So every day is fresh, exciting, and rejuvenating. Um, I'll now pass it on to Haley. 

Hailey Martin: Hi everyone. I'm Haley from Three Waves Retreats. Um, to go over some of our, uh, stats here, in our first year, we sold out our 26 person retreat without any marketing spend generating nearly 50,000 in revenue and turning a profit.

Here's a look at the progress we've built so far. In our second year, we've grown our community organically to over a thousand followers on Instagram, um, spending less than 1% on marketing, and we estimate to double on revenue by the end of 2025. Our retreat received amazing feedback. Our attendees rated us 9.5 outta 10, and a hundred percent said they attend another retreat.

Even more importantly, a hundred percent of them would recommend three waves to a friend. These results show not only strong demand, but also deep trust and satisfaction in our community. Here are some of our testimonials from our happy customers, showcasing the strong community that we've built.

With the successful sold out retreat and strong customer satisfaction, we're seeking support to scale, brand awareness and customer acquisition. To consistently sell out future retreats. Here's some ways that you can be part of it. We're looking for help promoting our re retreats to people you think would be a good fit.

Media features, partnerships with travel advisors in exchange for commission, collaborations with companies or influencers and grants we can put towards marketing. 

Sam Mikhael: All right, quickly. I know we're a little bit out of time, but just wanna go over our upcoming retreats. So we're going back to Guatemala in November.

Um, our first one, we're keeping it as it was before, which is. For the girls and then we are opening it up to everybody. Um, the following week, which we are super excited about. We are also planning a few more retreats, um, in 2026. The first one being a Morocco, which we are still figuring out the details and yet to announce, but stay tuned for more details.

Hailey Martin: Thank you. Um, let's create something amazing together. We would love to get in touch. You can reach out to us on Instagram or visit our website for more information or email us at Three Waves retreats@gmail.com to connect and learn more. 

Chris Chow: Thank you so much. I love the momentum that you've had. It is truly inspiring.

So let's give it up for three ways. Retreat and remember, um, we will send out contact information after this, so don't worry. All right, up next, I am thrilled to introduce Lindsey White of Adventure Collective. Lindsay is going to be, um, uh, presenting about her company that is building an ecosystem for women, uh, to travel and build lifelong connections, which we are all about.

So, over to you, 

Lindsay White: Lindsay. Thank you so much, Chris. Uh, so as Chris said, I am the founder of Adventure Collective, a boutique tour operator, and we're leading a movement for women in their forties, fifties, and sixties who are ready to say yes to themselves, to connection and to adventure. Next slide. Before I graduated high school, I'd already been in seven different schools.

Some transitions were smooth, others lonely. At one school, I remember eating lunch in the stairwell to hide the fact that I didn't have any friends. And moments like that taught me how powerful it is to feel like you belong. Next slide. In college, I found travel a summer at the Grand Canyon. Blew my world open, and that led to a 20 year career where I saw how travel brings people together in a way that the world desperately needs.

Next slide. I created Adventure Collective to be more than a trip. It's an intentional space where women truly connect with each other, with locals and with themselves. Next slide. We just launched our first trip to Greece and we're putting the final touches on Morocco. Now, these are not simply eight, nine, or 10 day trips, but a year of connection, community, and transformation.

So here's what that looks like. The adventure begins before the plane ever takes off. Next, we host three trip talks on expectations. Language and culture and traveler introductions so that you already feel part of the group before you arrive. Before the trip, travelers are mailed their collective compass.

This is a guided journal for reflection and intention. Next, every trip is designed to spark deep relationships with only a handful offered each year. Next, they're founder-led, that would be me. Next, they're all hand curated with women-led DMCs women guides, and where possible women-owned hotels with just eight to 12 women.

Each group fosters deeper connection so no one gets lost in the destination or the community. And when the trip ends, the journey continues through one six and 12 month collective connection calls. We're also launching an annual US-based collective reunion for all past travelers because the journey, it should go beyond the destination. About Adventure Collective is intentional and so is the path that led me here. I've designed cultural trips for Smithsonian Journeys, built the sales team at National Geographic Expeditions and guided travelers across 23 countries on five continents. These experiences gave me the toolkit to create something deeply personal.

 At its core, adventure Collective is about connection and travel is a thread that ties us back to each other. Next, my ask is Simple Help Adventure Collective grow. That can mean an introduction to a brand partner like Athleta, REI, women's co-op or Cov Club, or referral to a travel advisor or agency, or better yet, joining us on our upcoming trips to Greece or Morocco.

 After all, every step carries this movement forward, opening doors for women everywhere to belong, explore, and transform. Thank you. 

Chris Chow: Thank you so much, Lindsay. What a fantastic presentation. So much thought and care in that. And just a reminder for you all, um, if you have a question for any of our presenters, drop it in the q and a box and we'll make sure to get that over to them.

All right, and now we have our bonus pitch. Joining us from cohort five is Tina Fean and she's the founder of Amble Journeys. Tina, welcome to this demo day.

Tina Finan: . Hi everyone. Um, yeah, I'm the Tina Fina and the founder of Amble Journeys. We are a gastronomy focused tour operator. , we are considered luxury, but I like to think that we are challenging what luxury really is. Uh, yes, we definitely stay in sort of very nice boutiquey hotels, but for me, luxury is really about the experience and the connections that we're making.

Um, when I think about connections. That can be the people that we are, um, traveling with who, you know, have a very similar interest in the gastronomy space. But actually what I like to think is the people that we connect with that help us to create these experiences, um, we like to call them our local legends.

They are. Very, very immersed in the gastronomy space. They are everything from sommeliers to cheese masters. Um, I spent a week in Mexico City this week with a chef. Um, and these people just really open up doors, uh, that are just not, uh, readily available. These are people that generally don't do tourism type activities.

Um, and in fact, yesterday I was just in Mexico City, uh, speaking with somebody that we wanna do something with, and literally we just spent half an hour talking about creating something together that really focuses on this connection, connection that people are really craving right now. Um, while doing it in a sort of very deliberate way around food and, you know, wine, in this case, everything we're kind of doing in Mexico at the moment is very focused on mezcal.

 Uh, so we do everything from scheduled departure dates, um, private tours, so a group of friends. It could be corporate, um, and then private signature experiences. So we often get requests for people who might be traveling to Spain, you know, they're not necessarily interested in doing an entire week focused around gastronomy.

And so we will create what we call our signature experiences so they can sort of get a flavor of some of the, um, amble experiences that we, that we create. So these are some of our local legends. Um, and I thought just worth highlighting, uh, some of the people that we work with.

So the first three individuals, they work with me in Spain, they're all sommeliers, but they all bring something very different to the table. Uh, Emma's very focused on, uh, women and wine and um, Gemma actually has a food company, so she opens up doors, like I was saying earlier too. Could be an olive oil producer who they don't ever really welcome people to come, um, onto their property and to experience their product.

So she opens up those doors for us. And Tano, who's a master in cheese, um, what's so great about him actually is because he is so focused on cheese, he's got naturally that real understanding of wine and he just works with really small scale producers. Um, and some of my favorite experiences are actually with him. Um, so I thought I'd just give three really quick examples of some of the experiences we do. This is actually, uh, an event we do on the final night of our, um, Catalonia tour. Uh, the winemaker opens up, uh, her home to us. We have dinner in her dining room. If it's very nice, we get to have a very beautiful dinner on the estate.

Um, and we get to pair it with the wines and the sommelier obviously add a lot to it, um, in terms of their understanding and how it all works with the food. Um, so it's a really beautiful experience. Yeah, so this is a private cooking class in Italy. Um, this is a great example of where they don't really do a lot of touristy stuff.

It's two Nanas who have this great space overlooking the beautiful town of Orvieto. It's just a stunning location. You just drink wine and make Pesa and then get this really beautiful meal at the end of it, and they don't speak English and Tano has to translate everything for us, and it's just a very, very authentic, uh, chance to taste, um, homemade, um, Italian cuisine.

If we go to the next one, um, this is another one put on by Tano, their third generation cheese master, and he's a butcher. And the level of detail these people put into their products is. Just insane from how they literally test the animals to determine the quality of the, the, the meat that they're gonna eventually cure is, um, it's, this is actually probably in my top five experiences that Amels ever put on.

Um, it's a really stunning event. Um, the next one, 'cause I realize I'm over. Um, so this just a quick, uh, slide of our destination. So, Umbria, Italy, Catalonia, best Country America and Spain. Uh, burgundy in France, Oaxaca, and Mexico City, which is why I'm here. And then, um, Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka in Japan. These are just a couple customer reviews, which I just thought were really worth highlighting that the, a lot of the feedback we get is not just the level of detail that we go into with our tours, but it's actually the individuals that are guiding the people for the week who are so immersed in the f food industry that make, um, our tours something very different than what's out there today.

Um, yep. And then just our ask, um, we do a lot of work with travel agencies, um, and so any, any sort of new partnerships there that we could work with, um, Chris referrals for private group tours that we could create. Um, marketing in particular looking for like travel writers or any media opportunities partnering with travel agencies.

We're doing, um, a little bit of that at the moment. Um, and then experienced partners, if anybody knows of anybody who's really focused on the food industry, who'd be a great fit with us, um, I'd love to hear from them. And that's it. Final slide, my contact details. And I'm also also represented by ris, so her details are there as well.

And thank you very 

Chris Chow: much. Thank you so much, Tina. I know that was a bit of a challenge for you getting it all together, but we really appreciate it and it's just so great to see the growth trajectory of our alumni community as well, because it goes beyond our actual cohorts. Alright, so up next we have, um, a venture of Vita Travel.

And here to share all about that is Maria Herrera. Maria, over to you.

Maria Herrera: Hi everyone, my name is Maria and I'm the founder of ADV Ventura Vita Travel. And I'm gonna be talking about travel that connects in today's fast pace world. It is really hard for us to always be present intentional and we, we forget to slow down. Retreats and travel experiences give us the opportunity to reconnect with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us.

That's why I created ADV Ventura Vida, not only to support individuals and businesses crafting, uh, travel logistics, but curating transformational experiences. Our values are to be intentional in every detail of the curation, of the itineraries, as we believe that is, um, very impactful in someone's life as a snapshot is a mini meaningful, um, memory.

And, um, our values are for our business is to make sure that we're sustainable, impactful. And we, , contribute to local, uh, communities in the destinations we visit and, uh, protect the planet in the market industry, the, what the market is showing is that the wellness industry is expected to grow to 2.1 trillion by 2030.

And, uh, gen Zs and millennials are the leading, um, are leading the trend. Invest in businesses, are in, um, investing in retreats and incentive travel billions. I put a little bit of some of the, um, data here and it is, um. Currently, um, the available options that we see out there in the market that we have heard from, uh, our leads and clients is that a lot of the group tour are very touristy and they do not go deep into specific details and curations, or they're super luxury and they're only available for a specific, um, part of the market and population.

So we wanna address this gap next.

Um, and Avan Vida, we offer and we serve three audiences, individuals, businesses, and hospitality partners. We work not only in Curated, um, curating very exclusive experiences that involve lifestyle, their values or interest, but also consider a specific purpose or social impact. And we also work on consulting for hospitality, uh, small boutique businesses and integrating retreats.

And we, um, we have four pillars that we see that is a pattern in a lot of our experiences, which is authentic, uh, cuisine, integrating, wellness, meaningful a, uh, adventures and workshops and cultural immersion. And one of the things that I provide as well is the financial strategy, making sure that this retreats are sustainable and long lasting impact for the businesses I work with.

 Business client and economics. And, um, as you could see here in, we have three, um, streams of revenue and we get, most of our revenue is from high. Um, a higher margin is from premium retreat planning as well as consulting. Um, and CFO services I provide is, uh, reoccurring revenue and hospitality partnerships and consulting.

And that's our, my growth strategy as it continues to grow. I have a profitability sample here of what I've been able to achieve, um, repetitively for the retreats I have done for my clients. And you have a example of a 12 person retreat. 4,500 per guest. It, uh, generates 50 4K in revenue. This is all with better suppliers and, uh, hose usually takes 25 to 35% net profit after expenses

so how I got, how I got started, it's all sales made and my passion for trouble, business and wellness. I have been able to host seven repetitive, um, seven retreats in the past two years. And individual, uh, group private, um, you know, customized, private, um, journeys, um, all through Greece, Italy, Morocco, um, Costa Rica and Ecuador.

I have, uh, consulted with a boutique hotel in Ecuador as well. And to be able to incorporate, uh, retreats I have, um. Lots of referrals and testimonials, not only from my clients, but people that attended these retreats. I, as I offer on site coordination and pre and post travel, um, service for their clients as well on the trips.

And I, in the last few months, I've been concentrated on, uh, foundational aspect of my business, building my website systems, and thank you to a lot of the support from women's work. So I, what I'm asking here is I really want to connect with, um, like-minded business that are aligned with our vision, with our values, and I'm looking for a connection, partnership and, uh, men mentorship and visibility as we're in the beginning stages, we're open to anything that, um, and when it comes to funding as well, especially for marketing our business.

 Thank you so much to everyone and, um, sorry I got a little bit nervous and, um, we just launched our website too, and you could go connect with us. That's my email at our website@advent.com. And you could connect with us and Instagram or uh, LinkedIn. Thank you so much. 

Chris Chow: Thank you Maria. And no need to apologize for nerves.

It's all good. We all have them. Even myself hosting these events, I always trip up at some point. Don't even worry. Um, so our last and final presenter is going to be Jody Suckle. Um, she's the founder of Lovely Little Adventures. I know we're at time, but these, you know, graduates have put so much work, so we do hope that you can stick around.

I think we'll probably go about five minutes or so after. Um, so yeah, let's throw this over to Jody and give her our attention.

Jodi Suckle: . Hi, I'm Jody, founder of Lovely Little Adventures. I'm a group travel at an operations consultant bringing comprehensive hands-on approach to designing meaningful group travel. My goal is to help you turn your big ideas into beautifully run, joy filled adventures.

 I've been designing, managing, and leading trips and events for about 12 years, and I've worked with vendors, partners, and local guides in dozens of countries. So why group travel? The group travel market is expected to grow by about $200 billion by 2032, and travelers have shared that they're looking for a deeper connection to destinations and fellow travelers and are increasingly turning to group tours for authentic and experiential journeys.

Additionally, the global creator led group travel market is forecasted to hit $6 billion by 2033. So I'm helping small companies, travel advisors, creators, and anyone else, whether they're in the industry or not, who want to take advantage of this trend and develop new opportunities for their business.

 Uh, a few of the ways that I'm helping clients. First, as a consultant, I help create a roadmap that can be used again and again to launch group trips in the future, providing continued opportunities to increase revenue and nurture more engaged communities. Two, I'll manage the project load for you.

Just because you're not a big company or don't have huge follower numbers doesn't mean you can't create these experiences for your company. You don't have to be constrained by lack of time, resources, or experience. Three, together we'll design trips that set you and your business apart. Let's lean into niche and unique interests that connect your you to your community.

Let's get a little weird and think outside the box. I also wanna help you maintain your business identity and ensure that your group trips reflect your business values. Four, I'm passionate about travel, designing ethical and intentional journeys that benefit travelers and the communities they visit. I strive to choose clients, partners, and vendors who share values of ethical and sustainable travel.

And lastly, I believe in helping my clients get into the group and travel, host the group travel and hosting mindset. Um, hosting and leading a group requires a different way of thinking, so let's make sure you're prepared so that you can ensure that your travelers are having the best experience possible Next.

So my services fit into two main buckets. First, maybe you're designing and launching group trips on your own, but are looking for a little guidance to help you clear some hurdles. Let's work together over a series of one-on-one consulting sessions, or maybe your bus, a busy under-resourced solopreneur with a desire to add group trips to your offerings and need someone to manage all the details and moving pieces.

I can do that too. Next slide. A little bit about my attraction to date. Uh, in addition to taking time to clarify my product offerings and set up solid processes and an outreach strategy, I've been working on developing some resources to offer future clients in the form of worksheets and thi and spreadsheets and things.

Um, I'm also considering what groups coaching sessions might look like if there is interest in the future and maybe even some prerecorded sessions. While my business is new, I do have some past clients who have praised my ability to make trip planning and prep, feel a bit easier, and coordinate the many moving pieces involved.

Next slide. So here's my big ask. I'm looking for a few clients to offer to test my offerings and provide some valuable feedback. I would love to be connected to anyone who's interested in offering group trips, but is struggling with how to get started. I'd like to be connected to travel advisors, small companies, creators, um, they don't have to be in the travel industry.

The next great tour group, idea group tour idea could come from anywhere. Next slide. So, thank you for your time and I would love to help you design and launch your own lovely little adventures anywhere in the world. Let's connect.

Chris Chow: Thank you so much, Jody. What a fantastic way to close out all of our pitches.

You know, I think we can all agree that these entrepreneurs are incredible in their own right. So let's all give them a big virtual round of applause. This is what demo day is about. Connection, collaboration, and community. So thank you to you all for showing up and supporting women led businesses. Um, and as I said before, you know, just think about how we might be able to help push the needle forward, whether that's a connection, uh, whether that's a partnership, et cetera.

I think we all have, um, people in our network that can help out these entrepreneurs in their early stages. And, um, yeah, I think, you know, as a friendly reminder, tomorrow we're gonna email you with the contact information for each of the businesses, and then later in the week we'll compile the answers for those who put one in the q and a box.

It's really been a pleasure being your host today. Thank you again for showing up and supporting women-led businesses. You know, we're all here for the tourism industry and I love it. Let's close it out here with Iris. Thanks so much. 

Iris Serbanescu: Whew, what a beautiful event. I am so inspired. I mean, wow, cohort six, well done and thank you to everyone in the chat that supported us and you know, like told us we were doing great when there were some technical difficulties.

This is what women's work is all about, being vulnerable and showing up and not being perfect, and I love it. So thanks everyone who joined. If you're here as an entrepreneur or a wannabe entrepreneur and thinking you might wanna make 2026 the year to do it, to feel excited and confident about your business, grow your revenue, and make new connections in the industry.

And pitch on Demo Day. We would love to have you apply for our next cohort. Anyone that registered for demo day is gonna get $300 off and the official application will be sent tomorrow in the follow-up email, so you're amongst the first to receive it. Space is limited, so make sure you apply if you are interested in joining us next year.

Once again, thanks to all of you who took the time to join and support our community. Huge congrats to all the businesses who pitched today and did such an incredible job. And I especially wanna thank Chris, our host extraordinaire, and Claire, our amazing coordinator who made this event run as smoothly as possible.

Please feel free to get in touch with any of us if you have any questions. If you're interested in becoming a sponsor or applying for a cohort or just chatting, we are always here to chat. Our inbox is always open, and thank you again for everybody who showed up. Have a wonderful day. This wraps up our Cohort six demo day.

Thanks everyone. ​