In Honor of International Women’s Day: Highlighting Inspirational Women We Collaborate With Through the Uniting Power of Travel
With the upcoming International Women’s Day activities being celebrated across the globe, I would like to highlight some of the inspirational women, which The Travel Corporation (TTC) and TreadRight are collaborating with. These remarkable and empowered women have all partnered with us through the uniting power of travel. They equally represent to us the many outstanding characteristics and cherished value of all the TTC women team members across the globe, whose diverse backgrounds, hard work and multi-faceted talents have contributed to the continued growth and innovation of our family of brands.
Petra Nemcova
In early 2015, I met the amazing philanthropist, television host and supermodel, Petra Nemcova at the WTTC Global Summit in Madrid. She is a brave survivor of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand and in 2005 she founded the non-profit Happy Hearts Fund to rebuild safe schools impacted by natural disasters and restoring hope in the lives of these children. I admire her ‘compassion in action’ in helping others since she was inspired to rebuild 100 local schools in the tsunami affected areas by the 10th anniversary. She has now surpassed her goal and the foundation has built 130 schools with projects across the globe in 10 countries hard hit by natural disasters.
The Travel Corporation and TreadRight recently helped to fund the Prithivi Secondary School in Nepal, and before that another school in the Philippines. We have a personal affinity for this resilient Himalayan destination since our Luxury Gold and Adventure World brands offer immersive trips which take our guests to visit the stunning UNESCO sites there. Last year, Petra and her HHF team traveled to this region to assess the damage caused by the 2015 earthquake, which destroyed 8,000 schools, and 25,000 classrooms across the country were damaged. We are pleased that over 350 children can now safely attend the Prithivi School and have access to a proper education. We all greatly admire Petra and HHF, and look forward to staying involved in supporting their outstanding projects.
Céline Cousteau
Since 2011, we have been very fortunate in working with the inspirational Céline Cousteau who is our TreadRight Ambassador. She is an explorer, environmentalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her personal mission is to “connecting people with the environment and reconnecting the human tribe”. I have a personal affinity with her since she is continuing the legacy of her legendary grandfather, Jacques Cousteau with her family’s three generations of ocean conservation initiatives. Her current major film project, “Tribes on the Edge” is a result of a request from the tribes of the Vale do Javari, Brazilian Amazon.
Céline has been an outstanding storyteller for Treadright by creating compelling videos which showcase our various heritage and wildlife initiatives. She recently visited South Africa and created this video about our work with the Amy Biehl Foundation which TTC, and my family have been personally supporting for many years and now Treadright. Amy Biehl is a non-profit organization that offers programs to develop and empower youth living in the challenged and vulnerable communities within South Africa’s Western Cape. The foundation was created to honor the memory of a very courageous American young woman whose mission was to help end apartheid in my homeland and was killed during the ending of the apartheid era.
Céline is also a good friend who stays with us often, and my wonderful wife Miranda works with Céline to assist her with some of her projects. If you are interested in learning more, and donating to Céline’s own projects, please visit http://www.celinecousteau.com to learn more.
Patricia Schultz
New York Times best-selling author, Patricia Schultz is Trafalgar’s Global Brand Ambassador. She is the author of 1,000 Places to See Before You Die which has sold over four million copies globally and has been translated in 25 languages. She also has over 4 million organic Facebook fans who she interacts with on a daily basis to help incite their wanderlust.
Patricia will be participating in launch events and inspirational presentations in the United States, Australia and Canada with Trafalgar this year. She will reminisce with travelers about some of her memorable Trafalgar experiences including her recent Prague, Vienna and Budapest trip, which she shared on her blog. She is one of the travel industry’s greatest ambassadors who encourages travelers to never stop exploring and to keep checking off their bucket lists. I admire her immense passion to keep exploring and curiosity to learn more about the world around us and the wonderful ways in which she entices people to go and explore. I look forward to meeting Patricia at Trafalgar’s Travel Director Conference in Rome this month. I do encourage you to read her book if you have not had a chance to yet.
Mrs. Bea Tollman
Lastly, the finest role model and inspirational woman for me, who exemplifies the finest unifying power with remarkable talent, passion, drive and hard work celebrated every day of every year in our family is our mother, Bea Tollman. She has always inspired us to lead by example, treat others with respect and a measured approach, and is my personal icon to especially honor and recognize every International Woman’s Day.
Wishing you all a Happy International Women’s Day and please stay inspired,
Brett
