5 Black-Owned Companies That Will Up Your Travel Game
Your wanderlust has had you eyeing multiple travel websites for a while now and finally, you've decided on your next location, and are ready to start planning. But, with the large number of travel apps and websites out there, the process of planning your travels can seem overwhelming.
The narrative surrounding people of color and travel has started to shift towards inclusivity. However, mainstream travel spaces have been known to exclude travelers of color. The underwhelming amount of Black travelers being showcased on travel sites and destination brochures makes it that much more important to support the businesses that have people of color sitting at the table. Seeing the world is an opportunity that is open to whomever wishes to act on it. Making your travel arrangements with black owned companies gives you the space to find the proper resources that cater to your specific needs.
From securing accomodations to booking flights and reserving excursions, there's a lot of work that goes into planning the perfect getaway. To save you some time, I've rounded up some of the best black-owned travel apps and companies to help get your next trip underway as seamless as possible. From your flight to your destination to your lodging, we've got you covered every step of the way.
For Flights: Airfordable
You know where you want to go but after checking for flights, you notice the fare isn't exactly in this month's budget. Sure, you can pick a new place but when booking with friends, I know how long it can take for the group to finally settle on one destination. Likewise, international travel often gets dismissed because of the cost of airfare. Airfordable offers a solution for when you have your heart set on a location, whether it be for a vacation or a trip to see family. Ama Marfo, CEO, launched Airfordable as a result of struggling to book travel back to Ghana while she studied at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Today, it's being used for trips all around the world.
How it works: Find your flight, submit the details to Airfordable, pay monthly installments then receive your booking once the total is paid.
Let's take a trip to Bali for example. Jessica, an Airfordable user, found a flight for a total of $820, an amount not everybody is okay dropping all at once. Airfordable allowed her to make a smaller payment of $303.40 upfront. She was then was able to pay the remaining $516.60 in installments up until her departure date. She'll receive her eTicket as soon as her last payment is processed.
For Accommodations: Innclusive
Now that you've picked a location and secured the airfare, finding a place to stay might be next on the list. Innclusive lets you rent rooms and homes in an Airbnb fashion but in a way that celebrates diversity. When Rohan, the founder and CEO of Innclusive, was denied an Airbnb based on what seems to be racial profiling, he took action and created a space where people of all races would be celebrated in their quests to see the world. With that, Innclusive was born.
How it works: Search for a room or an entire home, pay online, and check-in upon arrival.
For The Squad: Travel Noire
Let’s take a swim? Respond with 😍 or 😓 in the comments! 📷: @sennarelax #portofino #travelnoire
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Two common hiccups when it comes to travel is narrowing down a time and place and finding your travel squad. Travel Noire eliminated these obstacles. Zim Ugochukwu created Travel Noire after identifying the absence of people of color in the mainstream travel industry. To solve this, Zim and her team, now part of Blavity, carefully curate travel experiences that allow men and women of color to live out these lifetime experiences seeing places like Zanzibar, Bahia, Amalfi Coast, and more. TN does all the heavy lifting while your only responsibility is to pay your installments and show up. Sounds easy, right? The TN team sets you up in a charming boutique hotel, a photographer for the length of the trip, and insider access to some of the most exclusive local classes.
How it works: Sign up to receive an email when the next round of travel experiences is open for registration, select an experience, pay either in full or installments, purchase flights separately, and meet your travel tribe in the city of choice.
For Volunteering Abroad: Black Girls Travel Too
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What started off as a regular Instagram account in 2015 has emerged into a full-blown travel company curating experiences and giving back while doing so. Now with over 106k followers, Black Girls Travel Too shares tips and creates the tools for female travellers. A key component of their business model is voluntourism, which is volunteering while traveling. Founder Danny Rivers Mitchell has been passionate about sharing her resources ever since she was a young girl saving up her lunch money to send it to the children she learned about through infomercials on sponsoring a child for 50 cents a day. BGTT now curates trips that revolve around voluntourism in addition to travel packages to events like Crop Over in Barbados.
How it works: Pick from the travel destinations offered, select a payment option, purchase flights separately, and meet your fellow black girl travelers in the city of choice.
For Getting Around: Moovn
A black-owned ride-sharing business has been around for just about three years. Goodwin Gabriel launched Moovn in 2015, an app that operates similar to Uber and Lyft. A key difference between Moovn and the more popular rideshare apps is that it does not employ private drivers. Instead, the system taps into existing transportation services like taxis and town cars. Moovn currently has a presence in countries like Tanzania, Gabriel's native, along with American cities (Seattle, Portland, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and New York). It is also available in Dubai, UAE; Vancouver, Canada; Johannesburg, South Africa, and Nairobi, Kenya.
How it works: Request a ride (for now or at least 2 hours in advance) through the website or app, select car type, select and confirm payment options, and wait for your ride to arrive.
Featured image by Shutterstock
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Jovania Pierre is a proud alumna of Rutgers University. She spends her time alternating between lifting heavy weights and traveling for food. You can keep up with her online @jovaniamichele on all social and her blog www.jovaniamichelepierre.com
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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Is It Ever Okay To Share Your Friends' Business With Your Partner? Maybe.
The older we get, the more we communicate our boundaries. With age, we also more clearly understand those boundaries and how to effectively, and immediately speak on them confidently. For many years, I remained connected with a friend whose boyfriend would always come to me and call me "lonely" or mention a discussion I had only had in private with her.
Back then, not only was it that anything I said to her in confidence was being reiterated without my permission. But there was also the sass of that man to repeat tidbits of our conversations back to me coupled with her audacity not to check him then and there whenever he did. But, as a much older adult, I realize people can’t do what they don’t know, and based on her choice of partner – it now seems to be a given that boundaries and respect weren’t two things that were high on her list of priorities…respectfully.
We stayed friends for many years, and honestly, I wouldn’t have had a problem with it had her man kept his mouth shut. I’m about to tell on myself when I say, “I thought we were all doing that? I thought we were all telling our man the tea at the end of our days?” I mean, I don’t have a man 90 percent of the time – so more often than not the secrets have been safe, but like?!
But, I’ve since seen several online posts in passing that suggest this is actually against the girl code – leaving me to feel validated but also guilty for my acts of treason. I thought it would be safe to get some more insight from an expert as listening to internet rhetoric can, at times, be overrated.
According to Dr. Ayanna Abrams, a licensed clinical psychologist, it depends. "It depends on four relationships – not just the one with your friend. This answer depends on your friendship, your partnership, your friend's relationship with your partner, and your relationship to the shared information.”
Dr. Abrams went on to provide a list of questions that can help us better understand if what you want to share with your partner is information your man is even qualified to know. Here is the list of questions that Dr. Abrams suggests you use as a flowchart of sorts:
1. What is my relationship with this friend?
How close are we? What stage of friendship are we in? Is this vulnerable information that feels particularly intimate or difficult for them to share? Did my friend ask me not to share?
2. What's my relationship with my partner?
What do I know about them and how do they hold information about me or the people in my life? Have they shown respect for people's privacy or do I know that they sometimes have trouble with privacy/secrets?
3. How does the shared information affect me?
Does it overjoy me, upset me, might it impact me and I'm anxious about it? (This could help determine what information you're sharing–are you sharing context for how it impacts you or are you sharing it as gossip?)
4. Is this information something that I believe my friend wouldn't mind my partner knowing?
Do they have any connection to each other (or is it strained or fairly distant?)
5. What's motivating me to share?
Do I need support, am I trying to connect with my partner through sharing things that happen to me within other relationships? Do we have a practice of sharing what's going on with our friends? How do I feel about sharing this information with anyone?
What can seem harmless to us may be a cause for immediate termination for others. This is a great opportunity to point out the importance of communicating and setting boundaries in all relationships, early and often. This is often recommended in romantic relationships but it can solve a lot of the issues stemming from miscommunication in platonic relationships as well.
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Featured image by RgStudio/Getty Images