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35 + EMPOWERING Sessions

Exclusive masterclasses, interviews, and panel discussions with practical, value-packed and actionable advice, tips and techniques you can apply from the get-go. Click to view full agenda

40 + EXPERT Speakers

We’ve partnered with incredible speakers who are experts in their fields and have years worth of experience on their topic Click to meet our speakers

ADVANCED Insights

If you haven’t taken a solo trip yet, this course will help you go on your first trip with full confidence and the right tools. But Empowerful isn’t just for beginners. Even if you’re an experienced solo traveler our masterclasses are so comprehensive that you’ll takeaway many invaluable skills and techniques.

Mar Pages

Co-Founder of Solo Female Travelers, and your co-host for Empowerful, Mar is an ex- strategy consultant and Googler turned online entrepreneur.

Mar has visited over 115 countries and is on a quest to visit them all. She often travels on her own to unknown destinations that are hard to find on a map.  More about Mar.

Meg Jerrard

Co-Founder of Solo Female Travelers, and your co-host for Empowerful, Meg is an Australian Journalist and founder and editor of Mapping Megan, a niche adventure travel blog with a focus on cultural immersion, authentic discovery and incredible journeys. 

Meg started traveling solo at 18, and has now visited 100+ countries across all seven continents. She continues to take solo trips, despite being married, having met her husband on Mt Kilimanjaro.

Jennifer Cassetta

Jennifer Cassetta is a self defense expert, speaker, author and consultant who works with audiences around the world to help empower them through success coaching and self defense.

Equipped with her 3rd degree black belt in HapKiDo, Master’s degree in Nutrition, health coaching and NLP certification, Jennifer helps women release their inner badass and feel strong, safe and confident from the streets to the boardroom.

Jenn’s love of travel has taken her around the world as a traveling health coach to VIP clientele and later as a speaker. Her popular self defense program, She Warrior Self Defense has been featured on The Today Show, The Doctors, The Real, Rachael Ray and many more!

Qin Yunquan

Qin Yunquan is a social activist, national wrestler and CEO of Kapap Academy Singapore, a social enterprise committed to teaching women and the most vulnerable practical and easy self-defense techniques using their proprietary system, Modern Street Combatives.

Yunquan’s work has been recognized with many awards, among which, Her Majesty The Queen of England Young Leaders Award in 2017 for her work teaching women and children self-defence. She was also included in the 2018 Forbes Asia 30 under 30 to watch.

Nicole Snell

Nicole Snell is a dynamic international speaker, workshop facilitator and self-defense expert specializing in sexual assault & violence prevention education and personal empowerment.

She is the CEO of Girls Fight Back, the personal safety and self-defense seminar that has reached over 1 Million people worldwide, a Lead Instructor for IMPACT Personal Safety that teaches full force self-defense techniques using realistic scenarios and the creator/producer of Outdoor Defense,  an online series that teaches simple self-defense skills while hiking/running/traveling solo.

Nicole is an experienced solo traveler, outdoor enthusiast and adventurer. She is a hike leader for Black Girls Trekkin and actively advocates for diversity and representation in the outdoors. She is a NOVA Certified Victim Advocate and sits on the board of directors for IMPACT Personal Safety. She was featured in the Tastemade Travel instructional video, Self Defense For Female Travelers that won a Webby Award in 2020. She has traveled the world speaking and educating people at colleges, high schools, corporations, and private groups and has trained service members at over 89 military installations globally. 

Nicole believes that everyone has the right to walk through the world feeling safe, powerful and confident! You are your own best protector, and you are worth fighting for!

Connect on her website, Instagram @adventuresofnik, & @girlsfightback. Support her online self-defense videos via Ko-Fi .

Davina Ho

Davina is a certified yoga and meditation teacher who teaches her stressed-out clients tools for mental and emotional resilience no matter the challenges they are facing. Co-Founder of HASIKO, She uses various tools from the iRest® meditation protocol a highly accessible and restorative meditation practice for everyone that has been proven helpful in alleviating the symptoms of sleep disorders, PTSD, chemical dependency, chronic pain and stress.

She is a seasoned solo traveller and has lived overseas in Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Singapore.

Dr. Deborah Bateson

Dr. Deborah Bateson is the Medical Director of Family Planning NSW and Clinical Associate Professor, Discipline of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonatology at The University of Sydney. She has worked as a clinician, researcher, educator and advocate in reproductive and sexual health for 20 years, and will speak about sexual wellbeing on the road: what you need to know about protection and contraception, what to do in case of an emergency while traveling, how to protect yourself against STIs, and period related issues while abroad.

A fellow solo female traveler, Dr. Bateson has worked in India, led an expedition to Borneo, traveled through Kenya and worked as a nutritionist in a hospital in southwest Tanzania.

Dr. Elaine Yang

Dr Elaine C. L. Yang is an award-winning tourism researcher at Griffith University. Her PhD explored the risk perception of Asian solo female travellers.

Elaine is currently working on multiple projects on gender-based violence in tourism, transformative travel experience, migrant female hospitality workers, and diversity management. She has recently completed a research and training project funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to empower women entrepreneurs in Latin America to succeed in their tourism businesses by cultivating their digital entrepreneurial competency.

Elaine is interested in any project, collaboration and speaking engagement that empowers women in tourism. Connect with Elaine via email at [email protected]

Dr. Mireia Roca

Dr. Mireia Roca is a Spanish public hospital doctor with a specialization in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Before having her two daughters Iria and Xenia, Mireia used to travel often solo and now does so, primarily, with her family. Mireia has lived in Ljubljana, Brussels and Vilnius and her favorite destination is London.

Kelcie Miller-Anderson

Kelcie Miller-Anderson is an acclaimed innovator, social entrepreneur, and a disability advocate who continues to travel solo despite having struggled with chronic illness her entire life. Despite having to sleep up to 20 hours in a 24 hour period, and recently transitioning to a wheelchair, Kelcie has never let her illnesses deter her from anything.

At 15 she traveled through the northwest passage of Canada’s icebreaker as part of her environmental research. At 17 she was teaching English in Spain. At 20 she spent a month as a research assistant on a coral reef monitoring project in Cuba, and at 21 she founded an environmental startup, MycoRemedy, and is now working on her second startup BumbleChain.

Kelcie doesn’t let her sickness dictate her life, and doesn’t view her disability as a limiting factor. Connect with Kelcie @thechronic_entrepreneur.

Dr. Nisha Barkathunnisha

Nisha is a management consultant, corporate trainer and academic with more than 25 years of extensive management experience in the Tourism, Hospitality and Events industry.

As the Founder of Elevated Consultancy and Training, Nisha provides regional and international consultancy work in the area of tourism and hospitality development in destinations.

She is a co-founder of World Women Tourism, a network intelligence platform that provides opportunities to women in tourism to connect, grow and flourish. She has also initiated SheInTourism, a collaborative platform that paves the pathways for Asian women in tourism to flourish and realize their potentials.

Nisha completed her Ph.D. in the area of tourism education and her research interests are in the areas of women in tourism, tourism branding and marketing, tourism education, halal tourism and sustainable tourism.

LoAnn Halden

LoAnn Halden is Vice President-Communications for the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA), the global leader in advancing LGBTQ+ travel.

IGLTA’s mission is to provide information and resources for LGBTQ+ travelers and expand LGBTQ+ tourism globally by demonstrating its significant social and economic impact. In her role, LoAnn frequently speaks to global media outlets about LGBTQ+ tourism trends and has participated in travel sessions for consumers and trade on five continents, including WTM Africa, Barcelona LGBTI Tourism Summit, the New York Times Travel Show, GNetwork360 in Buenos Aires and the LGBT+ Travel Symposium Thailand.

Prior to IGLTA, she spent 14 years working for LGBTQ+ publications, including two years as Associate Editor of Out Traveler, and has contributed to many outlets as a freelance writer.

Aisha Shaibu

Aisha is an LGBTQ+ activist who has been championing integration, diversity & equality to help level the playing field.

She is a rising pioneer and founder of Moonlight Experiences, a company that immerses travelers and locals into the authentic side of queer communities whilst amplifying marginalised voices.It also harnesses the economic power of tourism to support queer artists & venues.

Recognised by the Mayor of London for it’s impact, Aisha’s activism extends to increasing the visibility of black & POC travelers and in the work she does at UK Black Pride.

Susan Shaw

Susan took her first flight in 1978 and hasn’t stopped since. She has devoted her entire career to airports and the aviation industry, starting as a security guard at SeaTac Airport and graduating with a Bachelor degree of Science, Atmospheric Sciences in 1983.

She has been a flight instructor and a pilot for the last 3 decades flying with a major airline until her retirement in 2020, and has many videos on her YouTube channel of her time in the sky and her travels. Despite all her travels, Susan’s favorite place is her home in Manchester, Washington.

Josefina Hunter

Josefina is an internationally published photographer and retoucher who, at just shy of eighteen, successfully launched her brand, Josefina Photography.

Since then, she has had the opportunity to collaborate with agency-represented models such as Kate Compton, well-known models like Miss Mischief, celebrities including Actors/Activists Nina Hartley & Buck Angel, MTV Reality Star Tila Tequila, and The Honorable Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. Josefina’s work has been widely published on print, online and on TV.

Growing up shy, adopted & “different” from those around her, she found her voice through music as a small child. Using her extraordinary talent of memorizing melodies in minutes, she has also found herself absorbed in the music realm for the past 25 years.

Cora Oo

Cora Oo is an Operations Analyst from Mapfre Assistance Insurance Services with two years of travel claims experience.

She knows the PDS of insurance policies like the back of her hand, and loves to help customers and other claims assessors understand the policy wordings.

Originally from Myanmar, she left the country with a scholarship to study in the US for four years. Having enjoyed the taste of independence, she decided to move to Australia and pursue a postgraduate degree. When she is not working on shattering the corporate glass ceiling, she is drawing up plans to go backpacking in Europe and making a list of food to try.

Molly DeMellier

Molly DeMellier is a New York City podcaster, writer and communications expert with experience spanning a variety of industries including entertainment, comedy, travel, sports, tech, and enterprise software. She founded and hosts the “Shooters Gotta Shoot” podcast with Erica Spera where they discuss modern dating, societal stigmas surrounding relationships, female empowerment, and more.

With a Master of Science in Public Relations and Corporate Communication from New York University’s School of Professional Studies, DeMellier is an expert in media relations, crisis management and is well-seasoned in communication strategy development and execution. DeMellier has worked with major brands including Netflix, Getty Images, and iHeartMedia. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @theguaca_molly.

Erica Spera

Erica Spera is a New York City comedian originally from Binghamton, NY. Spera was named one of Conan’s 2017 TBS Comics to Watch and since then has opened for Patton Oswalt, Bert Kreischer, Judah Friedlander, and more!

Spera co-hosts the podcast “Shooters Gotta Shoot” with Molly DeMellier. She came out about having herpes on the podcast this fall, and shares her successes, rejections, fears and frustrations with disclosing to potential partners in an attempt to decrease the stigma around the subject. You can follow her @spericaa.

Gabriela Sirbu

Gabriela Sirbu is a therapist, speaker, and writer at migrationofemotion.com. She has a Master Degree in Peace and Conflict Transformation from UiT The Arctic University of Norway and a specialization within practical psychology from the Norwegian Gestalt Institute in Oslo.

A Romanian expat studying, living and working in Norway for the past 16 years, it was Norwegian culture which inspired her pursue a specialization in practical psychology. She realized that “war” and “conflicts” are not carried with guns, but with an invisible boomerang of words and feelings. And this boomerang travels with us everywhere we go, no matter how far we travel, or how often, or how much we hope to leave it behind.

Now she works as a therapist and holds seminars and workshops on multicultural communications where the main goal is to help people become aware of how their invisible luggage is influencing their communication patterns, their behavior, and their life.

Joss McDonald

Originally from Vancouver, Joss has been traveling, living, working, and dating her way around the world since 2003, seeing 40+ countries and living in 8 of them.

She writes a dating blog called areyoumymrright.com where she shares stories about her elusive search for Mr. Right.

When Joss is not traveling, going on dates looking for Mr. Right, or writing about them, you can find her dancing badly to Hip Hop with her girlfriends at the local nightclub, poolside with a book and cocktail, or attempting to teach English to 3 year olds, who at least are not smarter than her, yet!

Jude Cairncross

Jude is living and travelling around in a purpose built tiny house on a truck. She wanders around New Zealand, discovering amazing places and meeting people.

Jude takes photos and videos of her life and where she’s been and puts them together in videos on her YouTube Channel. A teacher by trade, she is currently having some time off, and has invited us inside for a tour of her tiny home on wheels!

Becky Wood

Becky Wood aka “Bonjour Becky” is a freelance writer and blogger on a permanent road trip through the U.S.A.

Since quitting her full-time job at age 25, she’s traveled to 30+ countries, solo backpacked 220 miles on the John Muir Trail in California, and road tripped to 48 U.S. states and 43 National Parks with her dog, Juno while living out of her car.

When she’s not on the road, she makes base camp outside Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, USA.

Breanna Wilson

Breanna Wilson is a freelance travel writer and adventurer based between Tbilisi, Georgia and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. She is a contributor to Forbes, where she covers the best of outdoor travel and gear, as well as the best road trip adventures around the world.

Breanna is also the mastermind behind the websites MeanwhileinGeorgia.com and MeanwhileinMongolia.com , where she shares information on how to safely travel and plan a trip through both destinations, especially for female travelers.

Follow her daily adventures off-roading, hiking, and exploring lesser known parts of the world on Instagram at @breannajwilson or Facebook @breannajwilsontravels.

Soumya Nambiar

Soumya Nambiar is an entrepreneur/travel blogger based in Bangalore, India, who runs travelbooksfood.com. In addition to her travel blog, she also manages and runs a successful family business in the education industry.

Since her parents are also avid travellers, she has been travelling ever since she was a baby. She is an opportunistic traveller which means that she travels solo, with her partner, with her family and even friends.

Growing up in Tanzania meant that she was accustomed to road trips around Africa from a very young age. She has been to around 45 countries, driven in about 15 of them, been solo to 25+ countries and been on solo road trips in around 8 countries. She writes extensively on Indian travel, traveling in Europe/Mexico and about finding vegetarian food on the road.

Paula Martinelli

Paula is a former International Marketing Manager, professional athlete, and founder and content creator of the Adventure Travel & Healthy Lifestyle blog, Paula Pins the Planet.

For over 20 years, she worked in the corporate world, lived on 3 continents, and traveled to over 40 countries for business and leisure. Paula has enjoyed many road trips around the world and active adventure trips in a variety of countries. She promotes authentic travel experiences interacting with local communities and empowering local businesses for sustainable tourism.

Follow her journey on Instagram and Facebook

Prachi Thakur

Prachi is a researcher and diversity trainer in tourism and hospitality. To change solo female travellers’ travel experience, she has been working actively for inclusion, and her research includes the discussion and effectiveness of diversity training in the tourism industry.

With her involvement in World Women Tourism as a Diversity Strategist, Prachi aims to change how the tourism industry has been marginalising women and to be more equitable and just.

Alejandra Ramirez Vidal

Ale is a creative who can’t get enough of adventure, nature, good vibes, design and social work. She has worked in the Design industry for the last 9 years as a Graphic Designer, Creative Director, University Lecturer and Social Entrepreneur behind The Travel and Adventure Life.

Born in Colombia, Ale moved to Australia she was 17 to study and create a career. She has recently built her own van and lives, works and studies her PhD on the road as a solo digital nomad researcher.

Ale has been to 51 countries and 50% of her travels involve social, sustainable and/or volunteer work. Published author of “Travel with a purpose – your guide to a meaningful journey”, the book targets travellers wanting to contribute to a sustainable journey focusing on economic growth, socio-cultural understanding and positive environmental contribution when travelling.

For her Doctorates research, Ale’s aim is to expand on her honours research of sustainability and responsible behaviour while travelling and additionally focus on digital nomads as a new career pathway for designers and creatives.

Connect with Ale @alejandra.travels.

Lauren Gay

Lauren is the creator of Misadventures of an Outdoorsy Diva Blog, host/producer of the Outdoorsy Diva Podcast, published photographer, speaker, consultant for new content creators, and adventure coach.

She is a travel writer and social media influencer who is passionate about inspiring and empowering black women to step out of their comfort zone for new experiences in travel and adventure and embracing nature as therapy. Lauren is also an empty-nest mom and a dedicated long-time advocate for racial diversity and inclusion in outdoor recreation and adventure travel and a founding member of the Black Travel Alliance.

Johnnel Smith

Johnnel Smith is a Jamaican Tourism Scholar, Academic, Industry Practitioner and avid solo female traveler. Having traveled to over 40 destinations around the world, she is passionate about improving equity, diversity and authentic cultural exchange in travel.

Johnnel has been a Lecturer in Tourism, Management and Marketing with Universities in the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific regions for over 13 years and is a doctorate candidate. She holds a Masters in Tourism and Hospitality Management and a Bachelors (Honors) in Tourism Management from the University of the West Indies.

Connect with her on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.

Brittany Lewis

Brittany Lewis is a graduate of Southern Arkansas University with a B.S. in Biology. She joined the AIG Travel security team in 2014 as an Intelligence Analyst with a focus on Africa before assuming the role of Security Intelligence Supervisor and subsequently Security Operations Supervisor.

She has more than ten years of experience in the corporate security and risk mitigation industry and is a Certified Protection Professional with ASIS International and a Member of The Security Institute.

Isabel Yurrita

Isabel worked for Doctors without Borders for almost 6 years with missions across the Middle East, Africa and Central America.

Before that, she worked and lived in several European countries as a telecommunications expert and has a long career in the humanitarian sector. Of all her travels, she loved Namibia the most.

Phil Sylvester

Phil Sylvester is an independent travel safety advisor and expert commentator on travel insurance, having previously worked at global travel lifestyle brand WorldNomads.com. Prior to that he was a broadcast news journalist for over 20 years.

Phil has written hundreds of travel safety articles and was the editor who created the World Nomads travel safety hub – a collection of safety articles and guides for every sovereign nation on earth.

He has also spoken about travel safety and travel insurance on numerous radio programs in the US, UK and Australia, and is a regular contributor on TV in Australia.

His knowledge of the detail of travel insurance, and ability to explain them in plain English, makes him a sought-after guest.

Jessica Foster

Jessica Foster is the Founder and lead SEO content strategist at Keys&Copy – a content agency that serves B2B tech and SaaS companies.

She is a full-time digital nomad and helps aspiring writers go remote and start lucrative online writing businesses. She shares content tips as well as travel vlogs on her YouTube channel.

Amanda Mouttaki

Amanda Mouttaki is an American writer, blogger, and entrepreneur based in Marrakech. She is the voice behind the popular website MarocMama which inspires readers from all over the world to visit Morocco and broaden their horizons on the country, it’s traditions, and its cuisine.

Amanda also owns Marrakech Food Tours, a company that helps English speaking guests discover what and where Moroccans really eat.

Amanda’s masterclass on travel through conservative countries will empower you with the cultural knowledge and understanding, tools and resources they can use for knowing what to expect, knowing how to respect more conservative cultures, and what common mistakes are that could cause friction or offend the locals.

Jennifer Melroy

Jennifer grew up in the outdoors, and is the founder of National Park Obsessed, an online resource that helps you plan the most amazing National Park adventures. She is a National Parks expert who has spent an extensive amount of time in the US National Parks, having been to over 250 of the US National Park Units and 54 of the National Parks (on a mission to visit all 62).

Jennifer will be sharing her years worth of knowledge and experience for how you as a solo female traveler can stay safe when spending time in the wild, and exploring the outdoors.

Janice Holly Booth

Janice Holly Booth is an expert on beating your fear. She has spent more than a decade traveling solo, and has had to overcome many fears in her quest for adventure.

After a botched surgery that bought her close to death she began her 15-year journey to understand the nature of fear, and to figure out how to conquer it, ultimately realizing that her comfort zone up until that point had been her cage.

As well as being the adventurista behind adventurista.us Janice is a best selling author, with a National Geographic book called ‘Only Pack What You Can Carry’, which is a guide to personal growth through solo travel adventure.

We chat to her about adventure, risk, facing down fear, and how to get rid of your excess baggage to figure out how you really want to live your life.

Meg Ten Eyck

Meg runs the number one lesbian travel site, EveryQueer and is on the board of Belmond as a member of the LGBT advisory. In 2019, she was selected as the International Woman of the Year for Facebook’s initiative with Girl Gone International for her work in LGBT inclusive travel.

Yes, Meg is an influencer but her scope of work goes beyond content marketing. She also conducts professional development training for brands working with the LGBT community and serves as a consultant for best practices in LGBT marketing campaigns. She has been cited in two consecutive UNWTO Reports on LGBT Tourism as a leading expert and in the ETC’s Report on LGBT Tourism. She is also regularly a featured speaker and subject matter expert at travel conferences worldwide.

Since beginning her site in 2012, she has visited 57 countries, spoken at LGBT conferences on four continents, published her first book, appeared on red carpets, and had her blog read by more than a million people.

Carolin Pilligrath

Carolin Pilligrath has been travelling the world as a digital nomad for years until she set up a home base in her soul home Australia.

She currently works as a Partnerships Consultant for SafetyWing and shares her industry knowledge and expertise on the basics of travel insurance.

She is also the founder of Breathing Travel where she creates stories & gear for adventurous souls, beach bums and travel addicts.

Robin Who

Robin is a curious spirit with a strong passion for storytelling, personal growth, society, and nature. Having had to learn at a young age how to adapt to new environments and cultures, she simply adores traveling and any social and cultural experience.

Expat for 10 years, lived in 8 countries, and traveled across 4 continents, she is the founder of Our Connected World, offering travel and language coaching to nomads and expats thanks to her background in Social Psychology. Language can be a great barrier when moving around the globe, which is why she mentors others with that aspect of slow and experiential travel too.

Robin helps female wanderers turn that dream life and wanderlust into reality, while “Connecting with yourself, others, and the environment around you”. Connect with her on Instagram at @ourconnectedworld.