We recently connected with Sylvia Longmire and have shared our conversation below.
Sylvia, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
I’ve had multiple sclerosis for 19 years, and I’ve been using a wheelchair full-time for nine years. I’ve been traveling since I was a small child, and started solo travel when I was in my 20s. But when I got back to traveling on my own eight years ago as a wheelchair user, my entire landscape had changed. I came across so many different types of obstacles and challenges in the world of accessible travel, and as a professional writer, I felt like it was my mission to serve the disability community by writing about my experiences. I started sharing them through my blog, Spin the Globe, and that’s how I learned how there was such a hunger for this type of information regarding accessibility and the travel sector. Now, my professional mission in life is to share this type of information with people with disabilities all over the world to help encourage them to travel and step outside their personal comfort zones.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m 49 years old, a mother of two amazing teenage boys, a service disabled veteran, a writer/author, entrepreneur, and the former Ms. Wheelchair USA 2016. I started writing professionally as an analyst on Mexico’s drug war and border security in 2005, and worked as a subject expert in that field for 14 years. Then I transitioned into writing about accessible travel through my Spin the Globe blog and as a freelance writer in late 2016 when I begin traveling solo in my wheelchair. I became more prolific in photography and videography, then began voiceover work in 2020, so I created a company called Wheels Up Media in 2021, all with the mission of increasing visibility for wheelchair users in all realms of media.
There are very few accessible travel writers and people with disabilities in the media relatively speaking, so that in and of itself sets me apart in the field. I am proud of the awards I’ve won and the support base of accumulated. But I think what makes me most proud is when I receive messages from other wheelchair users telling me that they traveled for the first time solely because of something I wrote. The number one thing I want people to know about my brand and my writing is the great care I take to be as authentic as possible. I write only about places I have visited personally or experiences I have engaged in because it can become a major safety issue if I don’t provide accurate information to my readers.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The number one thing that prevents people with disabilities from traveling isn’t money, or their physical limitations, or their equipment. It’s fear. I’ve traveled to 57 countries and all 50 states and accumulated over 600,000 miles of air travel, and I’m still scared every time I leave my house. I’m afraid of getting injured, of having my wheelchair damaged, of arriving at a destination to find it that I can’t sleep in the bed or use the bathroom because of accessibility problems. My goal is to share this type of information by going through that experience myself, for better or worse, and helping other wheelchair users overcome that fear. Knowledge is power, and it really reduces anxiety to know what you might be getting yourself into.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I think that the Covid experience created a pivot story for a lot of people in 2020. Travel is my professional lifeline, and obviously that completely shut down in 2020. I fell into a bit of a depression and I had no idea what I was going to do without the ability to travel. It wasn’t so much of a financial challenge as it was a mental health issue. I had begun the process of looking for a talent agency in January 2020, and one that wanted to represent me suggested that I take some virtual acting classes in the meantime. Through my local acting studio, I decided on a whim to enroll in a short seminar on voice acting. Apparently I was pretty good at it, and started booking voiceover work right away. I got jobs for commercials, e-learning, corporate videos, online stuff, etc. It brought in income, but also expanded my repertoire of media work. I don’t do commercial voiceover work anymore, but now that I work for WHILL, the company that makes my wheelchair, as a brand ambassador and video producer, I use that voice experience for making training and travel videos all the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.spintheglobe.net
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sylvia_longmire
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/spintheglobeonwheels
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/sylvialongmire
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/smlongmire
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@spintheglobe
Image Credits
Sylvia Longmire Nicole O’Brien