Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sakeenah Graham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sakeenah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

My mother, sister, and I have traveled the world together and wanted to others to get out and see the world. My mother came to my sister and I with the idea of starting a travel agency. I had just finished breast cancer treatment and decided let’s do it! I love traveling, I love helping people, I was cancer free so why not. We set up our business, had our first clients, and then had another idea…let’s organize a hosted group trip to Bali!

Not all travel agents organize group trip where clients travel with them. In fact, most travel agents do not! But we saw the need for introducing international travel to those who have not experienced it before and the benefit of traveling in a group, with a travel agent. There was a tour company that came highly recommended, they had a great package, and we thought, this could be great! We were a new company, we didn’t have a lot of clients, but decided to take a risk, advertise and market to our friends, family, and network, and see what happens.

We launched the trip October 2023 and almost immediately we had clients who jumped on board, paid the deposit and were going to Bali with us! We were so blown away that we decided to add in a trip to Dubai! So in November 2023, we launched a hosted group trip to Dubai! And had clients sign up for that trip as well!

In June 2024, we took a group of 11 to Dubai and it was magical! The group ranged in ages from those in their 20s to those in their 70s and everyone had a great time! In October 2024, we took a completely different group of 9 to Bali! These group trips were probably the trip of a lifetime for all of us! Many boasted about how they desperately needed the time away, the opportunity to explore a new area of the world, and the trips were better than they could have ever expected.

It was definitely a risk to do what many travel agents don’t do, especially as such a new company. But those risk paid off in so many ways, including obtaining new clients and booking many private group trips to destinations around the world!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Sakeenah Graham. I am the co-owner and co-founder of PNS Travels. We are a black, female, family owned full service travel agency. PNS stands for Patricia (my mother), Nadirah (my sister), and Sakeenah (me). We have traveled the world together for over 30 years and wanted to help others see the world as well.

We understand the difficulty with planning, organizing, and arranging travel! Most people don’t have the time or knowledge necessary to navigate destinations, flights, hotels/resorts, activities, etc. That’s where we come in! We walk our clients through every aspect of travel from deciding on destinations, best times to travel, creating customized itineraries; we do it all! We even help with all the logistics of traveling with others! Often people have a group of friends and/or family they want to travel with, but many don’t want to worry about distributing trip details and information, making sure everyone has booked the trip, organizing and collecting payments, answering questions, etc. This is what we do! We create custom booking websites for each group trip and handle all trip details. Clients can just sent their trip guests to us and we will take care of the rest!

Additionally, we host group trips! We believe that travel is so much better when experienced with others! We organize and host group trips around the world. Hosted group trips are a great way to see the world with others and a trip with a travel agent is the best way to do it! In 2024, we hosted trips to Dubai and Bali. In 2025, we are hosting group trips that include an adults only cruise with Virgin Voyages and another trip to Dubai.

Our business model is simple: We want to help people see the world! If it is something as simple as a conversation about a destination, booking every aspect of a trip, or hosting a trip around the world, we are here to help!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is an essential aspect of our business. We utilize almost every social media platform including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. We started with creating social media posts and graphics to establish brand visibility. There was some interest and minimal interaction. We also started giveaways on our social media pages. We invited people to like, follow, subscribe, etc. and randomly picked a winner. This helped to book our social media presence. Finally, I started posting videos. The videos contained travel tips and tricks, behind the scene videos, and in destination travel videos.

We are still building our social media presence but some advice would be to keep at it. It is hard and the algorithm changes all the time, so what got lots of views and likes today may not get the same tomorrow. Also consistently posting will generate more visibility and that’s the goal of advertising. Finally, the BIGGEST piece of advice, put your logo and/or website on EVERYTHING you post. I posted a quick video, maybe 30 seconds, of me complaining about crying kids on a flight. The video got over 22k views and it did not mention my business or have my logo! Never again!

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

We keep in touch with clients through a weekly email. We try to use catchy tag lines and ideas to catch their attention. For example, in a recent email advertising our adults only group cruise, we titled the email “Calling All Zaddies.” This was a way to encourage men, who are notorious for not traveling, to join us on the cruise. Another example was the email we sent on Monday encouraging clients to use the 1-3 snow days we had this week to plan their spring and summer travel.

We like to treat our clients like family. So for every client who books a trip with us, we send them a travel gift box. The boxes are different for each client trip and are customized based on their destination. For our Bali clients, we sent bug repellant and beach towels. For our Dubai clients, we sent wall adapters and mini fans. For our beach clients, we send sunscreen. Also included in our boxes are our branded water bottles, drawstring bags, hand sanitizer, lip balm, and marketing materials. For repeat clients, we send customize tumblers! For honeymooners and anniversary clients, we send special couples gifts. Our clients have reported how much they love our travel gift boxes and that they are a nice touch and pleasant surprise to receive before their trips.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.PNSTravelsLLC.com
• Instagram: PNSTravelsLLC
• Facebook: PNS Travels LLC
• Youtube: SaktheTravelingAgent
• Other: TikTok: @SaktheTravelingAgent