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

Alana, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

I am hoping to build a legacy showing how important support is in everyone’s life whether it be through business, relationships or community. When I was researching and planning my business I met with everyone I could think of and joined every group I could find to make sure my tours covered all topics from many lenses. When I take a tour through my city, my hope is that participants have a great time but that they learn a lot about our city (Spokane WA) and through this experience they genuinely care and feel a connection. I hope when I am gone that people will remember that I truly cared and supported my hometown and I was the biggest cheerleader for Spokane.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I spent my twenties in the restaurant industry, and I thought I would own my own restaurant someday. I loved everything about food, and I sought out ways to learn more through travel and other cultures. My travels awakened a passion for experiencing places and people through other means such as hiking, mountain climbing and other outdoor recreation that I sought out every place I went. A life-changing trip to Africa caused me to rethink my future and I opted to go back to school for a degree in Anthropology. After meeting my husband and having a couple of kids I again found myself pondering what I wanted to be when I “grew up”. I still enjoyed food, culture, travel, the outdoors- you name it but I was having trouble deciding on something that would fill my soul with happiness for a job. While out walking with my kids, I started telling them stories about everything we came across from buildings to art work to plants. Our walk ended at a neighborhood restaurant where we enjoyed lunch and discussion about our walk- when it hit me! I could offer these guided walking experiences highlighting everything I love….
my business, Wander Spokane Guided Walking Tours was born.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I have been told multiple times by customers that they can tell that I LOVE what I do. I am not motivated by profit, I am motivated by life, by passion and it comes through in every tour I lead. I am genuine.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

During Covid we couldn’t provide tours, so we had to come up with a way to stay engaged with the community and we wanted to be supportive of our partners. We decided to host a weeklong, city wide scavenger hunt in which people not only learned about our city while exploring but participants received bonus points if they made purchases at our partners businesses. We doubled down and made the event a fundraiser for Big Table that supports folds in the hospitality industry, and it was a big success!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wanderspokane.com
• Instagram: wanderspokane
• Facebook: WanderSpokaneWA

Image Credits

Alana Livingston
Michael Franklin