We recently connected with Allison Fleece and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Allison thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

So, my co-founder and friend, Danielle, and I met planning our first trip to Kilimanjaro, and we immediately knew it was a match made in adventure heaven. What we didn’t know is that our first experience would not be our last OR that climbing Kilimanjaro would change our lives forever. After our first trip up Mt. Kilimanjaro, we were hooked and knew we were onto something – the unique combo of bringing women together for adventure travel, camaraderie and giving back was something we needed to share! Over the next six months we poured our heart and souls into starting WHOA travel and building a community of kick ass adventurous women all around the world. In 2013, we left our full time jobs in International Education and Advertising to pursue our dream – using our unique style to motivate women to step out of their comfort zones and take on the world!

WHOA travel is now going into its 10th year! If you had asked us 10 years ago that we’d still be bringing women together to form these incredible bonds and take on these life changing experiences we wouldn’t believe you, but here we are, living our dreams and having a small part in others achieving theirs.

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

In 2013, we were just two young women with one big dream. Today, the WHOA community is bigger and stronger than we ever fathomed. Every single day we’re still learning things about ourselves and the world, and have even more curiosity and passion now than when we started. We’re honored and ready to be beside every one of our travelers on their journey, and to have our travelers beside us on ours! To us, adventures are better when they’re shared and every single WHOA adventurer is an important part of the team. Together we’re unstoppable!

How’d you meet your business partner?

Leading up to our first climb on Kilimanjaro a mutual friend introduced me to Danielle, and said she’d be the perfect addition to the team—and whoa was she right! Danielle and I were both transformed by our Kilimanjaro experience and knew this was one we needed to share with more women around the world. We might have been physically back home in New York after our experience, but mentally we were still on the mountain, dreaming of ways to bring more women together to take on adventures of their own.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

In adventure travel, and in life, it’s important not to have too many expectations, and don’t be attached to outcomes. Things rarely go according to plan, especially in adventure travel, so when we let go of expectations we allow the real adventure to happen, and free up space for the best stories to unfold! It’s not about whether things will go awry or wrong, it’s how we respond to those situations that make all the difference between a disaster or an adventure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.whoatravel.com/
• Instagram: instagram.com/whoatravel
• Facebook: facebook.com/whoatravel

Image Credits
Ren Fuller and Nicola Bailey