Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ebony Baker and Marissa Walker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ebony Baker and Marissa Walker, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
In the year of 2014, our friendship developed in college over an intense game of hide and seek. As complete strangers we realized that to be triumphant our odds were better together. Since then our friendship has blossomed into not only best friends but business partners. Over a conversation during lockdown in 2020, we shared a vision to start a new business that became our beacon of hope during a time of uncertainty and isolation. This business would signify our journey as two women navigating through adulthood, seeing the world, and visualizing where our faith could take us. We called this journey Black Travel Girls.
As time progressed and lockdown restrictions were lifted, we began to lose sight of this dream. We wondered if Black Travel Girls was something obtainable because at the time traveling globally was doubtful. A spontaneous weekend trip to London in 2023 would ignite our shared vision to commit to this venture with confidence, boldness, and unwavering faith that initially propelled us to dream big.
Black Travel Girls is a travel and lifestyle business that seeks to offer full scale trip advice, travel guidance, and itineraries to help Millennials and Gen Z women of color embark on their own journeys and make travel a lifestyle.
We are most excited to watch this community grow as well as ourselves!
Ebony Baker and Marissa Walker, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
We’re both from Atlanta and attended THE Tennessee State University, which is where we met and both majored in Communications. While in college, we always envisioned life after graduation. We thought our goal was to live in New York but didn’t realize then that God had bigger plans.
We’re proud to say that we achieved our goal of living in New York and are thankful for the growth we experienced there. Today, we realize that dream was our first glimpse of what Black Travel Girls could become.
So far we’re most proud to say that the idea we shared is now turning into a lifestyle brand. For us, Black Travel Girls has been an example of “Walking by Faith and not by sight.” We hope to use our brand as an opportunity to build a community that helps to encourage, inspire, and educate Black women who desire to share this sentiment.
How’d you meet your business partner?
We met in college, majored in Communications, and minored in Theater. We were inseparable on and off stage so much that people thought we were twins.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Overtime we had to let go of our fear of pivoting that was causing us to second guess our vision. As a result, we’re learning to step outside the box and understand that building a brand isn’t linear. There’s room for anyone that’s willing to share their journey. We believe that ours is worth sharing and gaining this understanding helped us see the value in our brand.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blacktravelgirls?igsh=MndlMzU5eDhqbTAx&utm_source=qr
- Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@blacktravelgirls?_t=8jj5GMtIvuM&_r=1