We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gwendolyn Buchanan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Gwendolyn, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
The mission of Journey with Divine Travel is to inspire and support women to connect with their divine essence (soul); awaken to their inner wisdom, as the foundation to create, embrace, nourish and sustain well-being. We do this through curating solo and small group retreats, culturally immersive journeys and getaways that allow women to engage, experience and evolve. Our motto, your Journey begins within…choose your destination speaks to this.
From 2013 – 2020, I became primary caregiver for both of my parents (now deceased) which was one of the most emotionally and physically exhausting seasons that I can recall.
In 2017, I attended a Sister to Sister Leadership conference in Punta Cana, DR. Again, a seed was planted inspiring my vision to align my passion for coaching & travel to create solo and small group retreats for women.
I am building on my PASSION, skills, experience and expertise as a Certified Life Coach, National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, Travel Advisor, (and soon to be certified Wellness Travel Specialist) to create safe, necessary spaces and opportunities for women to pause from the day-to-day grind, take intentional & necessary time for self reflection and self care as an expression of self love. I believe that this truly is integral to creating and sustaining a wellness lifestyle and overall well being.
From inception, I have been self-funding my business with earnings, savings, credit card. I was already established as an LLC, and building my business before the pandemic. When the pandemic forced the world to pause, every industry especially the travel industry suffered greatly. I was not astute enough to understand the PPE requirements or if I qualified, however in hind sight I believe I would have. Those funds who have helped a lot to cover many of the operating costs that I have paid out of pocket.
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?
Journey with Divine Travel is a boutique travel agency, offering professional travel research, planning, design & booking services with a personal touch. My primary client base are women ages 50+, although on occasion I serve others. I curate travel experiences catering to their curiosity and desire to connect and engage with diverse people, experience food & culture and unique activities. I also curate solo and small group retreats focusing on self-care/wellness and spiritual formation.
I am building on my PASSION, skills, experience and expertise as a Certified Life Coach, National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, Travel Advisor, (and so to be certified Wellness Travel Specialist) to create safe, necessary spaces and opportunities for women to pause from the day-to-day grind, take intentional & necessary time for self reflection and self care as an expression of self love. I believe that this truly is integral to creating and sustaining a wellness lifestyle and overall well being.
I’ve travelled to 39 of our 52 US states, with the goal of crossing them all off of my TREASURE MAP! Internationally, I’ve experienced 8 countries, and definitely there are more to explore and experience. My destination experience includes: Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Florida, Jamaica and Mexico. However, with my travel partners/connections, I can curate a memorable experience to wherever my client chooses.
Your Journey begins within…choose your destination = ENAGE. EXPERIENCE. EVOLVE.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
From inception, I have been self-funding my business with earnings, savings, credit card. I was already establish as an LLC, and building my business before the pandemic. When the pandemic forced the world to pause, every industry especially the travel industry suffered greatly. I was not astute enough to understand the PPE requirements or if I qualified, however in hind sight I believe I would have. Those funds who have helped a lot to cover many of the operating costs that I have paid out of pocket.
I now know that there are resources and programs in my community to support small businesses in the forms of grants and micro-loans which I am in process of applying/positioning myself for the opportunity to access.
My business is my vision and I’m committed to investing in myself, and sacrificing/downsizing expenses in order to achieve it.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Building my business has been a slow yet rewarding process while balancing my many roles as mother, grandmother, employee, servant leader in my community and continuing to be a caregiver for my dad. I wanted to give up, I almost gave up! In 2020, my dad passed and then we experienced the pandemic. This forced and necessary PAUSE for the world also gave me time and space to exhale, process my grief, reflect on my journey and my vision for the future. It also provided me the opportunity to continue to build the foundation for business, research, train and clarify. I emerged from that season with a RENEWED COMMITMENT to my vision, and the perfect timing aligning with an international trend toward wellness travel.
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Image Credits
I took all of these pics with my iPhone.