We were lucky to catch up with Joli Moniz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joli, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I always say life is both too short and too long to spend doing work you loathe. If fortunate enough to have a choice, the key to success I believe is doing what you love to do as you will pour all of yourself into that “work” and enjoy the process. In addition to this passion, I believe it also takes patience and persistence. Patience is a must because most new ideas or businesses do not become successful over night. Success takes time – sometimes a long time. Through the building months or years, you are sure to be confronted with challenges and disappointments. Despite what comes your way, you must be resilient and persist. Eventually you will reach and even surpass your goals.

For the first several years of A Vontade’s existence, I had to juggle other work to supplement my income. After some years of organic growth, it had grown enough to sustain itself and to be a full time career for me. But it was not without its challenges. Tourism is a field that is extremely vulnerable to external forces. Over the past decade A Vontade has dealt with inclement weather grounding flights and ruining itineraries, domestic airline strikes and bankruptcies, world financial crises and a pandemic. Each issue or crisis was an opportunity to learn and strengthen. My passion for and deep belief in what A Vontade is doing for the countries we serve especially Cabo Verde and for our client family make forging forward the only choice.

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?

I was born in Rhode Island but raised in Connecticut by second-generation Cabo Verdean American parents who instilled in me a love of my culture and brought me “home” to Cabo Verde for the first time at the age of 15. That trip deepened my love for and connection to my country of heritage.

In 2012 I left my cushy New York life to follow my lifelong dream and moved to the capital of Cabo Verde, Praia, with the plan of staying “about a year” – long enough to learn more of the local language, Kriolu. During that year I had many friends and family members visit and realized how much I enjoyed showing off the authentic culture of Cabo Verde. A high school friend who happened to be visiting for a second time in a 3 month span joked that I should be getting paid for all I put into my hospitality. Realizing that the tourism field combines so much that I am passionate about – people, history, culture, travel, education, service, even the arts – I founded the US based boutique travel company A Vontade Tours. The goal of A Vontade, which in Portuguese means “feel comfortable or at home,” is to encourage people to visit Cabo Verde and several other countries of the African diaspora such as Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, Sao Tome and Principe and even Portugal, and to experience them in a culturally authentic way while contributing to their local economies.

To meet the growing needs of our clients who come to Cabo Verde and fall in love with the country, in 2020 A Vontade began to provide Cabo Verde relocation, real estate and citizenship assistance. We also promote Caboverdean artists and broker sales for them, and provide fair trade work for local artisans. I even have a little creative fun with my own line of accessories and souvenirs called Kuzas di Cabo Verde – all sold online and in my new gift shop in the historic city of Cidade Velha.

A few things set us apart from other companies primarily focused on travel throughout the Cabo Verde islands. First, while all other companies focus on the large European market, we focus on attracting an American clientele. Furthermore, we market to a mainly BIPOC audience. Lastly, we have started to promote to travelers and investors from other African nations – an entire continent most of our competitors neglect.

I am most proud of the business opportunities we provide for the people of Cabo Verde and our other destinations, in our community support through a US based non-profit program I co-founded called Cape Verde For Life, and of the often life-changing impact we have on our travelers. It is a total win/win/win!

Have you ever had to pivot?

After nearly seven years in business during which our client base had slowly but steadily grown, I made the decision to step out on faith and quit my other work in order to focus all of my time and attention on A Vontade. It immediately paid off and even more business began flowing in, and 2020 was promising to be our largest year yet. Then…the Covid-19 panic hit and one by one our upcoming clients postponed or canceled. Suddenly all activity, all income stopped. Along with the world I had no idea how long this pandemic would last, so in the meantime I had to create other ways to survive. I took advantage of the sudden abundance of free time and started to formalize processes for other services our travel clients had been requesting more and more: real estate, relocation, dual citizenship etc. I realized that these were services we could handle virtually despite the pandemic. I also formalized my partnerships with artists from Cabo Verde and began promoting and selling high end art. Another pivot was pouring more time into the creation of my Kuzas di Cabo Verde souvenir and accessories line. The online sales of art and accessories, as well as various service packages kept A Vontade afloat throughout the pandemic. And once the world resumed traveling we were even more poised for the sudden growth.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth has absolutely been the largest contributor to the growth of our client base. My team and I go above and beyond for our clients leading up to, throughout and even after their trips and as a result they feel secure and cared for. We embrace them like family. In fact, many clients have actually become dear friends and many return again and again for travel experiences and for our other services, and refer others. One such client is returning this year for three more trips: two to Cabo Verde and lastly to Morocco which will be her 10th A Vontade adventure! “A Vontade” is Portuguese for “feel comfortable” or “feel at home.” Our return clients says coming back each time is like returning home to family, and that is exactly the way we hope they will feel!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.avontade-tours.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/avontadetours/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AVontadeTours
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joli-moniz-896b1a1/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/AVontadeTours
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@avontadetv7056