We recently connected with Nadine Duncan and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Nadine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I love being an entrepreneur! I would never want to have a regular job again. As an independent contractor and business owner, I have a particular freedom of time that is priceless.

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 started the Traveling Black Women Network in 2015 after writing & publishing, Diary of a Traveling Black Woman: A Guide to International Travel. I wrote this guide in response to a need for information on travel specifically curated for Black Women. Whenever I spoke of my travels, many of my friends and colleagues would ask the same series of questions–How much did it cost? How do they treat Black people? How do they treat Women? How was the food? What can you do there? What about your hair?

As a result, I wrote a guide to center the Black Women’s unique travel experiences and concerns. Although blogs were on the rise at the time, I desired to reach beyond the digital platform and offer a good old-fashioned book that could be read anywhere as well as easily gifted to another person. I then decided to build a network that included a Facebook group where Black women could share ideas and experiences, an Instagram page where photos of Traveling Black Women are used to change the narrative on travel, and a Twitter page where I share travel deals and useful travel products.

Today, the network has now grown to having multiple travel guides, a Podcast, t-shirts, YouTube page and a presence throughout social media.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There are many challenges to building a business of this nature. When I first began my journey, I was working as a Special Education Teacher full time. With so many demands on my time, I had to be intentional about making the time to continue building my business. Other challenges on this journey have come from learning different aspects of business along the way–marketing, social media marketing, partnerships, contracts, etc. It can be extremely costly to hire a business consultant, so I spend a lot of time on google, LinkedIn, and in the free sections of small business pages.

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

Social Media, particularly Instagram, has been the best source if new clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.travelingblackwomen.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/travelingblackwomen
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/TravelingBlackWomen
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/travelingblackwomen
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/travelingblkwmn
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@travelingblackwomen

Image Credits
Mike D.