We recently connected with Sue Davies and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sue thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Travel For Life Now was created by Sue Davies and Regina Ang in 2018. We were in our mid- and late-50s and had just quit our high-level/high-pressure jobs. We were not ready for retirement, but we were ready to find a new way of traveling through our lives. We came up with our business name while sitting around the kitchen table. We chose the name because Travel For Life Now symbolizes creating a business and life that is full of exploration, curiosity, and discovery, both geographically, personally, and professionally.

Sue, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Travel For Life Now includes a creative side (our website and social media) and a business side (nonprofit consulting and teaching). On the creative side, we have a travel website (https://travelforlifenow.com) where we share our travels around the world as well as commentary on the travel industry. In addition, we are freelance travel writers for other websites and publications. We see travel as a way to bring people together, to give back to local communities, and to see the world with new eyes. It is an activity of exploration, discovery, and curiosity. Travel, however, can also be an exploitative activity due to over-tourism and other issues. We explore these topics on our website (for example: Should We Travel? Ethical Tourism During COVID, Our Travel Writing: AI & the Future, and Lesbian Travel Stories: 12 Tips for Traveling as a Gay Couple & 9 Tips for Travel Agencies).

In addition, Travel For Life Now has a nonprofit consulting practice. As part of this work, we lead trainings and consultations for nonprofit Boards of Directors, Executive Directors, and staff in the areas of individual giving, grant writing, board development, and campaigns. We specialize in supporting women- and BIPOC-led organizations. Travel For Life Now is currently engaged in consulting projects in Central Asia and Uganda.

Have you ever had to pivot?

COVID presented an opportunity for us to pivot. Travel was shut down, and we did not think it was ethical to promote travel, especially international travel. Even as COVID-19 lessened, we had concerns about the ethics of travel. As a result, we paused both our freelance travel writing and content creation. We saw that nonprofits in the US were struggling during this period, especially those that were not focused on direct service. For instance, many smaller could not pivot to virtual programming because they did not have the necessary technology. This period was very challenging for young people, and these nonprofits were lifesavers. As a result, we decided to pivot to support the nonprofit community. We took on consulting projects with an emphasis on youth programs and woman- and BIPOC-led organizations. Nonprofit staff and leaders were deeply concerned about the future of the sector and the communities that they served. Sue’s courses at NYU also presented an opportunity to help newly emerging nonprofit leaders not only survive but also grow during this period. We were honored to support people and organizations through COVID.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

In terms of our nonprofit consulting practice, we primarily gain new clients through existing relationships. Sue spent 40+ years in the nonprofit sector in New York and New Jersey and has taught at New York University for 18 years. During that period, she established a large network among fundraising leaders and nonprofit organizations. We have a boutique consulting practice and take on projects that reflect our values.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://travelforlifenow.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travelforlifenow/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/travelforlifenow/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suedavies397/
• Youtube: @travelforlifenow

Image Credits

Travel For Life Now