We recently connected with Tess Kazenoff and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tess thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

This is something I think about often! I first started thinking about starting a travel blog 10 years ago, when I initially fell in love with traveling.

Sometimes I beat myself up a bit about not going through with it then — in those days, it was so much easier to grow a blog and social media following, and it’s so hard for me to not wonder where I would be now had I not allowed fear and insecurity to hold me back.

But, I also know that there’s no changing the past, and all I can do is not waste more time not pursuing what I want.

I launched my travel blog, Tess the Traveler, in February 2024, after getting laid off from my job at a local newspaper — so while those circumstances were far from ideal, I knew I finally had no excuse to keep delaying what had been in the back of my mind for years.

You may never feel 100% prepared to take that next step, and that’s okay.

I like to believe that I started when I was meant to start. And I also know that the experiences I’ve had over the years, from pursuing different careers, improving my photography, writing, and research skills as a journalist, and developing discipline are all invaluable now in this next stage of my career.

Tess, 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?

I run a travel blog, Tess the Traveler, that shares budget travel guides and itineraries.

I first started my blog in February 2024, but it had been in the works for years, since I first began traveling at the age of 19.

Over the years as I worked as a restaurant server, was in and out of school, and then became a journalist, I would squeeze trips in when I could, always with a limited budget and time.

I know many other people are in the same position, wanting to travel and experience new places, but feeling limited by resources.

My goal is to show you how it’s possible to have an amazing trip — from trying local foods, learning about history and culture, spending time in nature, to seeing interesting towns and cities.

I share guides that reflect the way I like to travel, and I try to do as much research as possible for readers, so they can worry less about logistics, and focus more on having an impactful travel experience.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

To me, there’s nothing that leaves me feeling inspired like travel does.

It’s also just played a huge role in my life, from guiding me to my next step when I had no idea what I wanted to do career-wise, to helping me rediscover my confidence in times that I’ve felt low self-worth, to even leading me to meet my husband.

It’s really changed my life in a million ways, and working toward a life of even more travel and freedom is what drives me to keep going amid the challenges of trying to grow a travel blog nowadays.

I also believe that being exposed to other people, communities, and cultures can play a huge role in increasing empathy. I think that travel makes us more caring, more curious, and more tolerant of others. Traveling exposes you to other ways of life, and it also pushes you out of your comfort zone, where your language and your way of doing things isn’t necessarily the norm.

Of course, when we’re experiencing a place as a tourist, we’re just getting a tiny sample of what it’s like to be in another place, but I think it still has a huge impact.

It also shows us just how much more there is to learn and to experience than what we already know, and gets us out of our bubbles.

It also doesn’t always need to be quite this dramatic! Sometimes, a vacation is just a necessary break from work, from being burnt out, and from regular life. If sharing my guides and experiences on Tess the Traveler can play a small role in helping someone have that, then I’ll be happy!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting at some point is really inevitable, and I’ve had to do it multiple times in my life! For a while, I was determined to be a photographer, and after moving to California from New Jersey when I was 23, I spent a lot of time and effort trying to gain experience in any way I could.

I was an assistant for photo shoots. I did multiple (unpaid) internships that ended up having less to do with photography than advertised. I applied for what must have been a hundred jobs.

I was constantly scouring every job board and Craigslist for any opportunity that could get me closer to what I wanted, until it finally clicked that none of these internships or freelance gigs were really leading me anywhere close to my dream, which was traveling.

I realized that the missing puzzle piece for me was also writing, so I then returned to school to complete my degree in journalism.

For a while, it felt like I’d finally found something that fully clicked. I got to continue taking photos, and also was able to meet interesting people and share their stories. I loved how I learned something new with every person I interviewed and every story I wrote, and how I was able to shed light on topics that don’t always get enough coverage.

In the back of my mind, I of course knew that obstacles must be coming, especially considering all of the difficulties that have been plaguing the journalism industry. But for a while, things felt pretty easy — the easiest they’d ever been for me — and I even found myself with a journalism job just a couple months after graduating, with a salary that I could actually live on without needing to move, which is just insanely lucky in this field.

Although I kept reminding myself how lucky I was, I also knew that I wasn’t as passionate about my job as some of my colleagues were. I constantly felt guilty for my lack of passion, and was overwhelmed with imposter syndrome. I also just didn’t love working in an office, or having to write about some of the topics my job required.

But despite all that, if I hadn’t been laid off over a year ago, I’m sure I would have stayed there indefinitely.

After I lost my job in late 2023, I knew something had to change once again.

I started my travel blog, Tess the Traveler, in early 2024, and I feel more in alignment than I ever have.

I still love journalism, and have continued to freelance, and I hope to focus more energy on journalism as I get my blog to a more stable place.

But building my travel blog has felt like a culmination of all my past endeavors. It’s a reminder that redirection or changing course is never time wasted, and each step was a necessary part of the overall journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tessthetraveler.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tesskazenoff/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tesskazenoff/