INTRODUCING OUR AMBASSADORS
FROM WILDLIFE CONSERVATIONISTS AND LGBTQIA+ VOICES, TO SUSTAINABILITY CHAMPIONS AND ADVOCATES FOR ACCESSIBLE TRAVEL, WE ARE THRILLED TO INTRODUCE OUR NEW AMBASSADORS.
We recognise that minority groups are underrepresented both in our organisation and in the tourism sector at large and want to seek to improve, both from within The Conscious Travel Foundation and across the wider industry. We are excited to be partnering with industry change-makers Lightning Travel Recruitment to launch our new Ambassadors Programme, bringing new, dynamic voices from all over the world to The Conscious Travel Foundation. Our hope is that together, we can create a more diverse and inclusive community, driving vital conversations and highlighting underrepresentation.
Meet our brilliant Ambassadors below:
SIANI ABRAHAMS
Siani is studying an MA in Postcolonial Culture and her passion for travel is informed and inspired by a respect for, and honouring of, communities, histories, and lands. Keen to connect with meaningful experiences, she is a natural storyteller and writer and is excited to continue exploring the world around her through a creative lens. Having dipped her toes in documentary film, this medium is especially fascinating.
She seeks to consider the ways tourism as an industry can embed and use understandings of postcolonial legacies in tourism today, focusing on understanding how we can better engage in travel in a way that’s conscious of and beneficial to everyone involved.
VANESSA ANGELINA
Vanessa Angelina is the founder of Intego Consulting, a boutique sustainability and impact advisor consultancy on a mission to transform systems to serve people, planet, and prosperity. She is also a PhD Candidate at the Griffith Institute for Tourism, researching regenerative approaches within tourism.
Vanessa has over 12 years of experience working in and teaching sustainability, environmental science, and climate change in industry, non-profits and higher education. She holds a Master of Environmental Science with Distinction, majoring in Climate Change Adaptation; a Bachelor of Environmental Science with Faculty Commendation for academic excellence majoring in Environmental Sustainability; and a Bachelor of Marketing, cum laude.
HANNAH AVOL
Hannah joins The Conscious Travel Foundation with over 15 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry. She started her career in hotel management with Marriott before joining the destination marketing sector where she held a global marketing role in Santa Monica, California.
Hannah’s knowledge and expertise in destination branding, marketing partnerships and community engagement has led to her most recent role with Datafy. She consults with destinations, using data to help provide insights and campaign strategy. Hannah is passionate about helping destinations identify unique goals, opportunities and challenges, building consensus amongst stakeholders and activating tourism as a vehicle to economic development.
Hannah is a native of Indianapolis but calls North County San Diego home and loves to travel and experience new adventures with her husband and two young boys.
JANA HEISS FRÖMAN
After more than a decade in advertising, product and content production, Jana decided it was time to pursue a career within her passion for travel but also square that against her fear of climate change and explore ways to make a difference. She recently completed a Masters in Sustainable Destination Development from Uppsala University and is focused on how we can not only bring awareness to conscious and sustainable travel to the average consumer, but make it a natural part of decision making.
Jana is based in Stockholm, but you can often find her in the US and Cambodia.
LEONARDO KILES
Product designer, marketing coordinator, international cabin crew, psychologist, storyteller, passionate traveller, and a lover of photography and the stories it portrays. Founder of The Why Travel, an online platform created to compile stories of travel experiences, itinerary ideas, businesses, and projects that aim to contribute to the community around them. The idea first emerged after realising that he no longer found purpose in his own travels, that he wanted to not only “take” from his own experiences, but also to cause a positive impact to the places he visited. He wanted to make more conscious choices about what kind of experiences to look for, and with that, contribute positively to the places he was visiting.
JOSEPH KENDALL LANGLEY
Originally from Australia and following a scholarship in Tokyo, the decision to make London home was one motivated by a desire to see the world from one of its most dynamic global cities.
Since then, Joseph has designed his life and career around the travel industry – bearing witness to record-breaking heights in demand and historic challenges to its status-quo in recent years.
As an ambassador to The Conscious Travel Foundation, Joseph seeks to inspire members of a renewed industry and the broader public by highlighting opportunities for ethical, environmentally low-impact travel, with a special focus on the Asia-Pacific region.
VINOTH LIYANAGE
Having a lifelong enthusiasm and appreciation for wildlife and nature, at the age of 14, Vinoth joined the Sri Lankan Young Zoologist Association and continues the passion. Introduced to travel in 2014, Vinoth fell in love with it and began learning how to show the unseen beauty of Sri Lanka and support local communities by taking sustainable tourism steps.
Fortunate enough to visit over 22 different countries and interact with amazing individuals from all around the world, Vinoth learnt how each country is taking their part to support their own community. Excited to share his expertise and experience regarding whether we should all work on ourselves to make us better as individuals, or wait till "it gets better”, is not only for fellow LGBTQ+ communities across the world, but also for every individual to improve their quality of life.
HARIKA PARMAR
Sustainable tourism advocate, plant-fuelled environmentalist and founder of award-winning VOGO Tours. Harika believes in the power of meat free travel to positively impact the planet through meticulously crafted vegan and vegetarian journeys. Harika ignites conversations for change and is driven to spark solutions to spread the good of ethical exploration.
As a minority female founder, Harika is passionate about amplifying the voice of underrepresented ethnic female leaders within travel.
Motto for change: travel is diverse so let’s represent this in our industry.
MILO PUTTNAM
Milo is the founder and creator of Laro – Ethical Wildlife Travels. Fueled by a love of storytelling Milo is driven to empower travellers to journey for wildlife, instead of engaging in unethical practices.
With over 10 years of conservation and environmental education experience, his life’s calling is to end the exploitation of wildlife for tourism both in captivity and in nature. When he's not crafting compelling wildlife content, Milo loves going on adventures near and far with his husband Lance.
SUKEERTI RAIKWAR
Sukeerti has been working in the travel and tourism industry for almost 15 years in different roles and capacities. An explorer, product developer and travel designer, Sukeerti has also worked in philanthropy and sustainable tourism. She enjoys working with grass-root organisations and clusters, co-creating tourism products and linking the products to sustainable travel itineraries.
A pandemic-preneur, Sukeerti founded Soulful Safaris, an impact driven B2B start-up focusing on well-being: the well-being of the planet, well-being of the communities, and well-being of the self. She works with outbound tour operators to India and co-creates experiential, sustainable, transformational, and impactful experiences by bringing together a community of conscious luxury travellers.
RICHARD THOMPSON
For over 20 years Richard has tirelessly applied his vision, knowledge, commitment and passion for making travel accessible and inclusive – everywhere, to everyone…
Richard’s journey is epic. It’s a complex fusion of over forty years in the tourism industry, independent exploration across 70+ countries and half a lifetime turning adversity to his advantage after he had his own life-changing personal injury. He has rekindled travel ambitions for those that thought their travelling days were over and made impossible dreams into memorable reality. And this isn’t tempered by how complex a person's additional requirements are or where in the world they want to explore.
Richard is invited to educate and enlighten around the globe. His work is both motivating and inspiring.
DOMINIQUE ZAMORA
Dominique is a nonprofit marketer and environmental communicator based in Los Angeles, California. Formerly a freelance food blogger and filmmaker, she seeks to leverage her years of diverse multimedia experience to help realize an environmentally-just and regenerative future for all human and more-than-human nature.
She is a strong advocate for the decommodification of travel, culture, and place — and the subsequent shift towards more diverse and exchange-driven forms of travel based on communal care, altruism, and reciprocity.
Find out more about our Ambassadors Programme or get in touch for more information.
We also encourage you to visit the websites and social media of our individual Ambassadors to learn more about their work.
