Today we’d like to introduce you to Alice Ford.
Alice, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in the woods of New England, living closely in harmony with nature with parents that loved travel and adventure. As I grew older, my love for traveling grew into a full on passion to see the world and become connected to people of other cultures, find meaning in the human spirit and see places that blew my mind for its natural beauty. I competed in three sports throughout college and besides travel and conservation, my passions were in sports and entertainment. Hoping one day, I could be the next Samantha Brown. After college, I received a Masters in Science in Environmental Management in hopes of spending my life in conservation, environmental assessment or environmental law.
I bounced around from sales to marketing to hoteling, and then into film, which is what finally landed me in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, I have been working as a Stuntwoman and Travel Host. Working on movies like Transformers, Star Trek, Tenet and soon to come Red Notice with the Rock to name a few. In 2013, I began making my own travel documentaries on World Heritage Sites, National Parks, Outdoor locations, mountains and epic adventure locations around the world. Since then, I have won 5 Telly Awards, as well as numerous other awards as both a host, producer and filmmaker. These can be seen on my website or my YouTube channel Alice’s Adventures On Earth as well as on Amazon Prime.
With my passion for protecting the environment and travel in 2015, I started my company called TravGanic. TravGanic is an eco marketplace and platform designed to connect travelers with sustainably certified tours and hotels around the world. Since its inception, we have partnered with dozens of hotels and tour companies around the world that have proven track records on protecting the environment, promoting indigenous communities, and supporting local wildlife. This platform grew from my love for both travel, and conservation and my goal is to grow it into the largest ecotravel platform in the US. Saving the planet through education has always been a fundamental part of my life and mission, and I have brought these together with my company TravGanic and through my educational adventure films on Alice’s Adventures.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting a business is a challenge in itself, but starting two businesses while you are working full time in the film business is a whole other kind of challenge. For my business TravGanic One of our biggest struggles is competing with massive OTA’s like Expedia, Booking.com and others. We are basically having to build an OTA from scratch, which is pretty difficult to do bootstrapping. Luckily tour operators that believe in sustainability all want a platform like this which gives us a great deal of confidence in continuing on in the face of this lull in tourism. For Alice’s Adventures my biggest challenge is being able to stay consistent when I’m working 50-60 hours a week on other projects. I always have a million ideas for content, articles, videos and travel collaborations but time is not always on my side.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Two Companies – TravGanic & Alice’s Adventures On Earth – what should we know?
TravGanic is a marketplace for sustainable travel. We not only connect travelers with tour companies but we build custom trips from scratch based on client needs and wants, choosing sustainable hotels and tour operators as we build personalized itineraries.
We partner with tour companies worldwide that are sustainably certified. We also have a certification program for tours, vacation rentals and hoteliers based on ISO and UNEP standards for sustainability. Tour companies and hotels that want to partner with us must be already certified with one of our several partner certification companies. Or become certified with us. A typical certification measures environmental impact in several categories like water usage, waste management, electricity usage, purchasing and community support.
Our marketplace allows tour companies that qualify to connect directly with our website so customers can book tours, gather information and build the trip of their dreams with the lowest impact as possible. We aim to not only show people wildlands but connect people more deeply with indigenous groups and support wildlife and local groups. Our website offers a mix of tours in trekking, safari’s, cycling, wildlife viewing, wine tasting and cultural expeditions. Tours are as of today in several countries like Peru, Tanzania, Uganda, Cambodia, Italy, Portugal and Antartica with new companies being added weekly.
We also have a small but growing list of vacation rentals, hotels and Bed and Breakfasts that are sustainable. Eco huts in the jungles of Costa Rica, treehouses in Africa and even 5 star lodgings in the Utah desert.
Alice’s Adventures is my personal brand that is all about finding adventure, getting out into nature, pushing yourself and exploring the unknown. I showcase it in a few different video series, articles, and travel guides on the web at alicesadventuresonearth.com and youtube.com/alicefordadventures. My website is a great resource for people looking for travel guides, sustainability tips, trip ideas and places to hike. I have been writing and creating videos for more than 7 years now. Several videos and my series Alice’s Adventures have won Telly Awards. I have been to places all over the world. Some of my most popular and award winning videos have been herding reindeer in the Arctic Circle, hiking and seeing the Midnight Sun in Norway, Visiting Banff National Park in Canada and touring some of the Southwests best National Parks in my series called National Park Adventures.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
For this industry, you really above all need to love people and have an adventurer’s spirit. My love for travel and my love for wanting other people to experience it, while not ruining it, is what drives me everyday.
Pricing:
- We have all levels of travel from budget hotels and day tours to high end luxury hotels and safari’s. $100-$10,000 for a stay/trip
Contact Info:
- Website: www.travganic.com; www.alicesadventuresonearth.
com - Phone: 1-833-878-4262
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/travganic; @alicesadventuresonearth
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/travganic
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/travganic
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
