In this solo introduction to Season Five of The Soul of Travel Podcast, Christine shares the privilege it’s been to sit across from so many incredible, beautiful people, to learn from them, and to witness how the ways in which they work weave into the tapestry that truly is the soul of travel.
Christine shares:
- The history and future of the Soul of Travel Podcast
- Soul of Travel’s reach around the world
- Soul of Travel joins the JourneyWoman family
- Our Amplification Allies: Women’s Work, The Travel Coach Network, and Women Travel Leaders
- How to Support the Show
Join Christine now for this soulful conversation with you, our Soul of Travel listeners.
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To read our episode blog post, access a complete transcript, see full show notes, and find resources and links mentioned in this episode, head to the Soul of Travel Website.
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Credits. Christine Winebrenner Irick (Host, creator, editor). Original music by Clark Adams. Editing, production, and content writing by Carly Oduardo.
Support the Show.
Christine: Welcome to the Soul of Travel podcast. I'm Christine Winebrenner Irick, the founder of Lotus Sojourns, a book lover, Yogi mom of three girls and your guide On this journey. We are here to discover why women who are seasoned travelers, industry professionals, and global community leaders fall in love with the people and places of this planet. Join me to explore how travel has inspired our guests to change the world. We seek to understand the driving force, unending curiosity and wanderlust that can best be described as the soul of Travel. Soul of Travel Podcast is a proud member of the Journey Woman family, where we work to create powerful forums for women to share their wisdom and inspire meaningful change in travel. In each soulful conversation, you'll hear compelling travel stories alongside tales of what it takes to bring our creative vision to life as we're living life with purpose, chasing dreams and building businesses to make the world a better place. But the real treasure here is the story of the journey as we reflect on who we were, who we are, and who we're becoming. We are travelers, thought leaders and heart-centered change makers, and this is the Soul of Travel.
Christine: Hey listeners, welcome back and welcome to season five of the Soul of Travel podcast. We are a long way away from those first days back when I felt guided by the universe to lean into a purpose, to tell a different story about travel, to connect an audience to the people who inspire me with their dedication to make the world a better place through travel. It has been an incredible journey of growth. It has also been a great privilege to sit across from so many beautiful people and learn from them and witness how the ways they work weaves into a tapestry that becomes the true soul of travel. This season will expand our reach by joining the Journey Woman Family. Many of you have already heard this news, but I'm really excited to be partnering with them to deepen our impact and broaden our community. Journey Woman is the world's original solo travel publication for women and was founded by the late Evelyn Hannon in 1994 and was acquired by Carolyn Ray in 2019.
We have joined forces to create a powerful forum for women to share their wisdom and inspire meaningful change in travel. So you'll be hearing so much more from Journey Woman as we bring soul of travel into their community and beyond. I am also happy to share about three other communities who have joined me as amplification allies and they're supporting me and my mission to amplify the voices of women in travel. So thank you to women's work, the Travel Coach Network, and women travel leaders. These are all organizations I am proud to be a part of and who are aligned in creating a more equitable industry and world. I'm also really excited to say we have our first founding sponsor and I have a big reveal coming up to share more about this partnership. So I'm not going to spill the beans here, but keep listening to learn more about their business and why we're joining forces to create spaces for Voices of Women in travel.
A few other new things you may notice here with this first episode of this season is New podcast Cover Art. You might've noticed that on Apple Podcast, Spotify. Wherever you are, you'll also see a new tagline, women's Wisdom and Mindful Travel. In the past, each season has had a theme. We've had voices of women, women influencing change, but as we reflected over our journey, I began to see that the magic in each conversation really lay in these two areas, women sharing their wisdom personally and professionally, and sharing how travel can be more meaningful to travelers and to destinations and communities. So I look forward to more deep conversations and magical moments to come. As I began to prepare for the season and started to host some of the first conversations I have to admit, I started to hear from that voice, the one that was asking me, are you still doing this?
Are you still adding value? Or are you adding to the noise? As we all know, there is so much happening in this world right now and it's overwhelming to my heart and to my soul, and I began to question, who am I serving and what am I doing? Do we have a unique purpose here? But then I was reminded by two of my guests, one past, and one who you'll hear from soon. My past guest, Lynan Saperstein, shared a post on Facebook that said, cultivating community sisterhood, deepening and opening my heart wider tonight because I believe one person's energy and choices shift the entire universe. I am the change, you are the change. We are the change we want to see, hear, feel, and sense in this world. And with that post, she reminded me that sometimes the best thing we can do is to be love.
So I will continue to lean into the things that bring me joy and feel my heart with love and continue to shine a light on others. I was also speaking with Dawn Booker, who you'll hear from soon. We talked about purpose and how finding it is supposed to be this great answer, but that we don't often acknowledge the weight of that purpose. She said, you know, it's your purpose when you cannot put it down, and I've talked about this before here on the podcast, but making sure the stories of women are shared in the world and creating a space for sharing deep connection, living our biggest dreams, these are the things I am here for. Until women feel safe, feel heard, and valued, I cannot put my purpose down. So here we are back in another season to celebrate the women making a positive impact around the world, carrying their purposes and being love.
I cannot wait to share their stories and inspire you to write your own. If there's someone you want to hear from you haven't heard from in past seasons, please reach out. You can find me on Instagram at Soul of Travel podcast or at she dot sojourns. If you want to apply to be on the podcast, you can visit the website www.souloftravelpodcast.com, and you can find a speaker application. I really will love to hear from you, so reach out and share your nominations or nominate and apply yourself to join me on the podcast this year. I want to grow this show and its impact. So let's begin by celebrating where we are now. We are just a few downloads away from 126,000 lifetime downloads. So going back to that day, one moment and the first podcast episodes that were launched, and I remember reaching a goal of 100 and I had set a far reaching goal of 300 downloads when I launched with the first 10 episodes, and it seems nearly impossible.
We're sitting here today at this milestone of over 125,000 lifetime downloads. We've also just shared the hundred and 50th episode, and these episodes are being heard in 108 countries and over 1900 cities in the world. And for me, this is where the real possibilities lie, where the opportunity for connection, for bringing these stories to life connecting one another really exists is in this reach of this podcast to continue to grow. I need you, if you are a business looking to connect with my incredible soul of travel listeners who wants to support the economic needs of the show. I would love to hear from you, and I also want to help you to tell your story. I just began, as I mentioned, working with my first founding sponsor, and it has been so fun to put together the 10 ads that they're going to be sharing over the coming weeks.
It's a unique opportunity for me to get to tell a part of their story, create something that I know is going to really connect to you as my listeners. I value you so much. I've waited a long time to bring sponsors into this space. I want to make sure that it's adding value, even the ads that I'm putting together. I want to make sure that those are telling a story, creating something that adds value on its own. So this is such a unique project. If you are a brand who's curious, please reach out to me. You can email me@connectlotussojourns.com. As I said, I cannot do this without your support. In the show notes of every episode, you'll find a link for individual one-time or monthly donations you can make via PayPal. Again, you can join me as an episode sponsor, a season sponsor, have different advertising packages if you want to run Promotionals for your business.
Great fits are going to be brands that are catering to women sustainable brands, travel brands that are focused on more intentional and meaningful travel. That's what my listeners, what all of you I know really come to trust from this space, and I want to honor what we've created here together. Everything that I receive helps me to ensure I can continue to tell these stories and connect with you and connect with women and travel around the world. If you love the show and cannot make a financial contribution, it's okay. I want you to be here. But I would love it if you could visit Apple Podcast and leave a review and share it with me on Instagram. Also, a great way for you to have an impact and help us grow is to just share your favorite episode with a friend and don't just share it with them.
Tell them what moments or ideas spoke to you and why you think they would love to listen. And if you feel inspired, share that with me on social and be sure to tag at Soul of Travel podcast and at Journey Woman, we really would love to hear from you. So thank you again so much for your support over the past four seasons. I have truly loved every soulful minute and will be ever grateful for the opportunity to bring these conversations to you. I'll see you back here next week as we officially kick off the season with my conversation with Melissa de Silva. Until then, enjoy your journey.
Thank you for listening to Soul of Travel presented by Journey Woman. I hope you enjoyed the journey. If you loved this conversation, I encourage you to subscribe and rate the podcast. Please share episodes that inspire you with others because this is how we extend the impact of this show. Learn more about each of my guests by reading our episode blogs, which are more than your average show notes. I think you'll love the connection. Find our episode blogs at www.souloftravelpodcast.com. I'm so proud of the way these conversations are bringing together people from around the world. If this sounds like your community, welcome, I'm so happy you are here. I am all about community and would love to connect. You can find me on Facebook at Soul of Travel Podcast or follow me on Instagram, either at she dot sojourns or at Soul of Travel podcast. Stay up to date by joining the Soul of Travel podcast mailing list. You'll also want to explore the Journey Woman community and its resources for women travelers over 50. I'd also like to share a quick thank you to my podcast producer and content magician, Carly Eduardo, CEO of Convergente.
I look forward to getting to know you and hopefully hear your story.