S2 E22: From Passion for Travel to Award-winning Stories with Jessica Vincent

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In this episode, I talk to Jessica Vincent, a multi-award-winning travel journalist with work in BBC Travel, National Geographic Traveler, CNN Travel, and more.

Since graduating with a literature degree in London, Jessica has been living out of a backpack and reporting from countries across Europe, Africa, and Central and South America. From completing a rare trek through indigenous land in southern Mexico to meeting Belize’s first female drum maker, Jessica’s stories aim to inform, inspire and challenge misconceptions about people and places that are often misunderstood.

Jessica is the current Global Travel Writer of the Year and has been nominated for three more travel journalism awards, including Specialist Writer of the Year and Best Wider World Feature, in 2021. She is also a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers and the host of Inside Travel Media, a weekly IGTV series that interviews some of the world’s best travel journalists, photographers, and filmmakers.

In our conversation, Jessica gives us poignant, real, inspiring, and uplifting advice about a path into travel journalism. I loved talking to Jessica about her experiences and the very real challenges like facing fears, taking action, and how we can better support ourselves while developing our portfolio.

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“Don't be too precious about who it is you're writing for at the beginning, as long as they align with your ideas and certain things. But in terms of, is it a big publication, is it a small publication, that doesn't matter. If you're telling a story that you want to tell and getting to have someone read it for you as part of that package, that is a huge benefit.”

Want to know how you can start publishing your travel stories? Download my step-by-step guide to publishing your stories and start sending your ideas out into the world!

What you’ll learn in this episode:

  • [08:13] What childhood was like for Jessica growing up in southeastern Spain

  • [19:38] Jessica takes her first job with a travel app company

  • [22:43] How having the courage to ask her employer to work remotely put Jessica on her current path

  • [25:15] Dealing with rejection and the embarrassment of being told “no”

  • [29:01] Jessica’s first pitch to write stories for a travel publication

  • [36:59] How to start getting your work out there

  • [37:56] People who impacted Jessica as a travel journalist

  • [47:37] Jessica shares her thoughts on womxn stepping into their brilliance

Featured on the show:

  1. Follow Jessica on Instagram | @nomada.travel

  2. Learn more about Jessica at jessicagvincent.com

  3. Jessica’s travel series on IGTV | Inside Travel Media

  4. Interested in getting your travel stories published? Be sure to join me for a free workshop on Wednesday, April 21, at 2 pm EST. Register here!

  5. Check out our membership community, The Circle, the place where brilliant womxn creators in travel media go to claim their dreams, get support, take action, and build their dream creative lives

  6. Come join us in the Genius Womxn Facebook Group

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