Season 7 Trailer

 Get the show’s transcript

[INTRO]

[00:00:11] YD: Welcome back to Season 7 of the Travel Media Lab podcast, everyone. My name is Yulia Denisyuk. I’m an award-winning travel photographer, writer, storyteller, community builder, podcaster, and entrepreneur working with publications like National Geographic Traveler, Lonely Planet, The New York Times, and more. Today, I'm thrilled to welcome you to a new season of our podcast. 

Our mission with this podcast and everything else we're doing inside Travel Media Lab is to help storytellers everywhere break into and thrive in the travel media space. This is a podcast for photographers, writers, bloggers, creators, and storytellers who love travel and want to publish their stories about travel. We also have a special focus on discussing women's issues inside travel media like dealing with self-doubt, imposter syndrome, life-work balance, and more. 

On this podcast, we host in-depth conversations with some of the most incredible women in travel out there today, and we also share my expertise from years of working in this field with publications like National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler, and others, and going on assignment to places like Mongolia, Germany, Rwanda, California, and more. We do all that with the hopes of inspiring you, our dear listeners, to take action on your goals, reach out to editors with your stories, pitch and publish those stories, and see the goals and dreams that you've had for yourself finally come to fruition. 

Here's why I know that all of that is absolutely possible because I'm not the only one who has been able to get published and get all these dream assignments. Our community members are doing that right now. What I teach inside our membership and our introduction to travel journalism program and what I share on this podcast, all of it has helped our students already gets published in places like Condé Nast Traveler, Time Magazine, and more and even go on some of their first press trips, which is super exciting. I know that you can get there as well. 

In this season of the podcast, we're going to be bringing you wisdom from the editors inside the travel media community in our two-part miniseries called Editor Insights. Learn from veterans in the industry like Lauren Keith, Sarah Han, and Ashlea Halpern, who are going to share with you what they look for in a pitch, what gets them excited about working with a freelancer, and more.

[00:02:42] LK: As an editor, I try to give everyone a chance. If someone doesn't have big name publications behind them, that is absolutely fine. I know what it was like to start with nothing, to just be writing on a blog or for friends, or, “Oh, I have clips from my high school or college newspaper about something that's completely irrelevant to what I'm writing about now.” That's okay. I think it's just your style, and your personality and attitude actually play a really big part in it. If a writer is difficult to work with, but they're an excellent writer, I don't care. I don't want to work with them. It's much easier to work with someone who maybe isn't as strong of a writer but who is willing to learn and willing to take edits and feedback and go through that process.

[00:03:31] AH: I don’t care if some people say no. Don't ever not pitch someplace because you're afraid they're going to say no. So what if they say no? Okay, on to the next thing. I would say for every 20 pitches I put out in the world, maybe 2 get assigned. So what? I don't take it personally. Like it's just how it goes, and you have to be really – If anything, it can be exhausting. The idea generation, it’s just part of the game that we're all playing. But a lot of times, the pitches you come up with, you can repurpose somewhere else. So if you believe in something, never let it just die on the vine. Keep searching for that right home. It's out there. You just have to find it.

[00:04:09] YD: I will also bring you behind the scenes episodes like the one about my assignment in Black Forest, Germany this fall with National Geographic Traveler and interviews with travel writers, book authors, and just brilliant creators who are pursuing their dreams and aspirations in the travel space. So as we get going on this new season of our Travel Media Lab podcast, we're more determined than ever to build a collaborative and supportive space that helps you publish your stories. A space where you feel inspired, nourished, and encouraged to start telling stories you've always wanted to tell and to find your name in the pages of all the publications you've always wanted to be in. We promise that we'll guide you along the way with practical insights, interviews with our guests, and some very special treats for our listeners. 

I started this platform after years of just knocking on doors and so much trial and error, where I was building my travel journalism career mostly by myself and without any support. Publishing your travel stories doesn't have to be lonely or scary or overwhelming. If travel and storytelling are your passions, if you have big dreams of working with some of the top publications out there, our platform is here for you to provide clarity, knowledge, and next steps for you to carve out your own path in this space. It’s, again, absolutely possible. So many of our members have already done that. 

We have a program called Introduction to Travel Journalism. That will give you the base knowledge you need to advance in this industry. We also have a membership called The Circle for people in travel media who are looking for community and ongoing support. You can find more information about both of those programs, including some wonderful things our students and Circle members have said about working with us on our website at travelmedialab.com. 

We've planned a lot of incredible episodes for you this season, and I can't wait to share all of them with you. I hope you'll join us this fall as we celebrate all the amazing women in the travel media space and take the bold steps to go after our own storytelling goals. Thank you so much for listening to the Travel Media Lab podcast and for giving yourself this space for your creative goals to take shape. I will see you next week with our first episode of the season from the two-part Editor Insight Series. Let's go, my friends. 

[END]