Christine Winebrenner Irick, Founder of Soul of Travel podcast, in Antigua, Guatemala.
One of the most unusual and insightful travel podcasts on Apple Podcasts is Soul of Travel: Women’s Wisdom and Mindful Travel. It’s where host Christine Winebrenner Irick, the founder of Lotus Sojourns, a women’s travel company, engages in deep and insightful conversations with a diverse range of women in the travel sphere. Irick has a gentle and insightful approach, something of a revelation in the podcast world, and a manner reminiscent of Krista Tippett of On Being. She brings new topics and a fresh perspective to the travel genre.
“When I began Soul of Travel, I was in a time of personal growth with a focus on overcoming the fear of being heard and using my voice,” Irick says. “Honestly, I heard a sort of whisper from the Universe that said, ‘You are going to start a podcast. It will be called ‘Soul of Travel’. I have always loved interviews and deep conversations and knowing the people I wanted to speak to about travel, I felt like hearing their voices as they shared their stories would be important. I also wanted to allow my guests to share their own stories and amplify their voices and work, and this felt like the format that would best allow me to achieve those goals.”
Since it began in 2020, Soul of Travel has clocked nearly 200 episodes or “conversations,” as Irick calls them. Her guests have ranged from environmental activist Céline Cousteau, Martinique Lewis, president of the Black Travel Alliance, and Kathy Dragon, Founder and CEO of Whole Journeys, to Mickela Mallozzi, host of Barefeet with Mickela Mallozzi on PBS, and Dawn Booker, Founder of Pack Light Global, which inspires women to travel the world fearlessly and joyfully. She says her most popular podcast to date was with Shay Sane, Founder and Executive Director of Black Girls On The Go, Inc.
Jennifer Spatz (left)of Global Family Travels, with Kathy Dragon of Whole Journeys and Christine … [+]
“My guests are visionaries, impact driven, and community-oriented leaders of all types of businesses around the world,” says Irick. “They are thoughtful, generous and passionate. Often, their mission is more important than the end game. I want to speak to people who may not traditionally be recognized in the media or who’s stories might not be ‘big enough to tell’ somewhere else.”
Irick started her career in adventure travel and worked for the Educational Travel Consortium, founding Lotus Sojourns in 2019 and the Soul of Travel in 2020. She has a Master’s in Tourism Administration in Sustainable Destination Management at George Washington University. She founded Lotus Sojourns “to offer women the types of experiences I find most rewarding and to create trips that celebrate and support women worldwide. After being in the industry since 1998, I wanted to create something I felt was lacking for female travelers. I offer trips focusing on wellbeing, healing and growth, sustainability and equity.”
The podcast is where she is currently making her mark and making a difference, “a space where I could build on my personal mission to create spaces for women and to support other women in their journey. Many of the women on my podcast are solo-preneurs or the owners of small travel companies.”
Many of her guests are not well known, yet they can yield the most potent conversations. While Irick says, “it is nearly impossible to single out episodes as each is so powerful and personally relevant,” the episodes that had the most impact are those where guests “shared not only their professional experiences and impactful mindful travel experiences but shared deeply personal experiences and questions they have wrestled with in their lives. It was this depth of conversation and the response to it that inspired me to intentionally add ‘women’s wisdom’ to the podcast title and the direction of the podcast.”
Irick notes that many guests say, “‘Are you sure you want to talk to me? What value can I add? I am just a one-woman business. I don’t know what I can add.’ However, these small businesses are creating tremendous impact in their efforts towards sustainability and gender equity. I feel they deserve a space to tell their story and be recognized and celebrated. I think that this community of women, combined, could be an incredible force for good in the industry and for the world.”
Visit Apple Podcasts to listen to episodes of Soul of Travel and go to Lotus Sojourns for upcoming travel departures.