Meet the Ladies of Besties That Travel By: Francheska “Fancy” Felder young age. Together we orchestrated the school’s first dance and eighth-grade class trip. Fancy: What inspires your passion for travel? Trina: Travel takes us out of our comfort zones and inspires us to see, taste, and try new things. It serves as a reset in life, giving a breath of fresh air and allowing us to see the world from another perspective and culture. Traveling also encourages us to engage with different people, embrace adventures, and share new and meaningful experiences with friends and loved ones.
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abby Profit and Trina Craft Trifilo are the founders of a women’s Black-owned travel company, Besties That Travel LLC. They are New Orleans natives with a passion and love for all things travel. The two have booked and arranged travels for the last 10 years and have been best friends for over 25 years! Creating memorable travel experiences for others is their passion. They are your personal travel concierge that assists with booking flights, lodging, transportation, excursions, and daily itineraries. They even serve as travel advocates and liaisons during your travel experiences and are there to assist with simple guidance and advice in the new world of travel, with the ever-changing travel restrictions. Fancy: How would you describe your swagher? What makes Gabrielle, Gabrielle, and Katrina, Katrina? Gabby: I am an overall outgoing yet chilled personality. My swagher would be my genuine approach to everything and everyone in life. I have been given a gift to effortlessly bring people together. I walk it like I talk it, ensuring good energy is put out into the world and always putting God first. God is truly my MVP in my life. Trina: My swagher is my vibe! I am a social butterfly; I love to strike up conversations with total strangers. I always lead with intuition and good energy. I truly believe in the motto, “Your vibe attracts your tribe.” I surround myself with women of integrity who are ambitious and full of positive vibes. I take pride in normalizing traveling in luxury in our Black community. It is obtainable to those who desire it.
Fancy: Would you say the journey to starting your travel business, Besties That Travel, was easy or difficult? And why do you say that? Gabby: It was a little of both. The easy part came with us already knowing each other and our transparency with one another. We think alike on a lot of things, so our desire to give travel to the world was already there. We had been coordinating trips and events for over 10 years in our personal lives. The difficult part came in once we became an actual incorporated business. We have learned so much in the last year with communication, processes and forms, accounting and finances, the uncharted territories in this global pandemic, and getting used to operating as a business with honoring the value that we bring into this travel world and understanding pricing of services rendered. Fancy: Please tell us more about your travel journal, Manifesting Your World. Gabby: Manifesting your world travel journal serves as a guide to help you visualize your traveling desires. It is an interactive journal that allows you to capture your thoughts for travel on paper. Sometimes you have these big travel dreams and destinations, and it can get frustrating or even discouraging when trying to put everything together. This travel journal gives you all the intricate parts of travel such as your desired destination, budget, packing list, shopping list, activities, and travel requirements, and assists in developing a realistic strategy of how you may plan to reach that goal and bring it into fruition. It has been proven that writing down your desires even if you’re not there yet is a powerful tool in manifesting what you want.
Fancy: How did you two meet?
Fancy: What was it like working with Essence Escapes and how did you all come about that opportunity?
Trina: We met in 1996 in sixth grade at Prince of Peace Lutheran School in New Orleans East and have remained friends throughout all these years. We were little bosses at a
Trina: We had a feature on Black News Channel and someone from their team passed our name along to a producer working with Essence Escapes.
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