Black Girl Travel Movement was created as a Facebook group to serve black women looking to go aboard, and quickly turned into a full-fledged business. The group was started in 2014, and has amassed a total of 22,476 members.
“I wanted to empower women to connect and explore the healing power of travel,” said founder Shay Sane. It did more than that. Not only did women feel the satisfaction of traveling, they received information, tips, and tools to engage in safe traveling, and deal with any traumas they’ve experienced.
[RELATED: AMERICAN BLACK WOMEN ARE MOVING IN DROVES TO THIS ONE COUNTRY]
Sane was dealing with deep depression herself when she decided to create the community. “Sharing my story of dealing with grief, depression, and how travel is helping me to heal,” Sane told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “I used the Facebook group to share my travel experiences, and eventually started using Facebook ads to promote TTraVsperience,” and that’s how she built the company.
She then added the second layer of building relationships with mental health professionals to combat the issues she had originally been dealing with. This proved to be extremely helpful to the ladies, allowing them to have very transparent conversations within the community that they have grown to know and trust.
So how do they make sure a person is in the right frame of mind before joining? “We have always done a screening process to ensure that prospective members fully understood that BGTM was not just another travel group that hosts group trips,” said Sane. “Our TTraVsperience is focused on travel with the intention to heal from past trauma and pain.”
Founder, Shay Sane (Image: Black Girl Travel Movement)Sane describes TTraVsperience as a unique one of a kind transformational travel experience curated to allow its members to experience the healing power of travel. They select the most sought-after destinations to serve as the backdrop for a once in a lifetime opportunity to reconnect with the most important person in your life — you.