What is Damesly? Why we started.
Hey Dames,
Kelly here. I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself and the team behind Damesly and tell you a pretty interesting story for our FIRST-EVER BLOG POST! Exciting, huh?
Almost seven years ago, I was traveling solo through South America, when I started to subconsciously notice the differences in solo female travel, and all of the things that no one had told me before (hello, where are all the tampons here?).
After four months of traveling the continent by bus, I came home inspired and in love with the world – but I had no idea what to do with that. So naturally, I got three jobs and started working full-time again, as an editor, a freelance writer, and a bartender on the weekends, hustling for no other reason than to watch my bank account breathe a little again.
Three months later, I had a dream in the middle of the night that I was looking at a travel guidebook for women and a voice said “this is totally your calling!” The next morning I called Alyson Kilday at the creative design agency Hop & Jaunt, who I knew from designing my original travel blog (Travel Bug Juice) to tell her about this premonition. And she didn’t laugh in my face!
That premonition went on to become Go! Girl Guides; the world’s first and only series of travel guidebooks for women. And that company went on to grow to include the Women’s Travel Fest, the world’s first consumer travel conference for women.
So it’s only natural that we should be here today, talking about becoming founders of a boutique women’s travel agency and doing actual real-life travel again.
Throughout this career journey, I have met some truly amazing, entrepreneurial, creative women who inspire me to work as hard as I can to really reach my full potential and live my dream life. They remind me that anything is possible. These women are mentors to me. Many of them have spoken to sold-out crowds at the annual Women’s Travel Fest, where they have brought me to tears.
With Damesly, I hope to introduce you to them. The idea here is to combine the workshop + informational components of the Women’s Travel Fest, with actual travel.
You can see this in action on our Women-only tours to Cuba, or our small group tours to Morocco, or just on our home page.
I am a big believer in travel as an integral route to personal growth, and it’s my goal that Damesly will fill in some of the gaps that come from typical group tours.
I want to see a community full of inspirational women, supporting one another in their careers and lives. I want to be a part of a new travel experience, that goes way beyond boring bus travel and stuffy hotels. I want to take you to places that I love, places that push me to do more.
Still have questions? See why we’re different.
Come with me. It’ll be amazing, I promise.
Xoxo,
Kelly Lewis
CEO, Damesly