Social media has no shortage of people showing off their stunning photos in far-off destinations and touting their travel brand “expertise,” with many of them never standing the test of time.  However, these Black women-led travel brands have defied the odds and changed the landscape of the industry for Black travelers globally. These three women are as diverse as the countries they visit, but they are united by their passion and have inspired us all through travel brands that go beyond the ‘gram and truly encourage us to see the world. 

With a travel empire rooted in bold moves and community, Chidi Ashley has built multiple travel brands that have generated over $25 million in travel sales in just a few years by building her brands around her audience and their needs. What began as a group trip company, Luxe Tribes, has evolved into a global brand with a team of over 40 dedicated professionals operating across more than 70 destinations. Today, she’s gearing up to open her first hotel, Nuru Marrakesh, an 18-bedroom boutique hotel in the heart of Marrakesh, Morocco, and recently acquired Sorted Chale, a travel company focused on bucket-list African experiences.

“While social media helped us grow and connect with our community, much of our business happens off the gram. We plan large-scale corporate retreats, organize influencer and brand trips for major companies, and curate behind-the-scenes experiences that are rarely publicized but have contributed significantly to our growth,” says Ashley. Her advice for others? “Travel as much as you can and let those experiences shape how you see the world — then build your brand around that perspective. Stay true to who you are and lead with authenticity.”

While it did start as an Instagram page in 2016, in the nearly 10 years since, Christina M. Rice’s OMNoire has become so much more. “For so long, wellness wasn’t created with us in mind. OMNoire was born out of the need to carve out space where Black women could see themselves, feel seen, and be fully supported in their healing and joy. So many of us have carried generational burdens, navigated daily microaggressions, and been told that rest and luxury weren’t made for us. I wanted to change that narrative,” says Rice. Her global wellness travel company offers luxurious retreats led by a collective of diverse wellness leaders, all designed to center rest, healing, and community. 

Currently, Rice is expanding her brand with a coaching platform, Retreat Like a Boss, where she aims to coach retreat leaders on how to launch and scale their businesses, planning a large summit weekend, and working towards becoming a consultant for hospitality brands where she will use her knowledge to provide insight on how to appeal to the luxury wellness Black traveler. “I’m aiming for OMNoire to be the number one source for Black women retreat getaways.”

Known as the Godmother of the Black Travel Movement, you’d be hard pressed to find a conversation about Black travel brands that doesn’t include the name Evita Robinson. Founded and shaped by Facebook in 2011, NOMADNESS Travel Tribe is “an online and offline community of nearly 40,000 Black and brown travelers around the world. It's a 24-hour resource, familial-like community, and executor of events and stories that amplify the BIPOC travel community,” says Robinson. In short, she’s not new to this. 

Having recently won her second Emmy, alongside filmmaking partner Bereng Monareng, for a series with Visit Baltimore, Robinson is focused on amplifying the voices of communities currently being silenced in today’s climate. “I feel very strongly about the work I'm doing, spotlighting Black and Indigenous stories at a time in history where the goal is to muzzle and delete them. I'm doing my part to make sure that doesn't happen, so that looks like partnering with destinations that aren't scared to have that conversation, writing my memoir, bringing people into that world through my new Substack, and pitching a really dynamic project around the 100th anniversary of Route 66 in 2026,” she says. As someone who has seen the evolution of Black travel over nearly two decades, she has sound advice: “Go where your people are — whether that be on the gram, or not.”