Meet Aleah Coy | CEO of Black Travel Worldwide

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aleah Coy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aleah, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
It started out as a blog just to showcase travel, but several factors brought me to the idea of starting my own business.

1. The people we reached when we shared our travels inspired us to keep going.

2. My personal life heavily influenced my decision to start my own business, because I realized daily that I was unhappy working for someone else and not having the financial and time freedom to travel the world and do what I really love

3. It was a safe space not just for me, but for black travelers everywhere.

4. The more we invested our time and energy the more the vision came alive and we could see that the thing that started out as a small blog as potential to be a full blown business.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
What sets us apart from our competitors is our dedicated to our clients. We go so hard for our clients, becuase we know first hand the trials and tribulations of planning a trip. It’s hard and time consuming and after the pandemic, it’s only gotten harder. Prices are skyrocketing, Customer services reps are replaced with automated machines and the consumer is the only one who suffers. This is why we do what we do.

What is it easy to get to this point? Absolutely not and it’s still not easy. but what got me and is getting me through are the 3 things below.

Trial and Error; Believe in your Abilities & Never Give Up but Take a Break if need be. It’s all a combination of lessons learned and adapted. The whole process is a lesson, you just have to be receptive to the process. Be vulnerable and honest with yourself, because a business has a way of humbling you and if you aren’t prepared to be humbled you will quit. You have to become a student again and understand that you are never too good, too famous or too rich for a lesson learned.

This business has always and will always humble me and I’m ok with that, because if that’s the process need to become a safe space for black travelers and an educational platform, then so be it.

I want the world to know that we are committed to making our business a safe space for our travelers to work with travel advisors that look like them, understand their experience as black travelers; provide them resources for such and much more.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Here is a weekend itinerary if my best friend was visiting NYC. I did a weekend trip rather than a week long trip, because the city comes alive on the weekend, especially during the summer. Plus a week long itinerary for NYC is a bit harder to plan without some direction on client wants & needs. if I were to do a week long trip, the activities during the week would be filled with museum visits, tourist traps like statue of liberty, spa day, rest day, trip to long island or new jersey, chill brunch vibes, and lunch dates.

Friday – Bar & lounge or Caribbean Party (typically in BK or Queens)
Saturday – Hike or Trapeze at Chelsea Pier followed by dinner at Catch Steak
Sunday – 11Am Kokomo Brunch Vibes followed by chill day in Brooklyn Bridge Park

Places to Eat
Catch steak
Smorgasburg Fest
Gyu Kaku
Sunday Brunch Vibes – Piquante; Sweet Chick, 230 Fifth Avenue, Etc
Kokomo
Fogo De Chao

Places to Hang out
GritBXNG
Sojo Spa or QC Spa
Rooftop Reds
Red Hook Winery
Summit One Vanderbilt
Museum
Hiking
Kickback at friend’s house

Things to Do
Spa Day
Picnic in park (DUMBO or Brooklyn Bridge Park)
Hike
Bar & Lounge
Caribbean Party
Beach Day
Coney Island

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
BTW’s team! I’m surrounded by a group of people, who probably believe in this vision and dream more than I do sometimes. We have a very small team of about 5-6 people, all who work because they believe in us. Being a small company that’s still growing, we don’t have the financial resources yet to make this a full time job for our team members and as a result many of them still work regular 9-5 jobs outside of the work they do for us and that makes me appreciative beyond words. They could be doing anything else in their spare time, but they choose to invest it in working with us! One of the reasons we do it, is for them. To be able to give them a livelihood with this “little” dream turned reality. So to our team, you know who you are, THANK YOU!

Website: www.BlackTravelWorldwide.com

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