Meet Jana Amorim | Travel Management

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

Hi Jana, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
To talk about how I think about taking risks, I must tell my story! Between exchange, opening a company, selling a company, getting married, having children, and living abroad after life seemed to stabilize, they are all part of my story!

I am a Brazilian immigrant, living 3 years with my family (husband, 2 kids, and dog) in a country different than mine. So, you can see that taking risks is a big part of my life!

I was born in a beautiful, small coastal town in the south of Brazil. I lived there all my childhood. I had never traveled to another country. I had no goals or dreams of one day living abroad. My town was my world! Now my world is big than that time!

Something that always enchanted me was other people’s life stories, different places, and cultures. I always wondered what life would be like for someone who lived in another country, and what customs, and traditions would be like.
However, finding out more about differences from my perspective at the time was limited to television or books.

When I was 18, I traveled in an airplane for the first time, to live in the United States there for 1 year. It was the First time I left my comfort zone, far from family, and friends at a time when there was barely internet or a cell phone, and the only way to communicate was once a week with a 60-minute pre-paid card, or by letter. It was not easy! But it was very satisfying to be able to accomplish something so challenging that many wouldn’t have the courage to do.

There I discovered that I could travel and discover other places and cultures. I remember sitting at the airport waiting for my flight just watching people go by and wondering where they were going, and who they were.

When I came back, I had decided on my career. I joined the UNIVALI University to study Tourism and Hospitality. And so, my career began. During college, I worked in some travel companies and after graduating I opened my first travel agency called “Estoril Viagens”. Again, being an entrepreneur was not part of my world either, my close references!

There were 7 years of many challenges, learning, knowledge, travel, groups…After a while, that agency no longer made sense to me. I had a huge affection for the people who worked there, for my partner, and for the clients. I didn’t see myself there anymore. The agency gave me certain stability, position, and comfort.

Was time to take risks again, to listen to my heart. I sold my share in the agency and started over. With another format that gave me more flexibility in my time and a more personalized form of customer service. Jana Amorim Travel Agency was born! Fear??? Sooooo scared!!!! But also, again that very good feeling of challenge, a satisfaction of the courage to step out of the comfort zone once again.

3 years passed, and a new business appeared! Now, in addition to Jana Amorim, I would manage a new business, that was different from the ones I had already. A gourmet store with imported products, wine cellar, restaurant, café, Logistics, merchandise, another universe! I learned a lot! A lot about me, about my family! This new business, despite it, being a very special one for me, did not suit my family, or the way I wanted to spend my time! After 2 years, we sold to someone who identified with the business!

I continued with Jana Amorim, however, that feeling of innovating, changing, and having new experiences still beat in my chest. It was then that we decided it was time to treat ourselves to a little “adventure” and live a few months in another country (Unlike me, neither my husband nor my children had experienced living elsewhere).

So, in December 2019, we embarked on this adventure. Enthusiasm and thirst for new experiences! The comfort of our home, city, family, friends, school, culture, and language left behind to experience something unique and different!

We arrived in Hudson, Massachusetts. A cozy, safe little town 40 minutes from Boston. Our initial plan was to set up a base in this town, and from there travel around the country. However, our destiny changed with the COVID pandemic, and what was supposed to be a few months has already turned 3 years. In these time, there was a lot of adaptation, learning, discoveries, resilience, challenging moments, sad moments, and many happy ones! We learned about places, people, and stories!

I gave myself chance as a gift, letting life take me a little. A time to think about my achievements, reassess what matters to me and my family, and what I want to teach my children. It’s time to invest in my growth and personal knowledge and be open to new possibilities!

What I learned about starting over and taking risks:
– You will never start from scratch, that’s a fact! When you start over, you carry your other experiences and lessons learned with you.
– Follow your intuition! It’s quite a cliché, but many times we hold ourselves back for “comfort”, stability, and fear of losing status, power, position, and salary. If this brings an internal conflict, a bad feeling, that is harming the family, the beliefs, and the health, it’s time to rethink.

– Only those who take risks make mistakes! Those who don’t try don’t make mistakes, but they don’t leave the place either! Learn from those mistakes and that can leverage you to new possibilities.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My Profession allows me to do 3 things that I LOVE: Create, meet people and their stories, and travel! Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to places I would never have imagined visiting! In addition to organizing and accompanying trips for hundreds of people to different places around the world!

My job is to help my client to fulfill his travel dream with their essence! I help to find the best format and destination for what they are looking for. I believe that experience is never the same for everyone. A certain type of travel can be wonderful for some people, and others not too much.

In addition, to making custom itineraries, I also accompany small travel groups, I choose the destination for these groups, develop all programming, and activities, and contract the services of guides, hotels, transport, etc… This is a lot of fun. And it’s an interesting way to meet new people.

My goal is whenever the passenger returns from the trip with a suitcase full of good memories!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If friends come to visit, they will have full days of interesting activities in my area. Massachusetts has cool activities at all times of the year. What you can’t miss if you come here is to go to Boston and explore the city on foot. With several options of restaurants and stores, where historical attractions mix with new and modern buildings.

I always suggest doing the freedom trail that starts at the Boston Common Visitor’s center and ends at the Bunker Hill monument. It is a 2.5-mile route that passes through several historic points of the city. You can do it with a tour guide or even alone at your own pace, and just follow the red bricks and get to know this whole part of the city.

In winter, visit a ski station, either to practice skiing or snowboarding or just to watch and have a hot chocolate. There are several cool options in the region! Another tip is to rent a cabin in the middle of nature with breathtaking winter scenery.

In the summer, all of Cape Cod is very nice! 65 miles from Boston, charming villages with beautiful beaches, and a route of historic lighthouses that make you sigh every mile around. It is also worth visiting the islands of Marthas Vineyards and Nantucket with beautiful beaches, and picturesque villages with delicious seafood options! North of the state, I love visiting Rock Port, a charming beach that stands out for its art galleries and cozy restaurants throughout the city.

Ah, I need to talk about the farms, in my region is about 40 minutes from Boston, and we found many charming farms that in spring and autumn do the harvesting, where you have the experience of picking fruits and flowers and then taking them home. It’s a very nice activity to do as a family, in addition, to taking beautiful photos! Most also sell locally homemade produce and entertainment for families and kids. In the summer the best part is the best homemade ice cream I’ve ever had. I recommend checking out many different ones and trying each one! So delicious!

For craft beer lovers, I could not fail to comment on the most varied craft breweries distributed throughout the state, but the one that I would take a friend to visit is the Medusa brewery, which is located in the center of Hudson, MA. It’s my home town at the moment! 🙂

Hudson is not in the main tourist itineraries, maybe you don’t even know what’s special about this small town of around 18,000 inhabitants, but Hudson is home to the best main street in America. That’s according to the national contest “America’s Main streets. It is a super nice center with a strong trade filled with cute and cozy restaurants and cafes.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’m grateful to many people who have passed in my life! Friends, customers, co-workers. Everyone who passed my way somehow taught me something. I’m always ready to learn!

Special thanks to my mother for trusting me and teaching me autonomy. I inherited from my father the love and connection with nature. My children, for being my daily joy, make me a better person every day. And my husband, partner, and friend, who is always encouraging me to take risks and pursue my dreams!

Instagram: @janainadeamorim; @janaamorimtravel

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jana-amorim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JanainaDeAmorimDias

Tiktok: @janainadeamorim