(Virtual Event) Tourism Social Entrepreneurship: Leading with Purpose

Tourism Social Entrepreneurship: Leading with Purpose
Friday, April 8th from 3-4pm Eastern Time

Social entrepreneurs are working to redefine how tourism can be a positive force for social, cultural, and environmental change through mission-driven strategies and business models. Join this lively and interactive discussion with visionary leaders from Planeterra, Intrepid, and Wheel the World to learn about the real challenges and opportunities of addressing social inequalities and the needs of our planet through tourism, and how you can support the movement, either as a consumer or as a changemaker in the field yourself.

 
Guest panelists include:
  • Sara King, General Manager of Purpose, Intrepid
  • Camilo Navarro, COO & Co-Founder, Wheel the World
  • Jamie Sweeting, President, Planeterra 
This interactive virtual panel discussion, which will be driven largely by audience questions, will be moderated by Yasmin Yusuff, President of NYU’s Hospitality, Tourism, and Events Society (HTES), and Cindy VandenBosch, a NYU professor who will be teaching a graduate-level tourism social entrepreneurship course in the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality in the fall of 2012.
 
NYU Students and Faculty can learn more and are welcome to register at https://engage.nyu.edu/event/8034043

 
 
Or register here instead: https://nyu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tceugrj8pGtDOSOSw1l5Tu950qSMP9N4Q

 
This event is organized by NYU Tisch Center of Hospitality and the Hospitality, Tourism, and Events Society, a club of graduate students who study in the NYU School of Professional Studies.
 
Bios of guest speakers and moderators:
 
Sara King is Intrepid’s General Manager of Purpose and is responsible for delivering the company’s environmental, social and governance commitments, including as a signatory to the UN Global Compact and a certified B Corp. Her remit includes Reconciliation, Modern Slavery, climate change, gender equality, animal welfare and the Intrepid Foundation. Prior to joining Intrepid, Sara held a number of roles at the International Finance Corporation, which is a member of the World Bank Group, including a posting to Vanuatu where she delivered a national investment incentive scheme for tourism to promote collaboration, innovation, and sustainability. Sara holds a Master’s in International Relations and Affairs from Macquarie University and a Graduate Certificate of Management from the UNSW Business School.
 
Camilo Navarro is the Co-Founder & COO of Wheel the World, a travel company that seeks to make the world more accessible for people with disabilities. Navarro has corporate experience as the Operations Manager at Falabella Group, one of the largest retail companies and Marketplaces in Latin America, and Metro de Santiago, a public underground transportation system. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley’s Entrepreneurship and Project Management program and is a guest lecturer there for a class entitled, “Founder Strategy.”

Jamie Sweeting is the President of Planeterra, the world’s leading non-governmental organization turning travel into impact in communities. Sweeting has spent the last 25 years working in tourism, conservation, development, and business management. He is passionate about Planeterra because in his decades of traversing the globe, he has yet to encounter another organization as effective at using tourism to improve the lives of some of the most under-resourced people on this planet — especially marginalized women, disadvantaged youth, and rural communities (with a priority focus on Indigenous communities). Prior to his role at Planeterra, Jamie was Global Chief Environmental Officer at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and led the travel industry program at the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business at Conservation International. He was formerly Chairman at Sustainable Travel International and has served on the boards of The International Ecotourism Society, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Travel.  Jamie has developed, led, and managed many community tourism, ecotourism, and biodiversity conservation projects throughout his career. While Program Manager of Conservation International’s Ecotourism Program he played a pivotal role in implementing 36 ecotourism initiatives in 18 different countries.

 
Yasmin Yusuff is in her final semester of NYU’s MS in Travel and Tourism Management, and has been honored to host several inspiring events as President of the Hospitality, Tourism, and Events Society. Her studies have led her to found Our Vintage Earth, a travel experience booking platform that will launch in late 2022. Featured tours and accommodations will focus on sustainable and regenerative excursions, each matched with a local nonprofit partnership. By booking with Our Vintage Earth, you are joining a like-minded community of travelers seeking authentic experiences that will help heal our planet.
 

Cindy VandenBosch is an adjunct professor at the NYU Tisch Center of Hospitality and will be teaching a graduate-level course this fall on social entrepreneurship in the travel and tourism sectors. Cindy is the founder and president of Turnstile Tours & Studio, a Brooklyn-based Certified B Corp that operates community-oriented tours and has consulted with over 20 cultural and tourism organizations on audience-centered interpretation and experience design. Working in partnership with local nonprofit organizations since 2012, Turnstile Tours has provided its more than 60,000 visitors with engaging and in-depth experiences that explore the infrastructure, people, and places that maintain, sustain, and nourish New York City. Cindy works with her team at Turnstile Studio to consult organizations with a current client roster that includes Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Historic Hudson Valley, and the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka. Cindy is the honoree this year for the 2022 Women in Tourism Award for NYC in the tour operator category and currently serves on board/advisory roles with the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center, the Historic House Trust, and Brooklyn Community Board 7.

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