WHO WE ARE
We believe that tourism has the potential to restore nature, empower communities, and create an equitable and inclusive world. This belief drives our work.
Shivya Nath: Founder
Shivya is an impact entrepreneur, award-winning travel writer, bestselling author, and passionate advocate of tourism as a force for good.
She grew up in a valley in the Indian Himalayas, and began her career in the tourism industry over a decade ago, at the Singapore Tourism Board. Following a volunteer travel stint with a responsible tourism enterprise in the Trans-Himalayas, she became deeply passionate about the potential of travel as a force for good. Over the next seven years, she lived out of two bags, living with indigenous communities across the globe, pursuing storytelling at the intersection of travel, the environment and social impact. Her words have appeared in BBC Travel, National Geographic Traveller, The Washington Post, Travel + Leisure, Conde Nast Traveller and other leading publications. She is also the author of an award-winning travel blog, and bestselling travel memoir, published by Penguin.
Shivya has been featured by The Washington Post among travellers changing the way we think about the world, by National Geographic Traveller among travellers of color smashing stereotypes, and in the BBC film, The Audacious, on living your best (sustainable) life. In 2021, she was named among 30 global champions of environmental sustainability in hospitality and tourism by the International Hospitality Institute. During the pandemic, she co-founded Voices of Rural India, a storytelling initiative that creates space in the digital world for the voices of rural communities associated with tourism, while also creating alternate livelihoods.
Shivya is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Sustainability and Environmental Management at Harvard’s DCE, with a focus on regenerative tourism. She holds a professional certificate in sustainable tourism from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
In 2022, she founded Climate Conscious Travel, a collaborative climate consultancy that works with destinations and businesses to integrate community-centric climate action in tourism offerings, including designing carbon neutral trips, community based carbon removal, climate change communication through tourism, and sustainability storytelling.
Alexandra Thorne: Research and Communications (Intern)
Alexandra is a marketing professional with a passion for regenerative tourism and sustainable travel. She holds a Master's degree in Global Prosperity from University College London, and has worked in marketing management and editorial roles for Regenerative Travel, and at leading eco-conscious hospitality venues across Bali.
Alexandra supports hotels with their sustainability writing and marketing, utilizing her expertise to both drive and showcase transformative solutions to climate change. Her innovative thinking and commitment to creating a better world are reflected in her groundbreaking dissertation on regenerative hospitality, one of the world's first-ever studies on the topic.
Lola Akinmade Åkerström: Advisor
Lola Akinmade Åkerström is an award-winning visual storyteller, international bestselling author, and travel entrepreneur. She has dispatched from over 70+ countries and her work has been featured in National Geographic, New York Times, The Guardian, BBC, CNN, Travel Channel, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, Forbes, and many more. She has collaborated with commercial brands such as Dove, Mercedes Benz, Intrepid Travel, Electrolux, and National Geographic Channel, to name a few. As a storyteller, Lola was recently named a 2022 Hasselblad Heroine and is the 2018 Bill Muster Travel Photographer of the Year.
As a business owner and entrepreneur, she runs Stockholm-based travel consultancy, Geotraveler Media, co-founded the travel influencer marketing collective, NordicTB, and recently co-founded Local Purse, which supports travel guides and local artisans through live video shopping.
Her book, Due North, received the Lowell Thomas Gold Award for Best Travel Book, and she is also the author of international bestselling "LAGOM: The Swedish Secret of Living Well" available in 18 foreign language editions, and internationally-acclaimed, bestselling novel, "In Every Mirror She's Black".
In 2018, she was recognized as one of the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) in media and as a mentor, she runs her own online academy, Geotraveler Media Academy, which is dedicated to visual storytelling and helping the next generation of travel storytellers put the heart back into the craft.
Paras Loomba: Advisor
Paras Loomba is the founder of Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE), a social impact enterprise that provides clean energy access and livelihood opportunities to remote, off-grid mountain communities. GHE has been instrumental in solar electrifying over 200 remote villages, creating livelihood opportunities for over 140 women entrepreneurs through community based tourism, and impacting over 120,000 lives. GHE’s work has been recognized by the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), BBC and National Geographic.
An electrical engineer by education, Paras has spent the last 10 years creating entrepreneurial models and sustainable tourism solutions for remote communities. In order to enable low impact tourism in ecologically fragile regions, he advocates for homestays powered by clean energy, coupled with energy efficient technologies.