Njeri Gachuhi, Founder, The Travelling Wakili

Njeri is lawyer-turned-entrepreneur who founded The Travelling Wakili, a bespoke travel company that provides safe and inclusive travel experiences for women and queer folk on the African continent.

Wakili is Swahili for lawyer; The Travelling Wakili translates to The Travelling Lawyer.

Nakshatra Bagwe - India's first gay brand ambassador! He is also an award winning filmmaker and actor who started his film career at a young age in the times when section 377 still existed. The BackPack Travels, a travel initiative for the gay and bisexual men was launched by Nakshatra in 2016. In his 8 years of tourism career, Nakshatra travelled with 1000+ community members and offered them inclusive travel experience. Nakshatra has worked with 60+ Indian and Global brands as an influencer. The ShoutOut Party, an LGBTQ+ party brand is the latest milestone in his colorful career. Known for his outspoken and fearless fight against the homophobia, Nakshatra Bagwe is a name that's recognised & respected by LGBTQ+ youth in India.

Winstone Rodney Otieno | Co-Founder and Director of Policy Development & Membership for the Queer & Allied Chamber of Commerce Africa (QACC Africa)

Rodney is a dedicated social protection enthusiast, holding a Masters in Community Development and Social Protection. Growing up in western Kenya, Rodney was fortunate enough to have a very open-minded and supportive mother who supported Rodney’s natural path from childhood to being a proudly queer male.

Rodney has worked in the humanitarian sector coordinating training programs for people living with disabilities, whilst also holding senior roles in the tourism and travel industry, which is his passion, having graduated with a Bachelor of Tourism Management. Rodney’s travel consultancy, WKI Travel, focuses on providing safe and exciting leisure and corporate travel solutions for the LGBTQ+ community in addition to inclusive and accessible travel solutions for people living with disabilities.

Rodney is the Co-Founder and Director of Policy Development & Membership for the Queer & Allied Chamber of Commerce Africa (QACC Africa), an organization that creates an inclusive ecosystem for queer entrepreneurs to facilitate commercial relationships and economic empowerment, widening LGBTQ+ supply-chains throughout Africa. The Chamber of Commerce also provides inclusivity and diversity training to corporates and promotes the creation of safe workplaces for the LBGTQ+ community. 

With his tourism background, Rodney is extremely passionate about supporting queer people working in the tourism industry to grow their skills and succeed in their tourism business, whilst also promoting East Africa as a fabulous place to visit for LGBTQ+ travellers.

Aisha Shaibu | Founder, Moonlight Experiences

Aisha Shaibu is a prominent queer activist, cultural producer, and one of the 'Top 100 LGBTQ+ trailblazers' changing the world. She is the founder of Moonlight Experiences: an award-winning platform dedicated to the celebration of queer culture through travel and experiences. Moonlight Experiences exists to tackle the lack of diversity in the travel industry by harnessing the economic power of tourism & nightlife to uplift queer women, non-binary, and Black/POC members. Aisha's passion for travel as part of @thequeernomads with her wife and her activism are intertwined, she is also the Head of Community Engagement at UK Black Pride and a trustee for GiveOut. Aisha truly believes in breaking down intersectional barriers and advocating for avid travelers to do better to create change that is impactful and sustainable so that our community globally can thrive.

Danny Guerrero | Founder, The Culturist Group

The Culturist Group is a 100% minority-owned travel marketing company and the vision of Danny Guerrero, an award-winning 20+ year travel and tourism marketing expert and thought leader for multiculturalism and diversity in travel. CULTURIST as a concept and consultancy practice bridges emerging cultural values and the needs of diverse consumers to travel brands via marketing and communications strategies to help the industry become more prosperous, and inclusive. Danny is an Advisory Board Member with the Black Travel Alliance and Travel Unity and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences where he advocates for underrepresented travelers and illuminates how shifting demographics, travel sentiment, and culture represents opportunities for the travel industry. Danny was the recipient of the ‘Outstanding Contribution Award’ granted by the World Travel and Tourism Council for his work advancing diversity and equity in the industry in 2021, and the Chairman’s Award granted by the National Association of Black Meeting Professionals. Danny is a 2024 Executive MBA candidate at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He resides in Los Angeles with his husband Jaime and their dog Louie.

Mariana Radisic Koliren | Founder, Lunfarda Travel

Mariana is an activist by birth and an experience designer by trade. After a life-affirming experience visiting Israel with an amazing tour guide, she decided to set aside her studies in advertising and contemporary arts to become a full time tour guide and create lifelong memories for people visiting Buenos Aires, her hometown. Soon enough she realized the industry was dominated by a handful of people perpetuating problematic narratives about her country, and they wouldn't bring about the change she wanted to see in the industry. Wanting to bring more diversity in the industry and in the storytelling to the table, Mariana founded in 2019 the first self-described intersectional travel agency: Lunfarda Travel. In Lunfarda, Mariana designs alongside her community experiences showcasing the multiculturality of Argentina with a mission of diversifying the industry as well. From the first Black History tour in Argentina, to a line of tours for children to an LGBT+ tour that supports gender non-conforming students, Mariana is set to challenge the traditional ways of conducting tourism through deep knowledge, community ties and radical empathy.

Donnya Zi Piggott | CEO and Co-Founder, Pink Coconuts

Donnya (also Zi) is the CEO and Co-Founder of Pink Coconuts - a new LGBTQ+ travel startup focused on creating spaces for queer travellers to thrive.  Zi was given the prestigious Queen's Young Leader Award by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for their work as an LGBTQ Caribbean Advocate and the co-founder of B-GLAD, an LGBTQ organisation focussed on advancing the social, political and economic environment for LGBTQ people to live, work and play. Zi has spoken at forums like TEDx Bridgetown, Heineken's National Conference, UK Black Pride, One Young World, Human Rights Campaign, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta & London, The Economist in New York, International Gay and Lesbian Association Conference in New Zealand. In 2017 Zi became a Watson University Scholar focused on Social Entrepreneurship in Boulder, Colorado. In 2019, Zi was named the winner of the Sustainable Development Goal 10 Challenge by One Young World - a world wide organization and competition which saw thousands of entries from all around the world. Zi received the award at the annual conference in London that year. Zi now lives and works between Bridgetown, Nairobi and Los Angeles with her partner and Co-Founder Thogori Karago.  

Our 2019 David Martin Small Business Scholarship recipients are Lipian Mtandabari of Ntsako Travel Africa, from Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, Michael Venturiello, Christopher Street Tours, from New York City and Shoichi Yamaguchi of Elly, from Ise-City, Japan.

An additional Building Bridges Scholarship is presented in collaboration with the Pacific Asia Travel Association and our 2019 recipient from Nepal is: Kim Parina Thakuri.

Our 2019 recipients from New York University Tisch Center of Hospitality are:

Gianpaolo Russo, Guillaume Pros and Sergio Pimentel.

Pictured left to right: Thanakarn (Bella) Vongvisitsin, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Marco Briganti, Ryerson University; John Chervy Rosal, Centennial College; and Nicholas Tremblay, Ryerson University.

"It was the nicest convention that I have ever had. I made connections with a lot of people, made friends and learned a lot about what's really going on with respect to LGBTQ + tourism." - Thanakarn (Bella) Vongvisitsin, 2019 Building Bridges Scholarship recipient in collaboration with the Pacific Asia Travel Association.

Pictured left to right: Michael Gladwin, Edenvale, South Africa; Katherine Vielman, Hollywood, Florida; Khari Grant, Orlando, Florida; Junqi "Vincent" Weng, Zhejiang, China: John Sakakini, Washington, D.C.

IGLTA board member Rika Jean-Francois with Annual Global Convention scholarship recipients pictured left to right: Vidar Nilsen (Norway), Hlengiwe Buthelezi (South Africa) and students from The International Hotel School in Cape Town.

Pictured left To right: Kan Kikumoto (Japan), Ena Yanagi (Japan), Wang Hao (China), Olubode Shawn Brown (Jamaica), And Fabio Rugeles (Colombia).

IGLTA Foundation board member Gregg Kaminsky with Annual Global Convention fellowship recipients Robert Washington Jr. (US), Janice Tjon Sien Kie (Curacao), Marco Jaramillo (Colombia), Ryan Romero (US), and Murilo Lima Araujo Costa (Brazil).

Pictured left to right: Aaron Paiva Leyton (Peru), Kleber de Oliveira da Silva (Brazil), Kathy Eow (YS), Teddy Frank (Liberia), and Jermain Tjin-a-Koeng (Suriname) with former foundation Executive Director Travis Ferland.