Gender Diverse Travel Advisory Group
Empowering Gender Diversity in Travel
Creating Inclusive Experiences for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Travelers
Despite progress within the LGBTQ+ community, transgender and gender-diverse people continue to face unique challenges.
To address the challenges specific to travel and tourism, our volunteer-led Gender Diverse Travel Advisory Group is collaborating with the IGLTA Foundation team and board to develop resources that will help IGLTA, its members, and the global tourism industry become more inclusive and supportive of transgender and gender diverse travelers.
We’re actively seeking leaders from transgender and gender-diverse communities to join our advisory group. Your voice is vital in ensuring our efforts truly reflect the needs and experiences of those most impacted, helping us advance LGBTQ+ travel on a global scale.
Mission:
The Gender Diverse Travel Advisory Group will proactively provide comprehensive guidance, innovative programming, and essential resources for IGLTA, the IGLTA Foundation, and their partners. This collaborative effort will enhance access to global destinations and significantly improve travel experiences for the transgender and gender-diverse community, fostering inclusivity and understanding within the travel industry.
Vision:
Foster a global environment where equitable, safe, and enjoyable travel experiences are accessible to all transgender and gender diverse travelers within the next decade.
Get Involved with the Gender Diverse Travel Advisory Group
If you have any questions or would like to join, please reach out to us at sonali.khan@iglta.org.
Meet the Gender Diverse Travel Advisory Group
Gabrielle Claiborne (She/her) | Chair of the IGLTA Foundation Transgender Advisory Group - Transformation Journeys Worldwide
As Co-Founder and CEO of Transformation Journeys Worldwide, an inclusion training and consulting firm with a transgender focus, Gabrielle Claiborne helps cutting-edge organizations position themselves to attract and retain the best talent, foster collaborative working environments, and drive innovation by creating fully trans-inclusive cultures. Some of her clients include Home Depot, Sun Life Financial, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Comcast, Mercedes Benz, UPS, Kaiser Permanente, Cox Media, WarnerMedia, and New York City Pride.
Gabrielle has been an out and active transwoman since 2010. She served on the Executive Board of Atlanta Pride for the past 5 years, and currently serves as Co-Chair of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce’s TGNC Inclusion Task Force, as Co-Chair of the Trans Affairs Committee on the City of Atlanta’s LGBTQ Mayoral Advisory Council, as Inclusion Chair and Secretary on the Board of the Out Georgia Business Alliance, as Chair of the OUT Georgia Business Alliance’s TGNC360 Workplace Initiative and as Advisory Board Member of Out Front Theater Group. In 2020, she published her memoir meets self-help book Embrace Your Truth: A Journey of Authenticity. Transformation Journeys Worldwide was honored to be chosen as the Out Georgia Business Alliance 2018 Small Business of the Year and is proud to be an NGLCC certified LGBT Business Enterprise.
Jacob Anderson-Minshall (He/Him) | Storyteller & Tour Director
Jacob Anderson-Minshall is a tour director and a contributing editor to Out. The former editor-in-chief of Out Traveler, Jacob has visited four continents and more than a dozen countries, moved to five states, been an exchange student, studied overseas, and lived abroad. He has crisscrossed the U.S. by planes, trains, and automobiles; lived in a solar-powered RV, and owned a tiny house. He’s been covering queer travel since he helped found the lesbian publication Girlfriends in the early 1990s. As a trans man who transitioned late in life, he has traveled as part of a visibly lesbian couple, been mistaken for straight, and faced the hurdles of trans travel, and the pleasures of being presumed gay. He’s an award-winning journalist and author of five books, including the memoir, Queerly Beloved: A Love Story Across Genders, co-written with his co-conspirator in work, life, and love, Diane Anderson-Minshall.
Rudrani Chettri (She/her) | MITR TRUST
Rudrani Chettri is a 42-year old, Graduate Transgender female born and brought up in New Delhi. She is the founder member of the first Community based organization (CBO) in Delhi called Mitr Trust(2005) that works with issues of Men who have sex with men (MSM), Transgender and Hijras. She is founder of India’s first modelling agency, BOLD. She is also an actor and model. She also represents India at Global Fund GFATM Tuberculosis and Malaria as Transgender key affected population for HIV/AIDS, she is also Managing committee member of INFOSEM India network of LGBTIQH.
Renato Braga
More than 14 years of experience in the travel, leisure and hospitality. As an Account Manager in Amadeus Brasil for 5 years,Renato has already worked for Strategic Planning and Reporting and Customer Experience.
MBA in Strategic Business Management at INPG, bachelor’s in civil aviation at Un. Anhembi Morumbi. Fluent in English and, Spanish.
Andrea Carmichael (She/her) | Simpleview
Andrea Carmichael is a Product Training Specialist at Simpleview, supporting Destination Marketing Organizations across the United States and around the world in utilizing Simpleview’s tools for their website and marketing efforts. She is also the founder and leader of the company's LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group, through which she is engaged in the work to foster a more inclusive, equitable, and diverse workplace within Simpleview, as well as leading conversations with DMO partners around inclusion for LGBTQ+ travelers.
Andrea has worked in nonprofit program management and fundraising and, before publicly transitioning, worked in education where she taught German and Russian to high school students, and in international community development. Currently living in Tucson, Arizona, USA, she has lived in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Dushanbe, Tajikistan, as well as several places within the United States. Outside of work, she performs regularly with the Lajkonik Polish Folk Dance Ensemble and as a company member at the Tucson Improv Movement.
Dr. Elijah Nicholas (He/Him) | http://www.elijahnicholas.com/
Dr. Elijah Nicholas is a recognized thought leader in transgender awareness and inclusion. As a retired senior military officer, with educational credentials from Harvard Divinity School, Dr. Nicholas is the author of 13 publications contributing insights on inclusion and justice. As a Speaker and Corporate Trainer, Dr. Elijah provides conscious-driven leadership, trans awareness, and trans inclusion training. He provides training and keynotes to corporations such as Amazon, SHRM, and Fanatics; municipalities such as the City of Oshkosh, and multiple universities including Antioch University and The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
As the President and CEO of The Global Trans Equity Project (GTEP), Dr. Nicholas has established himself as a thought leader as demonstrated in Forbes Magazine. He is regularly called upon as the thought leader in transgender awareness and inclusion by major networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, Pix11, Fox News, and TVOne. Internationally renowned, Dr. Elijah Nicholas's dedication to fostering inclusive and equitable policies showcases his role as a pivotal thought leader in transgender awareness, inclusion, and conscious-driven leadership. His work champions a vision where respect and equitable care are universally embraced
Alejandra Palma | Turismo Gato Andino
Alejandra has become in the first transgender woman working on a commercial management in a tourism company in Chile. She was trained as a translator from English to Spanish, which brought her to the industry. Eventually she also trained on tourism and hospitality at Finis Terrae University.
Alejandra is also part of the “diversity team” of Expertia Travel. Who seeks to implement the best conditions for LGBTQIA+ community workers, among other minories.
She is an incipient activist who wants to help trans community. Currently she participates weekly on trans group talks, and also contribute on parents with trans kids talks. Recently she has decided to join on a sexuality diploma (2022). The training is aimed at fostering critical reflections, and facilitating personal development and transversal skills in sexuality for the approach of sexual health counseling, and the development of educational initiatives in sexuality.
Diane Rodriguez | Cámara LGBT de Comercio y Turismo Ecuador
Diane Marie Rodríguez Zambrano is a transfeminist activist, a psychologist, a graduate of a master's degree in Gender and Development at FLACSO, and a master's degree in Legal and Forensic Psychology at the University of Otavalo. She is the founder of several collectives in her country such as the Silueta X Association in 2010, Plataforma Nacional Nueva Red Trans Ecuador in 2014 and the Ecuadorian Federation of LGBTI Organizations in 2015. She has developed other proposals such as: the investigation and closure of conversion therapy clinics and center through the campaign "Time for Equality" in 2013, The recognition of the Same-same de facto marital union in 2013, the lawsuit to a television channel for incitement of hatred towards LGBTIQ+ people in 2014, the Gender in the ID card for Trans people in 2015, reports of LGBTTI murders and transfemicides in Ecuador from 2013 to date, the creation of the First Psycho Trans Center.
In the corporate field, Rodriguez, came working since 2015 for the creation of the first LGBT Chamber of Commerce and Business in Ecuador, which was supported for its constitution by the NGLCC of the U.S. At last, in 2018 it was possible to legalize and give legal life to this private corporation taking as name LGBT Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Ecuador. As co-founder, she publicly announced the birth of the LGBT Chamber in 2019 which had the presence of the Global direction of the NGLCC of the U.S. As part of its growth the chamber launched the Pride Connection Ecuador initiative in September 2019 which begins a path with respect to the first inclusive human resources network in the Andean country. In tourism, as a member of the IGLTA, the Chamber launched in May 2021 the Proud Destinations initiative, whose purpose is to identify friendly places for the LGBTIQ+ tourist population in the country.
Stevie Tran | Tran Arrowsmith
Stevie Tran is a founding partner at the Phoenix law firm of Tran Arrowsmith. She is a graduate of the Maurice A. Dean College of Law at Hofstra University. For nearly a decade, Stevie has advised businesses, institutions, and organizations in addressing transgender and non-binary inclusion and developing policies on non-discrimination. In addition, Stevie consults and advises organizations on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion, engaging companies in re-evaluating and improving the ways they recruit and retain diverse, talented employees and staff.
She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Arizona LGBT Bar Association and on the Advisory Committee for the Arizona Community Foundation’s Kellenberger + Tollefson Center for LGBTQ Philanthropy, which is one of the first named centers for LGBTQ philanthropy in the United States.
Bella Thanakarn Vongvisitsin (She/her) | Inclusive Tourism Asia
Dr Bella Vongvisitsin (she/her), a Senior Lecturer at Hong Kong Metropolitan University and co-founder of Inclusive Tourism Asia, is a seasoned scholar in tourism management with a focus on community-based tourism, diversity and inclusion, and tech start-up entrepreneurship. She has led impactful tourism development projects in Thailand, Hong Kong, ASEAN, and Asia-Pacific. Advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, she is a former President of ILGA Asia Foundation, an award-winning civil society organization. Bella’s expertise spans community development, inclusive tourism, and service design. She was also a recipient of the 2018 IGLTA-PATA Building Bridges Fellowship, attending the ILGTA Global Convention in Toronto. Her experience with IGLTA has inspired her to create Inclusive Tourism Asia as a consortium of LGBTQ+ scholars in Asia, working on meaningful projects delving into the Asian nuances of LGBTQ+ tourism.
Max Siegel | transandtravelling.com
Max (pronouns: They/He) is based in London and works with brands to help them reach the LGBTQ+ community on both a personal and professional basis. They believe that representation and authentic voices are the keys to advancing LGBTQ+ rights, especially for the Trans+ community. With that in mind, Max is currently sharing every step of his medical transition journey on his Instagram and launching the first ever platform dedicated to Trans Travel.
Nicolò Manfredini (He/Him) | IGLTA
Nicolò Manfredini (he/him) works as the Social Media Manager at IGLTA. With a background in Tourism Economics from the University of Venice and a career in social media, Nicolò is an inclusive (and accessible!) communications and marketing professional.
Outside of his role at IGLTA, Nicolò is the co-founder of Indig, which empowers businesses to adopt inclusive communication practices through consulting, training, and online resources.
Nicolò is dedicated to serving the transgender community. He was a facilitator for peer support groups and currently runs a helpdesk at the Italian non-profit association Sat Pink. The helpdesk assists transgender and non-binary individuals who are seeking employment opportunities and face struggles and discrimination in their job search.
Committed to equity and social justice, he advocates for a more diverse and intersectional representation in the LGBTQ+ tourism industry.
Alex Semidey (He/They) | Social Entrepreneur
Born in 1969 in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Alexander Semidey (he/them) is a Transgender Non-Binary entrepreneur, humanitarian, writer, illustrator, TV PA, restaurateur, musician, and LGBTQI+ activist focused on Trans rights. Residing in Melbourne, Florida since 2021, Alex became an advocate for Puerto Rican families and the Trans community after Hurricane Maria, connecting families and collaborating to deliver over 100,000 tons of aid to 72 municipalities.
In 2017, Alex relocated to Puerto Rico as a Regional Operations Director for a telecommunications company. He was honored by the United Third Bridge Chamber of Commerce in 2019 and was active in the Verano del 2019 movement against corruption, homophobia, and transphobia.
In 2020, Alex founded Transparent Eco Tours in Cabo Rojo, offering marine life tours, and published "Papepe Edicion Maria," an illustrated book about a Trans M character post-Maria. In 2023, he received an IGLTA Fellowship in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Alex owns Transparent LLC, focusing on sustainable gardens and lifestyle organization, and is working on his second book, "Papepe: Verano del '19," set for release in 2025. He also serves as the Co-owner at Ausmericanmutt.com.