You're invited to join Fodor's Travel and travel host, Samantha Brown, for a special Instagram Live chat!
Do you ever wonder what it takes to become a travel host? How about what it’s like to travel the world for television? You’re invited to join Fodor’s Travel on April 29th at 1 pm EST for a special Instagram Live Chat with the esteemed travel host, Samantha Brown.
If you haven’t heard of Samantha Brown, pull up a chair, because Brown is a pioneer and one of the first women to break through the historically male-dominated travel hosting space. In an industry where women statistically make 80% of travel decisions, it can seem obvious to have a female travel host speak to the overwhelming majority of the travel consumer base. And yet, for far too long, we’ve seen travel shows spearheaded by straight white men whose overtly masculine adventure content seems exclusively catered to, well, other straight white men.
Enter Samantha Brown, who was once the only woman to headline a travel show for the Travel Channel. While the stats clearly prove that women travel, it was important for Brown to show that women travel (sans bikinis, if you can believe it). For over 20 years, Brown has hosted several shows including Girl Meets Hawaii, Great Vacation Homes, Great Hotels, Passport to Europe, Passport to Latin America, Great Weekends, Green Getaways, Passport to China, and Samantha Brown’s Asia.
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Today, you can find Brown—who originally hails from Dallas—hosting the popular PBS series, Places to Love, which is now on its fifth season. Whether she’s interviewing artisans in North Carolina, sipping Bourbon in Kentucky, or ice canoeing in Canada—Brown’s approachable and down-to-earth show leaves viewers with a list of curated experiences highlighting the food, culture, and adventure of a given destination.
Since Places to Love aired, Brown’s show has earned itself three Daytime Emmy nominations and, in 2019, won two Emmys for Outstanding Travel/Adventure Program and Outstanding Host. The importance of Brown’s career cannot be underestimated, as she has paved a way for a new generation of diverse women travel hosts—such as Kellee Edwards and Jo Franco. Sure, the travel hosting space has a long way to go before it’s truly equalized and diversified, but we are now seeing a crop of new faces that better reflect actual travelers.
Traveling the world for work has always held an allure, but to travel the world for work and television seems like the holy grail of careers. This Friday, we’ll be speaking with Samantha Brown about what it’s like to have the best job in the world, traveling as a woman, and her tried-and-tested tips for solo traveling. We’ll see you on Fodor’s Travel Instagram on April 29th at 1 pm EST for this exciting live chat!