Building a Modern Travel Agency with Henley Vazquez

Henley Vazquez, co-founder of Fora, is creating opportunities and jobs for people who love travel and want to turn their passion into income.

One of the worst pieces of advice she received early in her career was to hire a certain kind of person. When you do that, your company becomes an echo chamber, where everyone has the same expertise. There’s no diversity. So when she launched Fora, a modern travel agency helping people plan their dream trips, she started it with two co-founders, each offering a different level of expertise.

In today’s episode, Henley talks in depth about the importance of relationships in a company – between the leadership, staff, and investors – and gives us a peek behind the curtain into her thoughts on failure.

Plus, she shares the ups and downs she’s experienced as a founder, from having to close a company amidst a worldwide pandemic, to finally starting something that has meaning to her.

IN THIS EPISODE:

Henley’s growing up experience on a Virginia farm, attending Princeton, taking a job at Town and Country, and eventually finding her way into the travel industry Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable (and the idea you can learn anything by getting on the bike and pedaling) How Henley started her own travel agency, Passported, in 2014, and the decision to shut it down in the midst of the pandemic The intricacies of travel advising, including its similarities to real estate and what it takes to become an advisor How Henley pivoted her career and started Fora with two co-founders, each with clear expertise and roles (from tech, to business, to travel), which took the burden off launching a business solely on her own Starting a company “from her bootstraps” vs. going the venture capital route, and the importance of getting answers fast so you can get to that “yes” so much faster

LINKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED

Follow Henley on Instagram and learn about her company Fora. If you want to turn your travel obsession into your next career move, you can also join the waitlist to become a travel advisor (P.S. Use code CareerMemos to get to the front of the list)!

Sarina is a career coach and consultant who works with startup leaders and entrepreneurs. Connect with her on her website, on Instagram, via email, and check out more episodes of the Career Memos podcast.