Brandi Barnum

If I'm being honest, I attribute my success to equal parts obsessive organization and refusing to take myself too seriously. Nearly 30 years in project management taught me that the "boring" stuff — the details, the contingency plans, the double-checking of double-checks — is actually what makes an experience feel effortless for the people I'm serving. So when a client tells me their trip felt seamless, that's not luck. That's me somewhere behind the scenes making sure Eagle's Nest tickets require a shuttle bus or a restaurant is closed on Wednesdays, so they never have to find out the hard way.

But honestly? None of that matters without trust. My business has been built almost entirely on referrals — people telling their friends, their coworkers, and anyone that asks, that I'm worth calling. I don't think that happens because I'm the flashiest agent out there. I think it happens because I show up as myself: a little chaotic, a lot direct, quick to laugh, and completely unwilling to fake enthusiasm about a trip I don't actually think is right for someone. Clients seem to sense pretty fast whether you actually care or you're just selling — I care. A lot. Probably too much some days.

I'd also be lying if I said leaving a stable corporate job wasn't terrifying. But I think that leap — betting on myself after decades of building someone else's projects — is part of the success story too. I finally get to bring all that project management precision to something that's entirely mine.

The best career advice I've ever received? If it were easy, they wouldn't have to pay you to do it. Work is supposed to be hard sometimes — that's kind of the whole point. So I've stopped waiting for things to feel easy and started believing in myself enough to tackle the hard stuff anyway. I embrace the challenges, I own my mistakes, and I've learned that every single one of them — the good, the bad, and the "why did I think that was a good idea" — is just another opportunity to get better at what I do.

My advice to young women entering this industry? Actually listen to people. Don't just sell someone a trip — figure out what they actually need, even if that means asking a few more questions than feels comfortable. Give every opportunity everything you've got, show up committed even on the days it's hard, and never lose sight of the fact that you're not just booking a vacation — you're helping create memories someone will talk about for years. Do that consistently, and the rest takes care of itself.

The biggest challenge in my industry right now is convincing people they still need a travel advisor when they can book everything themselves in three clicks. My answer to that is simple: anyone can book a hotel room, but not everyone can tell you which "swim-up" rooms don't actually have swim-up access, or that your connection in a random layover city only gives you 40 minutes to sprint across a terminal, or how to fix things when your flight gets cancelled at midnight in a country where you don't speak the language.

That's the opportunity, actually — the same technology that makes people think they don't need an advisor is exactly why they need one more than ever. There's too much information out there and not enough time to sort through what's actually good.

I also think there's a real opportunity right now in small business travel. Big corporations have travel departments. Small businesses usually have someone doing it between fifty other jobs badly, and that's exactly the kind of chaos my project management background was built for.

And honestly, the biggest opportunity for me personally is one I just created myself — betting on my own business full time instead of keeping it as a side hustle to a stable paycheck. That's not a small thing, and I don't think I'm the only woman in this industry facing that exact fork in the road.

The values that matter most to me are pretty simple, honestly: do what you say you're going to do. Keeping my word is non-negotiable, whether that's to a client, a BNI colleague, or my own family — because your reputation is built one kept promise at a time, and it's gone the second you break one. I lead with integrity and transparency in everything I do, even when the honest answer isn't the easy one — like telling a client a resort isn't right for them even though it means walking away from the booking. I'd rather have your trust than your sale. In the long run, that's what's actually built this business.