Lindsey Levak

I attribute much of my success to curiosity, resilience, and learning to pay very close attention to people. I did not follow a traditional path into this career, and much of what I know was learned by doing—asking questions, building relationships, making mistakes, solving problems, and continually teaching myself whatever I needed to know next.

Over time, I learned that exceptional service is rarely about doing the most; it is about understanding people deeply enough to know what matters to them. My clients trust me with an incredibly personal part of their lives, and I never take that trust for granted. I listen, remember, anticipate, and care deeply about getting the details right—not simply because they are details, but because they belong to a person.

I also believe relationships have been fundamental to everything I have built. Travel is a relationship business, and many of the opportunities in my career have come from treating people with genuine care and respect, whether they are a principal, an assistant, a hotelier, a driver, or someone working quietly behind the scenes. Some of the greatest lessons of my career have come from the people behind the service industry—the individuals whose expertise, creativity, kindness, and willingness to solve a problem have helped me create extraordinary experiences for my clients. My success has never been mine alone. I have always believed that every person involved matters.

Perhaps most importantly, I have been willing to build my own path when the obvious one did not exist. I have never been afraid to learn something I did not know, take a measured risk, or create a solution when I saw a gap. That mindset ultimately led me to build Travel Curation and continues to shape the way I approach both business and life.

The best career advice I’ve ever received wasn’t actually advice someone gave me. It was something I learned the hard way: you do not have to know exactly how to do something before you begin—you have to be willing to figure it out.

I did not build my career by following a clear or traditional roadmap. Again and again, I found myself in rooms, roles, and situations where I did not have every credential, every answer, or even a blueprint to follow. What I did have was curiosity, resourcefulness, and the willingness to ask questions, find the right people, learn quickly, and teach myself whatever I needed to know next.

That mindset changed the trajectory of my career. It allowed me to move into industries I had not been formally trained in, take on increasingly complex responsibilities, and eventually build a company around a need I could see even though there was no established blueprint for what I wanted to create.

There is another lesson I learned much later, also the hard way: your personal best is something you sometimes choose to pursue—not the admission price for being okay with yourself.

For much of my career, I believed that because I could give everything I had, I should. Ambition and an extraordinary work ethic helped me build the life and career I have today, and I would never want to lose either. But I have learned that sustainable success requires knowing when excellence truly matters, when good is enough, and when the person behind the career needs to matter too.

Both lessons have shaped me: I learned to trust myself enough to begin before I had all the answers, and eventually, to trust myself enough to know that I did not have to give everything I had to everything I did.

My advice to young women entering luxury travel would be: don’t chase luxury—learn service. Ask questions, stay curious, and learn from everyone around you. Some of the greatest teachers in my career have been the people working quietly behind the scenes—the assistants, concierges, drivers, hotel teams, captains, local partners, household staff, and countless others whose expertise makes extraordinary experiences possible but who rarely receive the credit for creating them. Treat every person with the same respect, regardless of their title or position, and never underestimate what someone can teach you. This industry is built on relationships, and some of the most rewarding moments of my career have come not from what I accomplished alone, but from what we were able to accomplish together. The magic of exceptional service is almost never created by one person; it happens when great people trust one another, share their expertise, and succeed together.

Just as importantly, don’t lose yourself in this industry. Luxury travel and private service will take every bit of you that you are willing to give it. There will always be another request, another problem to solve, another client who needs something, and another opportunity to prove how capable you are. You have to learn what is sustainable and healthy for you, because being exceptional at your job should not require disappearing inside it. Protect the parts of your life that have nothing to do with who needs you professionally. I wish I had understood much earlier that boundaries do not make you less dedicated—they are part of what allows you to build a career you can still love years later.

One of the biggest challenges—and opportunities—in luxury travel right now is the growing complexity behind what clients expect to feel completely effortless. At the UHNW level, travel rarely exists as a standalone itinerary. It intersects with private aviation, multiple residences, household staff, security, family schedules, yachts, ground transportation, wellness, dining, events, and constantly changing priorities. Yet responsibility for those pieces is often fragmented across assistants, family offices, travel advisors, household teams, and outside partners. The traveler should never have to feel that complexity, but someone has to understand and connect the entire ecosystem behind it.

At the same time, technology and artificial intelligence are rapidly changing the transactional side of travel. Information is easier to access, itineraries can be generated faster, and many traditional booking functions will continue to become more efficient. I don't see that as a threat to exceptional travel professionals; I see it as an opportunity to become even more valuable in the areas technology cannot replicate. Knowing that a hotel exists is very different from knowing whether it is right for a particular client. Access to information is not the same as judgment, relationships, discretion, anticipation, or trust.

I believe the future of luxury travel will be increasingly defined by that distinction. The greatest expertise will not simply be knowing the world; it will be knowing the traveler so deeply that the world can be orchestrated around them. The professionals and companies that thrive will be those who move beyond transactions and become trusted strategic partners—people who understand not only where a client wants to go, but how they live, what matters to them, and how to make an increasingly complex world feel remarkably simple.

Care, connection, curiosity, and purpose are at the center of both my work and my personal life. I have always cared deeply—about the people I work for, the people I work alongside, the places I travel, and the relationships I build along the way. For a long time, I thought caring deeply meant giving everything I had. I am learning that those are not the same thing.

Connection has shaped nearly every meaningful chapter of my life. In my career, the strongest work has always come from genuine relationships—with clients, assistants, hotel teams, drivers, concierges, local partners, and the countless people working behind the scenes. In my personal life, travel taught me that seeing a place was never enough for me; I wanted to understand it, know the people, and become part of it in some small way. The experiences that have changed me most have almost always begun with connection.

Curiosity is equally important to me. I have never been particularly interested in staying inside the lines of what I was “supposed” to know or do. If I wanted to understand something, I learned it. If the path I wanted did not exist, I looked for another way—or created one. That willingness to remain curious has taken me around the world, shaped an unconventional career, and ultimately led me to build Travel Curation.

Purpose is what gives all of it meaning. I want the work I build and the life I live to matter beyond achievement alone. Whether that means creating extraordinary experiences for the people who trust me, supporting the people behind those experiences, or helping expand opportunity for women and communities through organizations like Positive Life Kenya, I want what I do to leave something meaningful behind.

And perhaps the value I am learning most deeply now is that I have to extend the same care I give so naturally to other people toward myself. Ambition, service, and an extraordinary work ethic have given me a life I am incredibly grateful for, but I no longer believe that giving everything I have is the measure of how much I care. I want to care deeply without carrying everything, pursue excellence without requiring perfection, and build a meaningful life without disappearing inside the work it takes to create it.