Rachel Miller

I definitely attribute my success to being a hard worker and staying organized, but most importantly, to my parents. They were the ones who put me through school, and when I almost dropped out of Rutgers at the beginning, they encouraged me not to. Without their support, I wouldn't be where I am today. I also credit my friends in the travel industry who have always encouraged me. During COVID, when travel shut down and things were looking difficult, I stayed in touch with all my travel friends, and we encouraged each other to stay with our writing and content creation. Having such a strong network of family and friends has really gone a long way in helping me succeed.

The best career advice I’ve ever received is to step outside my comfort zone, embrace new experiences, and stay open to opportunities that align with my passions. I’ve found that meaningful growth often comes from taking on new challenges, being willing to learn, and trusting the journey, even when the path forward isn’t completely clear.

For any young woman looking to enter travel content creation, the first piece of advice I would give is have fun. A lot of people who go into this field do so because they love to travel, they love new experiences, they like meeting people, and it's so easy to get caught up with the brand deals and working with this destination or that magazine. Just take a step back and remember why you went into it. Have fun and still enjoy it, and don't get burnt out. It's also really important to celebrate the small wins, because it's so easy to compare yourself to other people. Always take some time to remember your own wins and what you've accomplished. That's really, really important.

The biggest challenges in travel content creation right now are the oversaturation of content and how competitive the field has become. It's really hard to stand out, and it can be really difficult and disheartening when you're pitching a collaboration or magazine and don't hear anything back. You get more no's than yeses, so it's easy to get down on yourself. Another big challenge is that when you're promoting your podcast or writing on social media, it's very easy to compare yourself to other people because their accomplishments are right in front of you on your feed. It's hard to just stay in your lane and focus on yourself. On the opportunities side, it's always fun to work with smaller tourism boards and places that may not have huge budgets to be on the front page of a magazine. I've gone to some amazing destinations that I wouldn't necessarily have thought of as travel destinations. Even more fun than that is connecting with the people. I love talking to small business owners and seeing what they're creating and selling, especially when it's a women-owned business. I've gone to some amazing women-owned businesses in different cities and had a chance to talk with the owners. I also love promoting smaller art museums, learning about local artists, and talking to volunteers there. The connections are amazing. I have so many awesome stories with different people from all over the place and destinations you might not necessarily think of right away.

I definitely think being kind and compassionate is most important. I think sometimes it's really easy to kind of get in your own head and become a little arrogant, especially as you achieve things, but it's always good to be humble and be kind. We actually had this conversation at that wellness event, myself and a couple other people in the industry, that if you're not a nice person, we don't want to work with you. So being a pleasant person goes a long way, being appreciative, always saying thank you. I'm really big into that. Obviously, I just think it goes a long way. And then also, being hardworking. As sad as it is, opportunities aren't going to fall out of the sky, and you always have to advocate for yourself and know your worth, and I feel like you can do that in a very positive way. That's always what I tell my students, too. When they need something and they reach out to me and ask for help with something or need an extension, I always applaud them for advocating for themselves, because I think that's huge in being successful. You have to be your biggest ally.