A Black woman who launched her very own luxury travel company has shared the inspiration behind the Up In The Air Life.
Up In The Air Life “merges the art of connections with luxury travel experiences to create memories, milestones, and magic for individuals looking to explore the world,” according to the website’s description.
“From luxury mega yachts in Croatia to champagne and wine tastings in France and Italy; the Up in the Air Life team handles each special detail in order to give you the freedom to enjoy your adventure and just show up.”
For Black travelers who are seeking a more high-end travel experience, Soares says her company is at their service.
As I began to travel more leisurely, and coupled with my thirst to live life to the fullest, I was inspired to create Up in the Air Life to give people who looked like me an effort to share and create those quality experiences,” Soares told Black Enterprise.
“I couldn’t find travel companies that were providing luxury to people who looked like me — most of the market offering that targeted people of color was predominantly budget travel — even still today. I wanted to share my love of luxury and epic experiences at an affordable price with excellent customer service.”
The former sales executive is putting her business experience to good use, and she says that despite Black people spending a whopping $42 billion on travel, it’s still an upward battle to be taken seriously in the industry.
“The biggest challenge in the luxury travel space is being taken seriously, luckily at this point, we’ve had enough press so people can Google us and we have references at some of the largest luxury travel suppliers who can vouch for us,” she shared. “As a black-owned business in the luxury travel space, we are unicorns. The traditional luxury travel space is very [white].”
Click here to read the interview in full.
