On this episode of 85 Percent, we meet Kai Lawson, founder of Black Girls Shoot Too (BGST), a creative community for Black women and women of color photographers in Los Angeles. A longtime Wanderful member and part of our LA hub, Kai won the Social Impact Award at the 2026 Bessies.

Kai started BGST in March 2025 by posting a single photo walk on Eventbrite, just to see who would show up. About 40 women did. Since then it has grown into monthly photo walks and workshops, mentorship, two gallery exhibits (many of them the photographers' first), and a group photo tour to Panama in January 2027, all built in the off hours around her 24-year career with the County of Los Angeles.

We talk about:

• Winning the Bessie, and the feeling that her grandmother Bessie was in the room
• How a dad with a camera turned into a lifelong obsession with photography
• The Eventbrite post that started it all
• Why representation behind the camera matters as much as in front of it, from skin tones and lighting to who gets hired and paid
• The photographer who said "I don't think I'm a photographer," until her framed print hung in an exhibit
• What fuels her, and what's next: a membership, a nonprofit, and a space of their own

Connect with Kai / Black Girls Shoot Too

Website: https://www.wearebgst.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackgirlsshoottoo/

BGST Panama Photo Tour (Jan 21-26, 2027): https://www.wearebgst.com/panama-group-trip

Events: https://www.wearebgst.com/event-list

Chapters

00:05 Intro: Beth introduces Kai and the Social Impact Award

01:25 Interview begins

02:14 Winning the Bessie

02:32 The Bessie finalist dinner

03:29 Did she know she'd win? Her grandmother Bessie

04:12 Origin story: a dad with a camera

05:08 The Eventbrite post that started BGST

06:19 The first photo walk: 40 people, a market, and a drum circle

07:20 How BGST grew: monthly walks, workshops, a studio

08:00 The first gallery exhibit: "Now I'm a curator"

09:11 The numbers: Black women in photography

10:33 Who is pictured, and who is behind the camera

11:37 Skin tones, lighting, and fighting for space on the job

12:45 Getting women of color photographers hired and paid

15:05 What fuels her: a full-time job, no team, and a lot of love

15:45 The BGST Panama photo tour and international exhibit

17:48 What's next: membership, a nonprofit, a space of their own

18:37 What the travel industry could do for Black women photographers

18:57 Why community changes what women are willing to try

20:27 "I don't think I'm a photographer": the Getty moment

21:59 Why women hold themselves back

23:37 Creating the validation we wish we had

24:50 "It's inside of you"

25:32 Closing thoughts

25:59 Outro

Exposure Leads to Expansion: Eileen Ivette on Slow Content, Afro-Latinidad, and Why Data Keeps Failing Black Travelers

This season has been all about our 2026 Bessie Award winners, and this episode features our Trailblazer Award recipient, Eileen Ivette — the Afro-Colombian journalist and creator behind Black Latin History, a video series that uplifts Afro-Latino stories and confronts anti-Black erasure across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Eileen started posting Black Latin History content in October 2022, with zero followers and a pitch she couldn't sell inside the newsroom where she worked — her bosses told her the stories about anti-Blackness in Latin America made her "too close to the story" to be objective. Within a month of launching on her own, one video about how Afro-Colombian women used braids as escape maps during the colonial period hit 4 million views and got reposted by Viola Davis. Three years later, she's built an entire ecosystem — video, articles, mentorship for other creators, and group trips to places like Medellín — out of a story she once had to fight to tell.

We talk about her "speed versus substance" talk at WITS this year, and why she believes quality content builds trust in a way virality alone never can. We get into her own layered identity as an Afro-Latina raised in Houston, constantly having her Latinidad questioned, and the anti-Blackness she's encountered from within the Latino community itself. And we dig into what the travel industry keeps getting wrong: the tourism boards leaving money on the table by ignoring Afro-tourism, the historical census erasure that's left the industry working off bad data, and why she had to publicly beg the internet just to find an Afro-Peruvian tour operator in Lima. It's a conversation about identity, patience, and what it actually looks like to build something real instead of chasing a trend.

Connect with Eileen Ivette / Black Latin History:

• Website: eileenivette.com
• Instagram: @eileen_ivette
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/eileen-ivette

The Business of Being Seen: Danny Guerrero on Allyship, Data, and What Travel Keeps Getting Wrong

This season has been all about our 2026 Bessie Award winners, and this episode is a special one: our very first Allyship Award recipient, Danny Guerrero.

Danny is the founder and CEO of The Culturist Group, a multicultural and inclusive marketing agency working with brands like Brand USA and Visit California. Before starting his own company, he spent five years as VP of Strategy at MMGY Global, one of the biggest names in travel marketing, and over 20 years in the industry overall.

We talk about how Danny's whole career led to this point — from drafting an "elaborate long email" to MMGY leadership in 2018 (before George Floyd, before BLM, before the industry reckoning of 2020) arguing that travel marketing was ignoring underrepresented audiences, to eventually finding his voice on a national stage with MMGY's Global Black Traveler Study. We get into the "pat on the head" feeling of being dismissed for years, the financial risk of leaving a stable role to start his own agency as a first-generation kid who put himself through school, and what The Culturist Group actually does — research, strategy, storytelling, and now MOSAEX, their new media platform for reaching "growth audiences" with precision.

We also don't shy away from the moment we're in: DEI budgets are being slashed, the word itself has become politically radioactive, and yet Danny argues the economic case for representation has never been stronger. We talk about the regulatory tension that makes multicultural media targeting so hard, why he believes this shift "is not going away" no matter what it's called, and what it will actually take for the travel industry to stop reacting to crisis after crisis and start building toward the future he wants to see — one where communities feel safe, seen, and genuinely invested in their own tourism economies.

Relevant links:

• The Culturist Group: culturistgroup.com
• MOSAEX: culturistgroup.com/mosaex
• Danny's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dannyguerreromba
• Martinique Lewis / Black Travel Alliance (mentioned in-episode): blacktravelalliance.com

ABOUT THE 85 PERCENT PODCAST

85% of travel decisions are made by women, yet women's voices and leadership are still underrepresented across the industry. Hosted by Wanderful founder Beth Santos, this show features candid conversations with the women shaping the future of travel, spotlighting the Bessie Award winners pushing the industry forward.

ABOUT THE HOST

Beth Santos is founder and CEO of Wanderful and author of Wander Woman. She's been named a changemaker by Business Insider and an inspiring person to follow by Condé Nast Traveller, and is godmother to the Azamara Onward cruise ship, a cafe owner, and a mom of three.

• Website: 85percentpodcast.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/santosbeth
• Instagram: @maximumbeth