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

Only 10% of safari companies worldwide are led by women — and just 15% are Black-owned. Sisters Amanda and Asnath Kessy are rewriting that story.

In this episode, Beth sits down with the co-founders of Still Waters Safaris, a woman-owned, family-led luxury safari company in Arusha, Tanzania, and winners of Travel Startup of the Year at the 2026 Bessie Awards. They share the story of growing up watching their father run tours in a male-dominated industry, the leap of faith it took for Amanda to leave a banking career to build Still Waters from just two clients, and the pushback — and unwavering family support — that shaped them along the way.

They dig into what makes their tours different, why investing in women transforms local economies, and what it will take to get more women into the safari industry. It's a conversation about family, resilience, and the belief that "the sun is big enough to shine on everybody."

Still Waters Safaris

• Website: stillwaterssafaris.co.tz
• Instagram: @stillwatersafaris
• Facebook: facebook.com/stillwaterssafaris
• LinkedIn: Still Waters Safaris

If you were moved by what you heard in this week's episode of "85 Percent," I invite you to leave an honest review of how this episode impacted you. Also, share this podcast with your travel buddy!

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.

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

Wanderful is a global community for women who travel, connecting members through meetups, an online community, and events like WITS and the Bessie Awards. Website: https://sheswanderful.com

Season 3 celebrates our 2026 Bessie Award winners, starting with Creator of the Year winner Anela Malik, who built a full ecosystem out of a hobby Instagram account she started almost by accident.

Beth and Anela talk about turning a creator career into an entrepreneurial one: the financial instability of the early years, why she crowdfunded Our Block instead of waiting on a brand, the pay gap she's faced as a Black creator, and what travel companies get wrong when they treat creators as marketing instead of business partners.

Enter to win: we're giving away a copy of Anela's book, American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States. Subscribe to our email list at 85percentpodcast.com to enter.

Anela Malik is the 2026 Wanderful Bessie Award winner for Creator of the Year, honored for combining creativity with advocacy to challenge the status quo in travel. She built Unfiltered & Fed into a platform reaching nearly 400,000 people through food, travel, culture, and identity. She authored American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States (National Geographic, 2025), a two-time NAACP Image Awards nominee, and launched Our Block, a crowdfunded series spotlighting Black-owned businesses nationwide. She's also a former U.S. diplomat, now leading small-group trips through the Middle East and North Africa.

Connect with Anela Malik

• Website: anelamalik.com
• Newsletter (Unfiltered & Fed): unfilteredandfed.com
• Instagram: @theanelamalik
• TikTok: @theanelamalik
• YouTube: @theanelamalik
• Our Block: ourblockshow.com
• Book: American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States (National Geographic, 2025)

Chapters

• 00:05 — Welcome to Season 3 + how to enter the giveaway
• 01:44 — Introducing our Creator of the Year: Anela Malik
• 03:44 — What Creator of the Year means at Wanderful
• 06:39 — How Anela became a creator by accident
• 09:42 — Learning entrepreneurship with no safety net
• 12:04 — The moment content creation became a real career
• 15:08 — From platform to published author: American Soul
• 18:02 — Crowdfunding Our Block: telling stories no one wanted to fund
• 23:07 — What the travel industry keeps getting wrong
• 26:42 — Being evaluated as a business, not just an influencer
• 30:03 — Creators and companies doing group travel right
• 33:37 — Where to find Anela and how to work with her
• 35:14 — Outro + one more reminder about the giveaway

What does it mean to travel as your full self when the world isn't always built with you in mind? In this special edition episode, I'm joined by journalist and author Lindsey Danis to celebrate the release of their debut book, (Out) On The Road: The Radical Joy of Queer Travel (Ig Publishing) — and we get into all of it.

Lindsey is a queer writer whose work has appeared in AFAR, Fodor's, Condé Nast Traveler, Longreads, Eater, and more, and this book is the kind of thing the travel world has genuinely needed. We talk about what it took to write it, what they learned from years of reporting on LGBTQ+ travel around the world, and why queer joy on the road is, in itself, a radical act.

Chapter List:

00:00 Introduction to the Conversation

02:26 Celebrating the Launch of 'Out on the Road'

05:06 Exploring the Book's Unique Approach

10:47 Understanding the Queer Travel Experience

15:12 The Radical Joy of Queer Travel

20:30 Navigating Personal Identity While Traveling

25:07 Personal Stories and Their Impact

29:12 Empowerment Through Travel

32:19 The Emotional Journey of Writing a Book

This podcast is hosted by Beth Santos, founder and CEO of Wanderful and author of Wander Woman: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World, Solo. Beth has been recognized in Business Insider as one of 17 changemakers transforming the hospitality industry, and in Conde Nast Traveller as one of 12 inspiring people to follow. She's also the godmother to the Azamara Onward cruise ship, a cafe owner and a mom of three.

💼🚺♀️👩🏾👵🏼👩🏽‍🦱✈️🚢🧳

If you would love to connect with Beth, join her in these following spaces:

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

Jen Ruiz holds many titles including lawyer, a TEDx speaker, #1 Amazon Bestseller, 2018 Reader's Favorite Award Winner and the 2023 Bessie award winner for the category "Most Impactful Piece of Writing". Before her 30th birthday, Jen decided to take 12 trips in 12 months. She not only surpassed her goal completing 20 trips in 12 months, but within those 12 months, her whole life changed.

Join me and Jen as we discuss:

• Study Abroad

• Comfort Zone

• Travel Immersion

• Travel without borders

• Cultural Relativism

• Anxious Traveling

• Perfectionism

• Entrepreneur

Honorable Mentions

Is It Time to Leave Your Comfort Zone?

I Gave Up Dating To Travel The World And It Changed My Life

TedX Talk: The Power of Flying Solo

Jen Ruiz Books

Follow Jen in these spaces:

Website: https://jenonajetplane.com/

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

💼🚺♀️ 👵🏼👩🏽‍🦱✈️🚢🧳

This podcast is hosted by Beth Santos. Beth has been recognized in Business Insider as one of 17 changemakers transforming the hospitality industry, in Conde Nast Traveller as one of 12 inspiring people to follow for International Women's Day, in TimeOut as one of 10 people shaping the future of Boston, as well as a BostInno 50 on Fire, a Chicago Scholars 35 Under 35 Young Leader Making an Impact, a Zell Fellow (a prestigious fellowship for entrepreneurs pursuing their MBA), and an alumna of the Babson WIN Lab. She was recognized by the Obama Administration as one of the top 100 travel bloggers in the US. In 2022, she was named Godmother of the Azamara Onward.

She is a dynamic keynote speaker, an entrepreneurship and marketing consultant for the travel + tourism industry, and a supportive coach who thrives on helping people build lasting, impactful communities.

💼🚺♀️👩🏾👵🏼👩🏽‍🦱✈️🚢🧳

If you would love to connect with Beth, join her in these following spaces:

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Have you been moved by what you heard in this week's episode of "85%"? I invite you to leave an honest review of how this episode impacted you. Also, share this podcast with your travel buddy!

The 85% Podcast intro, outro and transition music is named Nothing Just Happens by lemonmusicstudio and was found on Pixabay. Additional music and sound effects for this episode came from Soundstripe and/or Epidemic Sounds or is cited in the show notes. Crackers In Soup is the writer, audio editor and producer for this episode.

This episode is a treat for your ears! I had the opportunity to speak with Stephanie Jones, the visionary Founder & CEO of the Cultural Heritage Economic Alliance, Inc. (CHEA), a pioneering organization dedicated to transforming the travel and tourism landscape through innovative, sustainable initiatives empowering BIPOC businesses, professionals and students.

Stephanie shared her journey from growing up with limited travel opportunities to becoming a published author and luxury travel enthusiast. We dove into the importance of planning and budgeting for travel, the transformative power of exploring new cultures, and why self-care through travel is essential. Whether you're cutting back on daily expenses or using influencer hacks, Stephanie proves that everyone can achieve their travel dreams. Don't miss out on this inspiring episode!

Honorable Mentions

Wander Woman - Travel Book

Wanderful Community

B & H Photo Digital

Amena Bakali

Follow Stephanie in these spaces:

Website: https://stephaniemjonesspeaks.com/

Website: https://disruptforchange.com/

Website: https://futureofblacktourism.com/

Podcast: https://thenecessarydisruptor.com/the-host

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

💼🚺♀️ 👵🏼👩🏽‍🦱✈️🚢🧳

This podcast is hosted by Beth Santos, founder and CEO of Wanderful and author of Wander Woman: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World, Solo. Beth has been recognized in Business Insider as one of 17 changemakers transforming the hospitality industry, and in Conde Nast Traveller as one of 12 inspiring people to follow. She's also the godmother to the Azamara Onward cruise ship, a cafe owner and a mom of three.

💼🚺♀️👩🏾👵🏼👩🏽‍🦱✈️🚢🧳

If you would love to connect with Beth, join her in these following spaces:

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

Have you been moved by what you heard in this week's episode of "85 Percent"? I invite you to leave an honest review of how this episode impacted you. Also, share this podcast with your travel buddy!

The 85 Percent Podcast intro, outro and transition music is named Nothing Just Happens by lemonmusicstudio and was found on Pixabay. Additional music and sound effects for this episode came from Soundstripe and/or Epidemic Sounds or is cited in the show notes. Crackers In Soup is the writer, audio editor and producer for this episode.