Event Details
Let's be uncomfortable, so that we can learn.
Let us provide you the tools so you have the courage to try.
We want to set you up for success.
When you are successful, we all will be successful in Building Inclusive Tourism.
Session Information: Building better business through diversity, equity, and inclusion starts with each individual assessing the past, present and future to identify opportunities to improve, adapt and shift. This workshop will provide the steps to conduct a discovery within your own operations and businesses to identify current gaps. You will gain insights through hearing about other’s experiences in the marketplace as we share best practice stories and examples of how adjusting your business to be more inclusive lead to better business success.
Guest Speakers:
- Niyoka McIntosh - Co-founder of Unpack Consulting; Wellness Vacation Specialist and owner of Vacation Your Way
- Shalene Dudley, CTA, WPICC, PMP - Lead Travel Concierge at Latitude Concierge Travels, Ltd.
- Maria Ines - Director of Agent Experience & Loyalty, Independent by Flight Centre
Moderator: Maxine Gundermann - Market Sales Manager, Eastern Ontario, Celebrity Cruises, Inc.
Niyoka is passionate about travel, equity and anti-racism practices.
Employed in Toronto as a certified teacher since 2001 along with independently owning and operating a boutique travel agency, Vacation Your Way since 2012, Niyoka is accustomed to creating, implementing and managing programs and services that have sharpened her anti-racism and equity lens.
Shalene Dudley is the CEO/Lead Destination Wedding + Group Specialist of Latitude Concierge Travels, LTD located in Burlington, Ontario. She transitioned to the travel industry full-time after a very successful 15-year career as a construction project manager. With a bachelor of arts in Interior Design from Michigan State University on her resume, Shalene moved to Orlando, FL to follow her passion in hospitality design. Like a dream come true, her first real position was as a Junior Designer/Imagineer with Walt Disney Imagineering in Lake Buena Vista, FL. She became a certified PMP (Project Management Professional) in 2006 and now applies her knowledge to assist her clients with planning, budgeting and executing their plans and dreams for a memorable travel experience. Her success and ability to effectively network has provided opportunities to partner with Hudson's Bay Gift Registry locations across the Greater Toronto Area as well as develop relationships with Kleinfeld Bridal. In 2015, Shalene won the PAX News Award of Excellence for "Rookie of the Year-2014" and was named one of "6 Travel Professionals You Should Be Following on Facebook" by Canadian Traveler magazine. Over the last few years, she has facilitated multiple peer-to-peer groups amongst select travel agent delegates from Canada and the US at the exclusive Romance Travel Forum and International Travel Agent Forums. She has also been a panelist for TravelMarket Place Toronto and the Las Vegas Travel Agent Forum. Shalene was asked to lead a session discussing bridal show strategies in Puerto Vallarta at the 2019 Romance Travel Forum. In 2021 Shalene was nominated for a RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award and is the first recipient of the inaugural Baxter Media Travel Agent and Beyond Award for her work with the grassroots organization Let’s Get Uncomfortable (LGU). LGU is a platform dedicated to offering a safe space for travel industry professionals to have difficult conversations including but not limited to gender equity, race and representation, and responsible tourism practices. LGU recently coordinated 2 breakout sessions with panels moderated by Dudley entitled “How We Represent and Sell the World We Live In” at the 2021 TravelMarket Place Toronto Conference.
With a background in corporate training, sales and project management she is now working with Independent Travel Contractors and Business owners as a part of the Agent Support team at Independent by Flight Centre.
Maria has worked in the travel industry for over 20 years and for the last 17 of those years spent with the Flight Centre Travel Group.
Maxine Gundermann, based in Toronto, is the market sales manager for Celebrity Cruises, building and maintaining strong relations with Canadian travel agents and their travel clients. She has been in the cruise industry for over 12 years, getting her start as a crew member onboard numerous cruise lines, with previous experience in hotels as well as food and beverage. Maxine has experience with Diversity and Equity panels speaking on Let’s Get Uncomfortable and other focus groups. In her personal time, she has hosted online television series’ such as Negotiating Blackness and Colourful Lives. She is a current member of TIAO’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion working group.
