Welcome to Humans in the Hot Seat, a spinoff series of Humans of Travel. This is Emma Weissmann, Managing Editor at TravelAge West, and your host.

Over the coming weeks, we will be interviewing the finalists of the TravelAge West Trendsetter Awards, which were created to acknowledge the work of exceptional travel advisors. This year, TravelAge West honored travel advisors in five categories, and named a winner and a runner-up and each category.

Today, you’ll hear from the fourth travel advisor in this series: Lauren Quirk, the runner-up in the category of Best Use of Social Media. Lauren’s agency, Travel With Character, has a truly unique social media strategy. Lauren created a series of travel-related comedy songs for her social media accounts that have original song lyrics and Broadway-style theatrics. By focusing on messages that encourage engagement and brand awareness, her social media accounts for about $500,000 in sales per year. What originally started as acoustic videos played on piano has become professionally produced tracks and music videos.

This episode was sponsored by the Iberostar Resorts.

Lauren's Trendsetter award was sponsored by Sandals Resorts.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Lauren's Social Media: @travelwithcharacter (Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook)

ABOUT YOUR HOST

Emma Weissmann is the Managing Editor of TravelAge West, a print magazine and website for travel advisors based in the Western U.S. She is also the co-host of Trade Secrets, a podcast created with sister publication Travel Weekly.

TravelAge West also produces national trade publications Explorer and Family Getaways, as well as events including the Future Leaders in Travel Retreat, Global Travel Marketplace West, the WAVE Awards gala and the Napa Valley Leadership Forum.

ABOUT THE SHOW

TravelAge West’s podcast, “Humans of Travel,” features conversations with exceptional people who have compelling stories to tell. Listeners will hear from the travel industry’s notable authorities, high-profile executives, travel advisors and rising stars as they share the highs and lows that make them human.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.