Black travel is more visible than it has ever been.
Over the past decade, what many called the Black travel movement has grown into something much bigger. For a growing number of Black Americans, international travel is no longer viewed as something reserved for the wealthy, a once-in-a-lifetime experience or something outside of our reach. Travel has become part of the conversation. We’re taking group trips, planning destination weddings, cruising, staying at luxury resorts, exploring Africa and filling our passports with experiences around the world.
Social media certainly helped make Black travelers more visible, but visibility didn’t happen only on Instagram.
Behind that movement are people who have been doing the work in boardrooms, building companies, creating organizations, speaking to tourism boards, working with major travel brands and pushing an industry to recognize the influence and economic power of Black travelers. Some became the CEOs. Some built the companies themselves. Others created platforms that gave Black travelers a voice when mainstream travel media largely overlooked us.
Many of the people on this list are influential in the traditional sense too. They have audiences, appear in the media and have helped inspire countless Black travelers to see more of the world. But that’s not why they’re on this particular list.
They’re here because they’re leaders.
These are 10 influential Black travel leaders who have helped create space for Black travelers, increase our visibility within the travel industry and shape what Black travel looks like today.
1. Sheila Johnson
Sheila Johnson is the founder and CEO of Salamander Collection, a luxury hospitality company with a portfolio of distinctive hotels and resorts across the United States and the Caribbean. After an already groundbreaking career as an entrepreneur, including co-founding BET, Johnson entered the hospitality industry and built Salamander around a vision of luxury that emphasizes individuality, inclusion and a strong sense of place. Her work has made her one of the most prominent Black owners and executives in luxury hospitality, giving Black leadership visibility at a level of the travel industry where it has historically been rare.
2. Morgan DeBaun
Morgan DeBaun is the founder and CEO of Blavity Inc., the Black-owned media and technology company behind major brands including Travel Noire and AfroTech. Through Blavity’s ownership of Travel Noire, DeBaun leads a company that operates one of the most recognizable digital travel platforms created for Black travelers, while AfroTech has grown into a major platform connecting Black professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders across technology and business. Her leadership places her at the intersection of Black media, technology, business and travel, with a portfolio of brands that collectively reach and influence Black consumers on a significant scale.
3. Evita Robinson
Evita Robinson is the founder of NOMADNESS Travel Tribe, one of the communities that helped define the modern Black travel movement. What began as a travel web series evolved into a global community created for travelers of color who were largely underrepresented in mainstream travel marketing and media. Through NOMADNESS, its events and partnerships with tourism brands and destinations, Robinson helped demonstrate that Black travelers were not a niche to be ignored, but an influential community with significant cultural and economic power.
4. Martinique Lewis
Martinique Lewis is a diversity-in-travel consultant, author and advocate whose work has pushed the tourism industry to better recognize and serve Black travelers. She is best known for creating the ABC Travel Green Book, a modern resource connecting travelers with Black-owned businesses and Black communities around the world. Lewis has also worked to bring greater attention to Black history and culture within destinations, challenging tourism organizations to look beyond traditional marketing and recognize the stories and experiences that matter to Black travelers.
5. Jessica Nabongo
Jessica Nabongo is a travel expert, author, photographer and entrepreneur whose journey to every country in the world made her one of the most recognizable Black travelers of her generation. She documented the experience through her platform, The Catch Me If You Can, and later published a National Geographic book chronicling her travels. Beyond the achievement itself, Nabongo has used her visibility to challenge assumptions about who explores the world, tell stories from destinations that are often overlooked and encourage travelers to engage more deeply with the people and cultures they encounter.
6. Oneika Raymond
Oneika Raymond is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, television host and travel expert who has brought Black travel perspectives into mainstream media. Her work has appeared across NBC, Travel Channel, CNN and other major outlets, and she has traveled to more than 120 countries. Raymond has been particularly intentional about amplifying underrepresented voices, including producing and hosting dozens of television segments featuring BIPOC-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and initiatives. Her career represents an important bridge between the Black travel community and mainstream travel and lifestyle media.
7. Kellee Edwards
Kellee Edwards is an award-winning travel journalist, television host, licensed pilot and advanced open-water scuba diver who has built her career around adventure travel. Her work has helped expand the image of who gets to be an adventurer, particularly in spaces where Black women have historically received little representation. Whether she’s exploring by land, air or sea, Edwards has used her platform to advocate for greater diversity in travel while encouraging travelers to step beyond their comfort zones and experience destinations in more adventurous ways.
8. Ernest White II
Ernest White II is a storyteller, producer, writer and creator of Fly Brother with Ernest White II, a travel series built around culture, connection and the relationships that unite people around the world. His work across television, digital media and travel journalism has consistently presented international travel through a multicultural lens. Rather than treating destinations simply as places to visit, White’s storytelling emphasizes the people, history and cultural connections that make travel meaningful, while helping broaden Black representation within travel media.
9. Anita Moreau
Anita Moreau is the founder and CEO of Black Travel Summit, an organization created to connect and empower Black travel professionals, creators, entrepreneurs and businesses. Founded in 2019, the Summit has developed into an industry gathering where members of the African diaspora can build relationships with one another and with brands across travel and tourism. Through conferences, professional development, networking and industry partnerships, Moreau’s work focuses not simply on inspiring Black people to travel, but on increasing Black participation, opportunity and influence within the business of travel itself.
10. Jeff Jenkins
Jeff Jenkins is the founder of Chubby Diaries, a travel platform created to encourage plus-size travelers to confidently explore the world. Through his work as a travel journalist, content creator, speaker and television host, Jenkins has become an advocate for greater inclusion within an industry that has often presented a very narrow image of who an adventurous traveler is supposed to be. His National Geographic series Never Say Never with Jeff Jenkins took that mission to mainstream television, expanding representation for travelers who are both Black and plus-size.
