Hello, and welcome to another episode of the traveling introvert
career conversations. I am very excited
to talk to this guest. They have
done amazing things and I'm very excited.
So go. I would like to introduce you to
and please say hello. Hi
everybody. Hi, Janice. All right,
so oh, see, I've
lost my train of thought. I'm that excited. First question as always, is do
you consider yourself to be an introvert? I
go both ways. I actually grew up as an introvert for
most of my life and at this point in stage
where I'm in my forty s, I feel like I can do both.
So that makes me ask, what does introversion mean to you?
So to me it means where I draw my energy
from being around people or being on my
own. Think about like when you go to a meeting, a
networking session and do you come back feeling like oh,
I'm so beat now, I do not have energy to talk to people?
Or do you get very excited and you just come back with full
of ideas and you just want to talk more and more? And I
feel like depending on the crowd, I can go both ways. I'm very comfortable
being on my own, but I also draw energy being around people.
And you mentioned that you think that you started off earlier in your life being
an introvert and moved into being more of an ambivert. Now,
what made you think that things have changed? Or has anything happened in your
life that makes you think that you've changed? Absolutely.
So when I was growing up in India, I was a
very quiet kid. I was one of those people who my
friends thought there was something wrong with you because I hardly
ever spoke. And at home, yes, with my
family I was pretty talkative, but the moment I went
outside I was just a good listener. But I never felt
like I always needed to be heard. But when I
came to the United States and I went to college,
I started feeling that if you are not heard, if
you don't speak up, then you are construed a certain way
that you're not smart enough or you don't have enough to contribute.
But even the I think the turning point in my
life was travel. I am a
travel writer, but starting off in college, I was just going to
school for business. One of the
organizations that was for students was
doing travel for as part of their student body to go
on conferences. And my friend came to me and said,
if you want free travel, you should join this
leadership honor society. And I said, Well, I do want
free travel, so what do I need to get there? And she said, well,
your GPA is high enough so you'll qualify, but if
you join the board as a student body leader,
you're assured that you will get to travel for free.
So I went next day and I signed up for the
presidential election to be the president of the
student body organization. And
I did not know that that if I did get elected,
which I did, my first job would be to speak in front
of 500 people. And I think that was the
turning point of my life when I was put in a
position where I had to speak in front of people. And
that's not going to say that I had to become an extrovert at that point,
but I really had to break out of my shell and get
comfortable being in front of people and being around them
and speaking to them, addressing board meetings
and conferences.
Okay. And so you said that it didn't mean
that you became an extrovert. You just had to address people.
Do you feel that that is harder for introverts
to address a crowd of 500 people? I do
feel that introvert have a little bit of an easier
handle on that just because they're more
comfortable speaking in front of people, addressing bigger
crowds. But as I said, being an introvert
and not being comfortable talking in front of people
and not feeling like I needed to, constantly being
heard, that was a bold move for me.
You said that you became president and you got free travel
is the assumption after that. Yeah. So I got to go
on our regional and national
conferences as the president, and I also
picked who all went with me. And when I went to
these conferences, I had to meet people from all parts
of the world who had also come as student leaders.
And that was where I really felt like my
introvert was coming out, because we would interact
in workshops, we would have dinners together, we would share
ideas, we would even janice and learn
about each other's culture. And it was a turning point in my
life because I always felt like I want
to learn about other people through travel, but at that moment, I
had the opportunity to do it.
And so with that travel and all the people you
met, was there anyone specific that sort of
maybe changed your life or changed the trajectory of your life?
There were several people along the way, starting with my
advisor in grad school who
really pushed me to take on those leadership roles.
But even from there, going into my first job
where I was working in consulting, and they sent
me for leadership training, for public speaking training,
and then all the clients I made, I
worked with through those different
positions I've held. I feel like those are the people who
impacted me the most because they have seen me grow in
different career paths but being the same
person and having a different outlook of life. And
they've seen me drawing my energy from being an
introvert to now being a super introvert at times
where I'm the one who's connecting people and speaking
in front of crowds and having these very
unique experiences. And so you mentioned
attending all these conferences as a leader. Did
you have any tips or things that you did to
help deal with going to conferences all the time?
Some of the tips at that point, it was very
different than now because I was a student at that time,
but I still go to a lot of conferences now as a
speaker and as a leader. So I would say I would
speak more on where I'm in my life right now.
Some of the tips for attending and networking
with conferences. I always try to get stage time,
whether it is doing a workshop, a panel
or just speaking up in some of the other sessions
where I introduce myself and if I have a question or
comment to add, I would make
sure that people know my name, who I work for, what do
I do, and then ask my question. And I feel that
makes it easier for people to come and speak to
me afterwards and it opens up new
conversations as well. And you
mentioned that you go into leadership positions and you'll be sent on leadership
training. I know. Public speaking you mentioned
was one thing that was covered with leadership training. Was there anything else that you
felt that was covered in leadership training that was
useful? Yes, a lot of it
was useful. And the public speaking actually was a completely different training
program that I went for aside from the leadership
training. And a lot of it was around how to present
yourself to your clients, how to
network, and never take a no for an
answer. When you reach out to people and
people don't know who you're not familiar with and maybe
you're just sending them a message on LinkedIn and how you
can add value to their lives, rather than just say, oh,
I want to connect. We are in the same group
or we are in the same city or the same company, rather
than just opening with that, maybe saying, here,
I can help you be more successful in
your role or your career path and what is it that you're
offering to them rather than just making that
friendly connection? Okay, so
as follow on from that, is this something that you do regularly
that has improved your career? Absolutely.
This is something I do on a daily basis
for all aspects of my job, from speaking, traveling,
to writing, everything that I do.
What is it? It is connecting with
people and offering value to them. Okay,
and is there anything else that you would recommend that people do sort of
weekly or monthly as a ritual to improve their career or business?
I think the importance of networking
is often misconstrued because networking is
not just always going into a room full of people and
having a drink, but it is also keeping in touch
on a regular basis, whether you pick up the phone and call them or
send them an email. But I feel like that constant
communication with people I've come to know
over my lifetime, whether they are in the same
industry or not. But that value of
holding on to that network and telling them
what you're doing at this point in your career and how they
can help you or how you can help them or just having a
friendly chat and know, well, I just had a wonderful
trip to New Mexico, and if you are ever
thinking about going, you going there. Let me give you some
advice on how you can have a more meaningful experience
when you travel there. And so that
leads me to a question for you with your travel, what constitutes
a meaningful experience? Great question.
So I've traveled to over 100 countries and
I feel like a lot of people tend to repeat the same
experience over and over again when they go to a destination.
They are staying in a hotel, eating at a restaurant they may
have read about in a tour, in a magazine
and then they bring the same photographs as all of their friends
do of the destination. To me that
becomes repetitive and does not add any value
to you as a traveler. A
meaningful travel on the other hand, would be something that
enriches your life as well as the life of
the others at the destination you visit. And that
could be having a learning lesson that you may
have not known about that culture or the place or the
food that you come back and have a personal connection
with someone you met there or something you
learned about their customs, their religions
and then the choices you make as a destination.
So I'm a big proponent
of sustainable travel and I feel that every
opportunity you have as a traveler you are able to make
those decisions on which hotel that you will
stay with, which restaurant you would dine with, who you're going to take a
tour with and making sure that those dollars that you
spend are invested in the local community.
And so how would you go about doing that research?
Well, that's a great question because a lot of
the online platforms, if you book on
a tour or a packaged tour,
does not really allow you to do that. So I
connect with local tour operators who are often
women led and women owned small businesses
in those countries and they have a deeper connection to
the community. I tell them that this is what
I'm interested in, whether it's art or food or
nature and have them make a tailor made
itinerary for me. And while I'm
there, I have these people guide me
through my tours. So it's not just about send me off
to check out all these attractions, but have someone with
me to talk to me about your culture
and those are the people that I connect with and ask them
questions, and I ask them to connect me further.
To what restaurants do you go to with your
family on the weekend? Or if you're going on a
vacation to a different part of your country, where
would you go? And just asking those questions to
people and making those personal connections,
I think that is the best way to do it. And
so can you let us know where you currently are, sort of in your
career, your current job and industry, and the
can you let me know about some misconceptions people have about
your job and industry? Yes. So I'm
a full time food and travel writer, and I
work as a freelancer for a few
publications, including Time Magazine,
CNN, Travel and Leisure Photos. And I have
two columns I write I also write a series of children's books
about travel, and I speak about travel. So
the most common misconception I get from people
who look at my social media posts is that I am
eating and drinking all the time
and just on vacation, taking these
glamorous shots, and I don't work.
So eating and drinking is a big part of my job,
where I have to taste sometimes
hundreds of dishes a week, and I
have to talk to the chefs, learn about the food,
the ingredients, where they're sourced from. So there's
a lot of backstory that happens behind
each dish that I taste. And people are just looking
at, oh, having a great time, you're out for dinner again,
or you're off to another destination. But
it is work. It is a fun work, and I would not
do anything else. But there are
very long hours, and my whole
itinerary each day is defined by
the destinations or my sponsors.
And every waking hour I have is
filled with activities, meetings,
interviews, photograph
sessions, social media posts. And
so I really never have time to sit by the pool and have a drink,
which most people would imagine to at least
do once during their vacation. So I think that's a
very different viewpoint of what the life of a travel
writer could be and funny.
Janice I have invited some of my friends to come with me
occasionally on my trips, and I said, well, you can observe
me in action. And after the first day,
they say, I quit. I cannot
eat another ten course meal. I am jet
lagged. I just want to go to my room and go to
sleep, and I don't want to be a part of this anymore.
Can't keep up with the pace. Exactly.
And so you mentioned that on your Instagram and your social media. That's what
it looks like. Do you ever do something that goes behind the
scenes, gives more in depth information on what an
average I don't know if there is an average day that's probably misconception
a day might look like to give people more depth about
what your industry does and what you do as a
creator? Yes. I've actually done
several YouTube videos on my own channel
where I talked about how people could get into this
business and what to expect if they wanted to become a
food and travel writer. I've talked about what the
typical day life is and what are some of the
pitfalls. Why is it not for everybody? Because
you definitely need to have a lot of stamina and
be persistent with your work. It is not just
about traveling and eating, but you have to
sell those stories. You got to write them on paper and then
you got to pitch yourself. Why are you the right person to be
telling these stories? And then you have to make the
connections with editors and constantly
be updating your portfolio
with what you're doing. So it is not just
a one day when you go to work
eight to five and then you're done. Your work basically
goes 24 hours a day. And so
now you are where you are. Can you tell me the last three jobs
you did before you got to where you are
today? I've been a food and travel writer
full time for about twelve years. Before
that I used to work in Human Capital
Consulting for Gallup
Organization, and before that I was
in investment banking for a Dutch company.
So completely different jobs, different paths.
But I feel like every job I've
had has prepared me to be where I
am today. Adding some skills
in different ways, like I told you, with leadership, with speaking,
with networking, but helping me build
to who I am as a travel writer.
Awesome. Thank you for letting us know about that path. And
final question for you that I ask everybody,
is a hot dog a sandwich?
I'm sorry, what's your question? Is a hot dog a
sandwich? That's a funny question.
I guess it is because a piece of meat
between two pieces of bread is what they define sandwich
as when it first came out. So it probably
is, but it's not something
actually it's not my favorite food. And
I'm sure you get asked this all the time. So what is your favorite food
as you brought it up? I
gravitate more towards Asian because that is my
heritage. So anything spicy,
like Indian, Thai, Malaysian is what my
favorite is. Not that I can eat it every day, but if
you want to treat me to a great meal, that's what I would
expect people to make for me. Okay, you've been told
people, if you want to invite around for dinner, that's what
the menu should look like. Thank you so much. Can you
tell the wonderful listeners where they can find
you? Yeah. So I am on all social
media platforms as my full name, which is
sucheta ravel, and I also have a
blog which is called Go Eat Give. And
my series of books are called Beato goes
to awesome. Thank you so much for joining us
today. It was a real pleasure. Thank you very much. This is
Janice@thecareintrovert.com helping you build your brand and get
hired. Have a great rest of your week.