How Alex Jimenez Transformed Her Passion into a Thriving Travel Community

In this exciting episode of Make Your Own Map, Lisa Niver welcomes her longtime friend and founder of Travel Fashion Girl, Alex Jimenez. They dive into Alex’s incredible journey from a corporate fashion career to building a thriving travel community, reflecting on the transformative power of travel, the importance of community, and the courage to take risks. Alex shares her experiences with Women’s Travel Fest, the challenges of balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood, and how she continues to inspire others with her passion for travel.

QUOTES FROM MY INTERVIEW WITH ALEX:

“I wanted to be in the fashion industry for as long as I can remember. I wanted to own my own business since I was 6.” “What is the worst that can happen? I took three months off and wouldn’t have a job when I got back, and that actually did happen.” “Traveling is refreshing and rejuvenating. Just a little more challenging to get up and go nowadays.” “Reflecting on the person who did that originally and how brave I was then… Looking back at 25-year-old me, I think—WOW! you did that.” “It’s always worth the risk and I thought, well, what’s the worst that can happen?”

Introduction: Welcome to this episode of Make Your Own Map! Today, I am thrilled to have Alex Jimenez, the dynamic founder of Travel Fashion Girl and Women’s Travel Fest. Alex and I have been friends since 2012, and it’s been incredible to witness her journey from a fashion blogger to a trailblazer in the travel community. In this episode, Alex shares her inspiring story, from overcoming challenges to taking bold risks. Tune in to hear about her latest ventures, the power of travel, and how she continues to make a significant impact in the world of travel and beyond. Click here to read about when Alex interviewed me in 2012.

 

Show Notes

• Origins of Travel Fashion Girl: Alex discusses how Travel Fashion Girl started, focusing on packing lists and traveler interviews.
• Impact of Community: Alex reflects on taking over and merging Women’s Travel Fest with Travel Fashion Girl.
• Balancing Personal and Professional Life: Insights into managing multiple roles as a new mom and entrepreneur.
• Inspiring Others: Alex’s commitment to empowering others through her work and community efforts.
• Overcoming Pandemic Challenges: Alex’s resilience and the evolution of Women’s Travel Fest during and after the pandemic.
• Taking Risks: Alex’s approach to risk-taking and how it has shaped her career.
• Balancing Multiple Roles: The challenges of managing entrepreneurship, motherhood, and travel.
• Future of Women’s Travel Fest: Exciting plans for the upcoming event in LA.
• Reflecting on Achievements:: Alex looks back at her adventurous past and her bravery in taking risks.
• Travel as Refresh: How travel remains a source of rejuvenation and inspiration for Alex.
• Supportive Friendship: The value of ongoing support and friendship between Lisa and Alex.

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Welcome to Make Your Own Map! I’m Lisa Niver, and today’s episode features a conversation with the incredible Alex Jimenez, founder of Travel Fashion Girl and Women’s Travel Fest. Alex and I go way back, and I’m thrilled to have her on the show to share her inspiring journey from a corporate fashion career to becoming a leading voice in the travel community. We’ll dive into her experiences with risk-taking, community building, and the transformative power of travel. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to be inspired! Lisa Niver I am beyond thrilled and excited to have my very good friend, Alex from Travel Fashion Girl, here with us on the podcast. Alex, you are amazing. Welcome. Alex Jimenez Lisa, I’m so thrilled to be here today with you. Thank you so much for having me. Lisa Niver So, for people that don’t know, Alex and I have been friends since 2012. We actually met when she was living in Thailand in the Travel Blogger Think Tank house, and that was really the beginning. My website started in 2010, so it was early in my website, and you were very involved in early internet, evolving social. It was almost before social. We met because you tweeted at me. Alex Jimenez I remember when I started Travel Fashion Girl, I was always on Twitter, and really that was the main original place I met people. I was following your blog and your social, and you were in Hua Hin. And I said come to Koh Samui and you did. Lisa Niver This was twitter in 2012. I wasn’t sure if it did anything. And not only did you tweet, come to Koh Samui, you invited me and said you’d interview me for Travel Fashion Girl. Alex Jimenez That’s true. I had  just launched Travel Fashion Girl, the month or two months before you came, and I was doing an interview series on the blog, showcasing different travelers, not just fashion styles, but how they packed, what they packed. I still love that. That’s the origin of how I started Travel Fashion Girl, interviewing people on the road. So, you were one of the people that I interviewed, literally, on the road. Lisa Niver I loved that you thought I had fashion style. I was so excited. I thought I would change all my plans to meet this woman. And we’ve been friends ever since. And you grew Travel Fashion Girl from an idea to an enormous community. So, tell people about Travel Fashion Girl, because I think one of the early things was the packing list. Alex Jimenez Yes. So, the reason why Travel Fashion Girl existed was because I’d been backpacking, essentially, for five years long term at that point. And I was so tired of packing all the wrong things and overpacking. And I wanted to pack lighter. So, I started interviewing people on the road, other travelers like you and finding out, well, what did you pack? How did you pack? Are you happy with what you brought? It was information that I didn’t find online. You’d go to some forums and you’d see a packing list per se. It was really driven towards a male hiker at that point. — pack three quick dry tees, a pair of cargo pants that turn into shorts, and three pairs of underwear that you can flip inside out to get more wear out of them. I remember looking at the packing tips from people in forums, again, not websites, and I didn’t find any resources that could help me. I was trying to figure out–how can I do this? So, I started the packing lists, and they still really are the bread and butter even as the Travel Fashion Girl has evolved. In order to pack efficiently, you’ve got to have a packing list. In order to have the right packing list, you’ve got to know what to pack. You’ve got to understand your destination and all the things. And that’s expanded so much now. It all started with packing lists and how to pack. And now the community is growing and growing further. Lisa Niver The community is huge. And now you have products. So, tell people about your amazing Compass Rose packing cubes. Alex Jimenez Now the community is massive. I started by creating a website with packing lists and packing tips. I started a Facebook group in December 2013. So, it’s been over a decade. The business has grown tremendously. It’s always been because I’ve really listened to what the readers wanted, what the community wanted. This is my latest product, The Compass Rose travel accessories luggage scale. Lisa Niver Oh, that’s brilliant. Alex Jimenez I started Compass Rose travel accessories out of the need again, because the products that were out there in 2013, 14, 15 weren’t what people what needed.  I started the product line with my slim packing cubes. I changed things up with mine, I made a YouTube video back in 2013 and it was on how I packed carry on only for full time travel. I used another brand’s packing cubes. But I didn’t use packing cubes the way they were marketed by companies, which is to organize clothing, right? I use them, yes, to organize, but also compress the clothing. So I devised my packing technique. When I imagined what the best packing cube would look like, obviously, you need the best materials, things that are not going to rip. So all of my materials for the compass rose travel accessories packing cubes are super hardcore. I wanted to make sure that they’re going to be durable. You can put as much as you wanted in there, and they were going to close and zip and not tear like with other products that I’ve tested. Other packing cubes weren’t the right size. I was traveling carry on only and all the packing cubes were too large for carry on bags. They’re meant for regular size suitcases. That was my the other major differences that I fixed the size made them specifically to fit the carry on size, even now that I have my larger packing cubes, they’re still meant to fit perfectly in a carry on. And in addition to that, let’s make them more functional. I color coded and added numbers. So that way, the functionality, the ways that I use packing cubes myself was the focus. This all came from my personal needs, whether it was a website or the products like the cubes. The products that we developed were things that the community wanted, like the travel adapter, which I’ve also just relaunched. I asked the community back then, What do you want us to produce? What are the products that you need? And then we did our best to make them happen and continue to do so now. Lisa Niver We should also mention that before you were living in Thailand, and before you were backpacking, you worked in the fashion world. Alex Jimenez I did. I that is my background. I worked in for the second largest company in the fashion industry. I worked there for six years before I quit my corporate job and went traveling. So I do have that experience. And as a long-term traveler back in the day, before people were traveling with laptops and working remotely and nomads or whatever, I was trying to figure out how to travel long term. I kept thinking how do I keep going? Lisa Niver And I’m going to put a link in the notes to the video that we made together in 2012. When we went to the best lasagna in Thailand with the travel blogger think tank. So two things are very memorable for me about you of the many because we’ve been friends a long time. We’ve seen each other in many countries. So one is that you wanted to interview me about fashion, which was a shock for me. And I did wear my shirt with stars because you made me feel like a star when you invited me to speak at Women’s Travel Fest which made me an international speaker because the conference was in Mexico. So tell people about this incredible conference where you bring women together, you empower people. Women’s Travel Fest is connected to Travel Fashion Girl, but also separate. Women’s Travel Fest is coming to LA March 7-9, 2025.

Alex Jimenez Well, thank you so much for coming, Lisa. That’s so sweet. I love it. I love how you incorporate fashion into your emotional feeling and having me here today. So thank you. I appreciate it. Women’s Travel Fest has been going on for over a decade. As I was saying before, I’ve always done what makes sense for the community. In 2019, I started holding in person meetups. It was really sort of the next level. I was looking at starting a conference for my community. And then 2020 happened. And one thing led to another, I found out the Women’s Travel Fest, which was had been running for a decade already at that point, was going to be sold to somebody. And I said, #1 I love this conference. It’s such a special space. And #2, I wanted to have a conference for the travel fashion girl community, why not combine the two, and may be able to continue this beautiful space that Kelly Lewis, the previous owner had created. I wanted to bring together that wonderful community and help it keep going and thriving, as well as have a place for my travel fashion girl community and merge them together. I had this vision. This year was the first year I did it on my own. It was in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Lisa was a speaker. Thank you so much for coming over there and talking about how to be a PR Maven in which you absolutely are. It was it was a wonderful experience. Next year for 2025, it’s going to be in LA, where I’m from. It’s never actually been in LA before. So that’s also pretty exciting. Join us March 7-9 2025. I can’t wait. Lisa, hopefully you’ll be there as well. And ‘ll get a chance to see you in person again. That’ll be your third Women’s Travel Fest because you came to the one in New York in 2023 to support me. When I said, Lisa, you have to be there. I can’t tell you why it’s so important for you to be here. But you have to because nobody knew that Kelly was going to be handing the torch over to me, we were going to announce that I was taking over Women’s Travel Fest in New York. So thank you for being there, Lisa

Lisa Niver That’s one of the things that you’re discussing is that people need community. And you and I have been together through engagements, weddings, divorces. Now you’re a new mom. So that’s another piece —  one of the plates you’re juggling is raising your child in two countries and traveling as a business owner and seaking as an entrepreneur. You’re showing people how to show up. It’s very impressive. So I think we need to take a breath and say, Alex is awesome. And for people listening, I’d love if you could speak for a moment, because I know that you’ve been very honest in your writing and on social media that there have been struggles and challenges. So maybe a lot of people, especially you mentioned, you had the meetups and then it was 2020, which is, of course, the global pandemic. It happened to all of us. It impacted us in travel, just like every other field. So with struggles, which we all have, is there something that you turn to? What helps you in these challenging times to not quit? Because the way you get somewhere is, I always say, fall down seven, get up eight. What refreshes you? What helps you think, okay, tomorrow I’ll try again? Alex Jimenez Wow, that’s like the worst question ever, Lisa. It’s so hard to answer. Oh, okay. It’s a challenging question for a million reasons. Lisa Niver Do you have a mentor or you have a mastermind support team or you hired another person? Is there a strategy that helped you that other people could access? Alex Jimenez Ultimately, it’s a community. So it goes back to that. This is the worst question ever because I still feel like a new mom and entrepreneur and investor and all these things that I do. I’m like, I’m so bad at… Lisa Niver Wait, okay, hold on. Can I reflect back to you what I think you do? Would that help? Alex Jimenez Okay. Lisa Niver So I noticed that one of the things you did for Travel Fashion Girl, I mean, for Women’s Travel Fest, was that you had a lot of things that were very grounding. There was music, there was journaling, you brought in experts to help. And then I noticed that you took yourself after the major conference to a new location. You went to Japan and stayed in a capsule hotel. And I thought that for me, I imagined watching you do that, that it really shifted your perspective to focus on how you do love traveling and that you can still go on your own. Alex Jimenez Yes, there you go. Traveling is refreshing and rejuvenating. Just a little more challenging to get up and go nowadays. But yes, that was very necessary. And obviously, that’s what’s helped me-traveling is what I am passionate about. That’s how I ended up with Travel Fashion Girl and the journey and inspiring people to travel. And that’s also what Women’s Travel Fest is about. And it is about coming together for the love of travel and the impact that travel has. And that’s a great reminder of how much I need travel in my life, because it has an impact on me. I think because traveling is so much more challenging right now for me to do as a relatively still new mom, it is really restorative. That’s what rejuvenates me, that’s what refreshes me. And the theme for the Women’s Travel Fest in Playa del Carmen was the impact of how travel can help us as individuals, how it’s not just about taking pictures in front of a shrine, and posting on social media. It’s so much more. In allowing travel to actually have its impact, how it can impact you by being present, and giving it that opportunity. And you’re right, because I don’t get to do it all the time, because on a personal level I feel like it has to be something I do every single day, like meditation or yoga. But it’s travel, I go, I travel, it lights me up. Without it, it feels like my spark is dimmed. With travel, for me to take off, and travel alone –this year was a massive thing. Being able to go really rejuvenates my soul. That’s what I wanted to share with people through the music and the journaling, and helping people at the conference this past year be present, and be able to experience that the things that used to make me feel so good about traveling around the time when I met you. I would still travel with a journal and journal on the go. And really, I would be disconnected because I didn’t have a job online, right? I didn’t have a reason to be online. It was wonderful to float around the world. I still do when I travel on my own. I do that. That’s why I don’t really share my travels online, because I’m just enjoying them being present. And that’s how I refuel myself. But what keeps me going from a business perspective, is the community. Building these things for the community, whether its products, or the information that we shared on Travel Fashion Girl in 2020, everybody was devastated by the pandemic. But a part of the reason why Travel Fashion Girl came out of 2020 and came back stronger is that we listened to the community, what they wanted, what they wanted from us, how we could help them so they could help us. And in this case, now, it moves on to the next part of Travel Fashion Girl, which we’re going to be officially launching soon is our new community that’s off of Facebook. It’s going to be a new private community. And that’s a really big deal. It’s something that I would have never thought about doing. Something that scared me, and really something that wasn’t in my plans at all. But the community asked for it this year, due to, as you mentioned, some issues that we’ve encountered as a business with Google and Amazon and Facebook over the past year. So the solution to that was given to me by the readers. And they said they want a community; they want to continue on. It’s humbling to know that, me starting a website about packing, how to pack, what to wear, it really became something so much deeper with people that love it. It became so much larger than that, something more meaningful. That’s what motivates me is being able to celebrate the love of travel and how it can impact you with others as well. Lisa Niver A great follow up from that is the speakers you selected for Women’s Travel Fest really went deep. I loved the conversation you had about being moms and your travel style. I loved that basically whatever you said, she said, “Oh, yeah, I’m the opposite.” There was this big space for how women business owners who are mothers of young children have a variety of ways to be in the world. There’s no cookie cutter. I also love that you are so good at encouraging and promoting the Latina Travel Fest. You’re a big supporter of that new conference and that it’s not a competition. It is a collaboration and the deepness of feelings that you created this space for was really impressive. Alex Jimenez Thank you. I appreciate that. There’s space for all of us to support each other in travel as women. There’s enough room for all of us. For me, it’s about connecting people and giving them a platform, giving you a platform, giving other speakers a platform, a space to be seen to have their messages share their experience. It is to go deeper within yourself because we have to have these honest conversations. At this point, I’m an open book. I don’t have anything to hide from you. Being able to have those conversations are so important and being able to use travel as a vehicle for growth and to share a truth and to connect with others. It’s important. And there’s a variety, like you said, the way she travels isn’t the way I travel, the way she mothers isn’t the way that I mother, we’re completely different people. And likewise, there is a travel community for everybody, because not everyone’s going to resonate with the same thing. Or maybe some communities will just speak to someone differently, but we can all uplift each other.  I’d love to be able to continue working alongside and supporting other owners of other leaders of travel communities. My main thing is I went to an all-girls high school. I love the empowerment that I learned there. I’m have a really strong mother figure as well. So to be able to empower others and to get to do the travel. When you put it that way, Lisa, you are opening my eyes to all this. It really is a blessing to be able to do all of this. Lisa Niver I really think you’ve built something incredible. And it’s funny, I’m sure we’ve talked about it before, but I forgot, but I also went to all-girls high school. I think it makes a difference. The president of the student council is a girl, the president of the math club is a girl. I have a new class — Travel Writer 101 on Udemy–it’s an appetizer, all the different pieces you need, social media, video, press trips and writing. And my second class, actually, I would never would have had without you because when you invited me to speak, you actually gave me a topic: “How to be a PR Maven.” When I opened your email, honestly, my first thought was to write you back and say– this is not what I’m going to talk about. But I trust you. So I did it. And now that’s going to be my second class I’m building. Alex Jimenez That’s so cool. I love that. And I can’t believe that wouldn’t have been the first thing that you offered up. I don’t know if other conference owners do that but I look at what you submitted. And then offer this is actually what you should be speaking about. I’m glad it worked out with you because I’m doing it to other people. Lisa Niver You have a genius that you look at people and see what could be. I think people offer to speak on topics that are not necessarily so much of a reach. I probably suggested a topic about being brave and my book. And you said to me– what’s amazing that you’re doing right now is the promotion of the book. So THANK YOU!!

INTERVIEW of Lisa on Women’s Travel Fest:

Related to my book, I have a question I’ve been asking all my podcast guests, which is– is there a brave-ish challenge that you’ve completed that you’d like to share? Or is there something that’s a reach for you? Obviously, you’ve got a lot going on. You have these beautiful Airbnbs that you’ve redesigned. You have a young child. You have multiple businesses. You’re a rock star. But is there something else where you think– Oh, if only I could? Alex Jimenez In reflecting over the decade of my journey and remembering that I started traveling long term in 2008. It seems so long ago now. But I don’t think it’s something about me being brave now. It’s reflecting on the person who did that originally and how brave I was then. I look back at 25 year old me and think would I hitchhike through Africa again? Would I have been sharing a room with all these strangers that I met while backpacking Southeast Asia? Half of the stuff that I’ve done, would I do that right now? Looking back at the person who did all these things, I think—WOW! you did that. Looking back at me over 10, 15 years ago, I think that’s really cool, because I don’t know if I could do that. Lisa Niver For the people that are listening, a lot of people say to me, I want to travel like you, I want to be a travel writer, which is why I started that class on Udemy of how to be a travel writer. Because often people ask me the same thing, and I want to help them. You were working in fashion, which was at one point your dream job. And then your dream changed. So for people that maybe have their current dream job, but have a new dream or want to be in travel or want to come to the conference? What would say to them about travel and change– It’s worth the risk or don’t give up? What inspired you one day to say I am never going to work again at 830am or whatever it was. And you said– Nope, that’s over. Alex Jimenez It’s always worth the risk and I thought, well, what’s the worst that can happen? I didn’t hate my job. I had no problem with my cubicle job. I wanted to be in the fashion industry for as long as I can remember. I wanted to own my own business in the fashion industry since I was 6. At 13, I had these different business ideas that I was working on. Even in high school, I had a business. I always wanted it. I saw myself climbing up the corporate ladder in my company and I loved it. But when I took a leap of faith and took some time to myself to travel, I was taking three months off at that point. It was a big deal in 2008, like who did that? But I was always intending to go back to work. It was always my plan. Life unfolded in a different way and opened up new opportunities for me. I really was very focused on paying attention to where things were leading me. I operated on my gut. Like this feels good. That doesn’t feel good. Or, I really want this. And with travel, what was the worst thing that can happen? I took three months off and wouldn’t have a job when I got back, and that actually did happen. After my three month break, I took in between jobs, the job I was going to said– there’s a recession now, so we can’t hire you anymore. What did I do? I was in India applying for jobs online somewhere else, got a job while I was in India. Someone hired me and then I had to say no. What is the worst that can happen? That’s what you have to ask yourself. I didn’t come up with that. I asked somebody else and it really makes sense. Like a year from now, could you go back to work? If you needed to, anybody could go back to work. I can go to work at McDonald’s and get a job. There’s no reason why you can’t. You can always start over. You can always go back. What would I do if something happened to Travel Fashion Girl or it evolved, due to the current changes with Google, would I do something else? What are the options? It was scary then, but the most practical way to think about it is, what are you willing to risk? How much can you take? Taking that risk as a 25-year-old woman without kids, a car, or a mortgage, that was way easier to do. Now, it would be more complicated to take that challenge. But now there’s a lot more resources than ever before, online you have remote families, you have single mothers, women in their fifties, sixties, seventies, starting over, whether they had children, whether they don’t have children. What’s the message right now in 2024, that women can do anything. They’re doing everything and they’re capable of doing everything. It’s a wonderful time to be a woman and really kind of pave our own way. Lisa Niver That was awesome. Are you running for president? I will vote for you. I was just in Canada to see the polar bears and I was staying in Winnipeg and my last name’s Niver and 40 minutes from Winnipeg is a town called Niverville. I asked, could I be mayor for the day? Maybe you want to be mayor for the day of Los Angeles. Alex Jimenez I don’t want to be mayor anymore, but when I was in high school, I would say that.

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Lisa Niver One of the things you said, which was brilliant was about taking risk. The flip of that, that I used to think about when I left also in 2008, I went for a year was, if I don’t go, how will I feel? Will my regrets outweigh the risk? Before I have to let you go, let’s talk about how people will be regretful if they don’t start participating in Travel Fashion Girl and Women’s Travel Fest. How can they find out more? How can they get a ticket? How can they get involved? Where do they find you? Alex Jimenez Well, travelfashiongirl.com is where they can find out all the information on how to pack, what to wear for anywhere in the world. It’s not about fashion as much as it sounds like, it’s really about function. We talk a lot about the practicalities of destinations. So don’t shy away from the word fashion if you don’t feel fashionable or fashion is not as much of a priority. And then check out our products, Compass Rose Travel Accessories. You can find them on Amazon. Women’s Travel Fest find us on Instagram or our website. The conference, the event for Women’s Travel Fest is happening in Los Angeles March 7th through the 9th, 2025. We’d love to have you there and we will give you a code to share with your audience. USE MY CODE: BRAVEISH for a discount on your tickets for Women’s Travel Fest

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Lisa Niver I would love to be there. Thank you. I’d be happy to share a code because everyone should get their tickets right away and for the first time ever it will be in Los Angeles! Follow Alex everywhere on both Travel Fashion Girl and Women’s Travel Fest. And Alex, again, I am so appreciative of you because you made me fashionable and you made me an international speaker. I am delighted to know you and be your friend and be in your community. Alex Jimenez Lisa, thank you so much. I’m so happy to be connected with you and to maintain this friendship with you. I love how supportive you are. I look forward to our continued support of one another and being friends for many more decades. Thank you!

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Alexandra Jimenez is the founder of Travel Fashion Girl, a leading platform that helps female travelers pack smart and travel stylishly. With a background in the fashion industry, she transitioned from a corporate career to create a thriving community of globetrotters. Alex also organizes Women’s Travel Fest, an annual travel conference, which she has successfully merged with her own brand, creating a unique space for women to connect and explore their passion for travel. Her journey includes balancing motherhood, managing multiple businesses, and continually finding inspiration through travel.

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What is one brave step you’ve taken in your life or career that seemed daunting at the time but proved to be worth the risk? Share your story with us!