Meet Kimberly Haley-Coleman | Founder & CEO Globe Aware

October 21, 2020
Shoutout DFW

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kimberly Haley-Coleman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kimberly, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When stuck abroad on business over weekends, I sought meaningful, organized short-term volunteer experiences, and just couldn’t’ find any. When I started pulling together my own, I found so many others wanted to do these alongside me, that there was clearly a demand for these programs. Doing good is quite naturally one of the best ways to feel good.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Before Globe Aware, there were no organizations that offered short-term organized experiences abroad that were a good fit for most working North Americans. Most were geared toward high school and college students with weeks or a whole summer to burn, and were fairly unstructured, with the thought that you would eventually find out how to use your own time. Our culture is focused on productivity and making the most with the small amount of free time most of us have. This is at odds with the perspective in many cultures, especially those cultures that have less material resources. Therefore the big challenge was to find a way to tailor such experiences that would be provide a meaningful, productive opportunity to give back but would also NOT infringe on the local/receiving culture/way of life. Our staff coordinators in each country are the key to finding this balance. Additionally, the lions’ share of our peers in this industry will not used donated funds toward materials in the thought that it creates local dependency. We do not agree. Funds can be spent in a way that enable capacity rather than create dependency. As an example when we assemble and donate wheelchairs to landmine victims in Cambodia, they are given mobility in a way that allows them to support themselves. That is the magic win-win we week.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Hands down, the Dallas Arboretum is my favorite place to take locals. It is such a glorious spot, every day of the year. I love that you can bring a picnic and your own wine and on certain “cool Tuesdays and Thursdays” listen to music and watch the sunset over downtown in the distance. For a meal, I also love taking out of towners to Pecan Lodge for the best bacon infused, sinful macaroni and cheese ever, and that ridiculously amazing brisket!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am so grateful my tribe supported me, from my family to my friends, neighbors, and past colleagues. So many people stepped forward to help publicize my organization, I certainly would not have succeeded without them. I was shocked that we got so much media coverage. I remember early on when the NBC Today show did a story on us, without our knowledge. It really made me think that when you do something the world needs or wants, they then the world will enable you.

Finally. Travelers are preparing to pack their bags and take to the air, road and sea again, according to travel advisors who said bookings are gaining momentum for 2021 and beyond.

Interest in 2021 Travel Is on the Rise

CLAUDETTE COVEY
TRAVEL AGENT
OCTOBER 18, 2020

Finally. Travelers are preparing to pack their bags and take to the air, road and sea again, according to anecdotal reports from travel advisors, who said bookings are gaining momentum for 2021 and beyond.

“Interest for 2021 travel began to rise in the past few weeks for myself and for my colleagues,” said Becky Lukovic of Bella Travel Planning, a Travel Experts affiliate. “The requests are still pretty all over the place: Hawaii, Caribbean, Colorado, Italy and Greece. A number [of clients] have started actually booking their plans with refundable arrangements or cancel for any reason insurance.”

Starting on November 1, all U.S. travelers will be welcome to Costa Rica. Globe Aware volunteers from all 50 states will be able to participate in any of three programs in Costa Rica, with proper safety guidelines and precautions taken.

Costa Rica Opens to All U.S. Travelers

Starting November 1, any American who presents a negative COVID-19 test can travel to Costa Rica.

By Michelle Baran
Oct 7, 2020

On September 1, Costa Rica began allowing international travelers from the United States to fly into the country as long as they were residents of one of the following eight states: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, or Virginia, plus the District of Columbia. Starting September 15, travelers from Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wyoming were able to join them. As of October 1, Californians could head to Costa Rica, too. And on October 15, residents of Florida, Georgia, and Texas get the green light.

But starting on November 1, all U.S. travelers will be welcome.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand has a giveaway that will send five deserving essential workers and one guest on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Thailand. We encourage Globe Aware volunteers and alumni who are amazing essential workers to participate in this giveaway!

Thailand to Award Vacations to Essential Workers Amid COVID-19

DESTINATION & TOURISM
LAURIE BARATTI
OCTOBER 11, 2020

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has partnered with U.S. digital media company Matador Network on a giveaway contest that will send five deserving essential workers and one guest on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Thailand.

It’s part of TAT’s ongoing ‘Thailand Gives Back to Heroes’ project, an initiative aimed at returning the kindness of those who have risked their own well-being to work on the COVID-19 pandemic’s frontlines.

Flying has given travelers around the world great personal and professional travel opportunities, therefore the emphasis has got to be on solving the emissions and the carbon problems. The introduction of hydrogen airplanes and the extent of its environmental benefit could be a game changer. Globe Aware believes in green travel and looks forward to their arrival.

Why this space age airplane could change flying forever

(CNN) — It looks like a spaceship, runs on fuel that up until a few years ago experts were calling “crazy,” and has barely left the drawing board, but in the eyes of one of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, it’s undoubtedly the future.

Not even the distant future. Airbus hopes we’ll be soaring into the skies on one of its radical new designs in just 15 years, leaving the days of jet engine pollution and flight-shaming far behind us.

A global pandemic might not seem like the most ideal time to go on vacation, but solo female travel is on the rise for 2021. The increase is in large part due to the hearty appetite of Americans aged 50-plus for traveling solo and Globe Aware provides the ideal volunteer vacations for solo women travelers. 

50 Best Trips For Solo Female Travel (And Why Now Is The Time To Go)

Laura Begley Bloom
Senior Contributor
ForbesWomen

A global pandemic might not seem like the most ideal time to go on vacation, but solo female travel is on the rise. Witness the explosion in interest that Overseas Adventure Travel has seen: More than 24,000 single travelers have booked trips for 2021, with women-only departures growing in popularity. According to the company, the increase is in large part due to the hearty appetite of Americans aged 50-plus for traveling solo, especially women. “We see solo women, in particular, with a passion to meet and bond with the local people. It’s life-changing,” says CEO and president Brian Fitzgerald.

As the travel industry awaits the new normal, technology has been moving along at its standard exponential rate of growth. Globe Aware has adapted and provided online virtual experiences, live from project countries, providing a means of travel, communication and connection. 

Zooming Into The Virtual New Norm Of Travel

Michael Alpiner

Forbes Travel

As the travel industry awaits the new normal, and hopefully the old normal once again, technology, which in itself requires no mask and is subject to no travel restrictions, has been moving along at its standard exponential rate of growth. From the simplest Zoom meeting to the most advanced virtual reality experience, the irrepressive nature of humankind is once again adapting to its environment. Like the virus itself, the travel industry mutates to allow for its most basic survival elements: communication, connection, and travel.

Peter Wells, the founder and CEO of the DragonSlayer web app, is focused on helping travelers figure out where they can go, what COVID-19-related restrictions they will face, and finding the best destination for them based on a personalized assessment. Essential apps assist volunteers whenever they are on a volunteer vacation with Globe Aware.

This App Will Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Traveling in the Time of COVID-19

By Alison Fox
Travel + Leisure

In December, Peter Wells launched his new app geared at helping discerning travelers find experiences that fit their travel style. But when COVID-19 took a tremendous toll on the travel industry, shutting down borders and putting vacation plans on hold, he had to pivot.

a screenshot of a cell phone: “We’re trying to make people aware that ‘yes’ you can travel, but it’s going to be on different terms.”© Courtesy of DragonSlayer “We’re trying to make people aware that ‘yes’ you can travel, but it’s going to be on different terms.”

The travel industry has identified the fall as when travelers are feeling more comfortable traveling abroad by air. Currently Globe Aware has various international programs open for these travelers.

Airline CEOs Say Employees Low COVID Rates Prove Flying Is Safe

Airline CEOs are saying that the fact that there are lower rates of Covid-19 among its workforce than in the general population it is safe to fly.

Data from airlines shows that flight attendants and other airline workers have lower rates of the virus, despite tight quarters on airplanes, and executives and union representatives believe this proves that safety measures to protect passengers and employees are working and that flying is safe, according to a report on Business Insider.

KIMBERLY HALEY-COLEMAN

Name: KIMBERLY HALEY-COLEMAN

Scholarship Year: 1995

Professional Background: CEO and Founder, Globe Aware

Education:

• Southern Methodist University – MA, Art History
• University of Dallas – MBA, International Business
• Emory University – BA, Art History, French, Marketing, Italian

About Kimberly Haley-Coleman and her company: Pairing her business acumen with a passion for international volunteering, Kimberly Haley-Coleman has been a leading figure in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors for more than two decades as she has helped promote awareness and access to volunteering opportunities abroad.