Late last week, I got a rejection email that stung a bit more than usual.
Rejections are part of the process in freelance work. Learning to receive and move on from a "no" is a valuable life skill, too.
But this rejection email was about my book.
An agent I'd pitched in February finally responded to my book query, telling me that she didn’t have the vision and passion for it that my work and I deserve, and so she was going to pass.
I put my heart, soul, and many months of work into this concept, and genuinely thought I had a good chance with this agent.
Alas, it was not meant to be (with her).
But I want to celebrate this moment, and putting myself and my ideas out there, anyway.
Our society loves to celebrate success stories, but behind every success, there are often countless acts of doubting, failing, and trying again. So let’s celebrate them as well. 🎉
As for me, I'll take a little break from this process, then – much like with broken hearts and rejected article pitches – start looking for another agent who will believe in me and my book*!
*coming to all bookshelves near you sometime soon 😊
xx Yulia
🏠 Inside Going Places
Tourism as a tool for validation
Last week's guest on the show was Muna Haddad, CEO of Baraka Destinations and a seasoned travel industry entrepreneur. Muna shared the innovative tourism model that Baraka Destinations builds in the communities they operate in.
Take a listen here.
Yulia Denisyuk
Coming up this week
➡️ This Wednesday, you'll hear from Tharik Hussain, a writer and author of several books, including his latest, Muslim Europe.
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🚀 Paid Members Corner
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Member news
In this new section, we share exciting updates from our paid member community.
The RISE Travel Institute's Community Book Club session with Dr. Anu Taranath is this Thursday, April 9, at 6pm EST.
In it, the author of Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World will share her deep experience in mindful travel and social justice.
🌍 In The World
What tour operators stand for
My interview with Mitch Bach for his Tourpreneur podcast is now live.
In it, Mitch and I think and talk through this hard question: What does it mean to build a travel business around something you believe, and what does that require you to give up?
I also cover personal trust replacing brand trust, why I think that “authenticity” is a dead word, why ignoring what’s happening in the world is bad for business, and what doughnut economics has to do with it all.
During the episode, I had a breakthrough realization: that the true promise of travel is collective transformation.
Travel reliably delivers personal transformation; many a traveler returns changed from their trip.
But collective transformation, where the relationship between the travel industry players and the local community actually shifts for the better for everyone involved, is rare.
I'm grateful to Mitch for creating this space in which we can ask hard questions and learn how to not only travel better ourselves, but also ask for better from travel businesses.
Radostina Boseva is our Founding Member
Radostina Boseva is a film wedding photographer with an editorial flair based in San Francisco.
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