Beth Santos-CEO of Wanderful, Author of Wander Woman, Entrepreneur, Community Builder
Beth Santos is an author, storyteller, and keynote speaker on a mission to better connect and support women travelers and share the stories of diverse women worldwide.
With a background in international development, thoughtful community building, and social enterprise, Beth Santos is out to change the landscape of travel for women worldwide.
In 2009, while cruising her blue motorcycle through the streets of São Tomé and Príncipe, Beth created the first iteration of Wanderful as a travel blog aimed to explore the diverse and shared experiences of women traveling the world. Today, Wanderful has exploded to an international community and social network with the active participation of over 40,000 women and gender-diverse people of all ages and backgrounds. This is manifested through an active membership community, chapter events in over 50 global cities worldwide, and annual community events and trips.
Beth is the author of Wander Woman: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World, Solo, published in March 2024. The book helps women to uncover the confidence they need to see the world for themselves, by themselves.
In 2022, she launched the 85 Percent Podcast, which interviews accomplished women in travel and tourism and tells their stories of success — and their advice for a more inclusive travel industry.
Beth is in the process of filming episodes of World Herstory, a travel docuseries highlighting food, culture, and history through the eyes of women around the world.
In 2014, Beth created the WITS Travel Creator Summit, the leading event for women and gender diverse travel creators, entrepreneurs, and industry to use their voices to champion change in the travel industry, now hosted annually on two continents.
In 2022, Wanderful launched Wanderfest, the first major outdoor travel festival by and for women, hailed by Fodor’s Travel as the new festival to add to your radar.
Beth’s commitment to community building also reaches her local neighborhood of Jamaica Plain in Boston, where she and her husband are the owners of Ula Cafe, a social-justice-minded cafe, bakery, and lunchtime meeting spot.
Beth has been recognized in Business Insider as one of 17 changemakers transforming the hospitality industry, in Conde Nast Traveller as one of 12 inspiring people to follow for International Women’s Day,
She was a finalist for Travel Unity’s Applied DEI Award and a finalist for Women in Travel CIC’s IWTTF award in the female leader-entrepreneur category in 2024.
In 2023, Beth was recognized by the International Hospitality Institute as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Global Hospitality and Travel, alongside leaders like Airbnb’s Brian Cheskey, Skift’s Rafat Ali, and PBS’s Samantha Brown.
She has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from Wellesley College. When she’s not traveling the world, she’s relishing in home renovation projects and exploring her home city of Boston with her family.
To learn more about Beth Santos:
Website: https://bethsantos.com/
https://sheswanderful.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/maximumbeth/?hl=en
IG: https://www.instagram.com/sheswanderful/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/santosbeth/
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