30 Under 30's Pelumi Nubi: 'It baffles me you don’t see black travellers in travel magazines'
Founder of The Black Explorer and TTG 30 Under 30 member Pelumi Nubi is on a mission to dismantle travel stereotypes, and she tells Katherine Masters how
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Pelumi Nubi moved to Croydon, south London with her family aged 10. When faced with hostility from her school peers, she found solace in the library. “I fell in love with reading about places,” she says.
“I grew up in a bubble in Nigeria but moving to the UK planted the seed that there’s a big world out there.”
At university she stumbled across a global exchange programme that offered a heavily discounted trip to India.
This experience fuelled a wanderlust that saw her use her free time as a student to travel to practically every country in Europe using low-cost carriers.
“I mostly travelled alone,” she explains. “I have dyslexia, and that makes you so reliant on proofreaders and checks, it really affected my self-esteem. But when it came to travel, I found I didn’t need anyone’s permission. I could just book the flight and go. It was so liberating!”
She felt comfortable checking into hostels, meeting new people and funding her travels on a budget, and she documented these experiences on social media (@pelumi.nubi). The fact she travelled to places where black solo female travellers typically wouldn’t go increased her following, which translated into brand deals.
Meantime Nubi graduated with a first class honours degree in medical science and started a PhD in human genetics and cancer research. Research can be lonely, she says, so travel continued to be important. “It helped me escape and to talk to people.”
When the pandemic arrived in 2020, she was doing research with fruit flies. Her lab was closed, which effectively shut down her project, as her samples died and three years of work was lost. “I couldn’t even get my usual escapism, because borders were closed!” she says. Realising that even though her followers couldn’t travel, they still wanted travel inspiration and to daydream, she continued growing her online community.
LIGHT BULB MOMENT
A retreat in a silent cabin led Nubi to consider “what sparks joy for me?”. “It wasn’t science, it was travel,” she says.
Her first project was co-founding The Black Explorer, a premium-feel print magazine aiming to amplify black travel. “The black travel narrative in general is muted,” she says. “I find it mind-baffling that you flick through a travel magazine and just don’t see black travellers. People need to see themselves in these spaces to know they can do it too.”
Sample articles include a Nigerian tracing their heritage in Brazil. “Our storytelling brings people to the foreground and has the destination more in the background,” she explains.
She has also designed a deck of affirmation cards, with encouragements such as “you belong here”, which she found useful as a black solo traveller.
GOING SOLO
As a prolific solo traveller, Nubi is brimming with helpful tips for those who also want to take the plunge and go it alone. “Travelling is like a muscle that needs to be built, so start close to home, wherever you feel most comfortable, perhaps even going to the cinema alone, and work up from there,” she says.
Most recently she has adopted a digital nomad lifestyle, moving to Dubai and starting a travel agency she has called Oremi Travels, helping friends and family plan group travels for milestone celebrations.
“I wanted to use all my experience, having visited 78 countries, and help people organise the sort of big celebrations they might be deterred from planning themselves because it’s overwhelming but I can help them do it flawlessly.”
With big dreams to make Oremi a household name, it was the vibrancy of the expat population that drew her to Dubai. “They’ve all chosen to come here, which brings a level of excitement and drive to get the job done,” she says. “As an entrepreneur, I need that hunger around me.”
More Tomorrow’s Travel Leaders
Meet the TTG 30 Under 30 class of 2022-23 and read in-depth profiles of Leslie Latchman, Bridget Donaldson and Scott McCabe.
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