The cheerleader who turned her passion into a multi-million pound travel business
Weaving her love of cheerleading into a travel career has paid off for Travel Counsellor and TTG 30 Under 30 recruit Stephanie Needley – she shares her story with us
Juggling a fam trip to Florida with judging a cheerleading competition is all in a week’s work for 28-year-old Travel Counsellor Stephanie Needley. Both trips are equally essential to her business, CheerTravel, which sent 2,300 people to Florida for the Cheerleading World Championships this April.
After retiring from gymnastics aged 15, Needley’s competitive drive steered her towards cheerleading, which she says “became my life very quickly”. During her second summer at university, she worked overseas for Thomas Cook, realising a second passion, travel. Post-graduation, she moved to an in-branch role.
“I worked in the York store from 9am–8pm, followed by coaching the cheerleading team I’d set up from 8–10pm. Then I’d get up and do it all again the next day,” she laughs.
Two years later, she left, throwing herself into cheerleading coaching and judging, but after travelling to Florida for the World Championships, the then 23-year-old decided to set up her own travel agency, CheerTravel, in 2019 to support new grassroots teams travelling to the event for the first time.
“I set myself lots of goals, and my goal with the agency was to book five teams,” Needley explains. “I’d missed the chance to book for the World Championships that year but I was a stunt demo athlete at a training camp where a coach took a chance on me and booked for the following year.”
By March 2020, Needley had 20 teams and 500 people booked for travel to Florida, describing it as her “wow moment”. Then Covid hit. With clients travelling the following month, Needley took a “short-term pain for long-term gain approach”, refunding every penny to her clients.
Thanks to her efficient work, what she describes as “the Manchester United equivalent of cheerleading teams” contacted her to book their trip to the 2021 World Championships. “That’s when I realised it wasn’t just
grassroots teams. I could book anyone,”
Needley says, and in April 2022 she sent 44 teams to Florida. As business grew, Needley’s fiance and fellow cheerleader Eliot joined her in March 2022. They harnessed his expertise in digital marketing, recruited two additional staff and moved CheerTravel’s headquarters from Needley’s living room into an office.
Another turning point was meeting a German coach who booked his team’s travel through Needley. This subsequently led to national teams from Finland (the world champions), Belgium, Austria, Wales and Ireland all booking through CheerTravel. Beyond the World Championships, they sent 200 people to Dallas this February and 300 to Barcelona in June while also developing a leisure travel brand, Luxe Adventures.
SMOOTH OPERATORS
It’s not all pom poms and pyramids though. Each year, Needley travels out for the World Championships to ensure everything runs smoothly.
“We meet every team at the airport, with a staff member at car hire. We also do villa checks and we’re the first point of contact for any issues,” she explains.
One unusual issue came in the form of a FaceTime call from a client at 8am. “There had been a lightning storm and a tree had fallen on to their rental car. Within two hours, we had the tree removed, the car picked up and a new one on the drive,” Needley says.
The CheerTravel founder relishes the opportunity to be part of this year’s 30 Under 30, saying: “I’ve wanted to do it for years. I often feel quite young in the industry, so I’m keen to meet some like-minded peers.”
Back to those goals, though, and Needley is focused on growth with aims for a bigger office, a bigger team and to work with more international cheer teams. And with her tenacity and drive, it seems little will stand in her way.
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Company number 08723341.
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