The solo travel-loving 30 Under 30 fulfilling her intrepid destiny

But the feeling of hitting the career jackpot was snatched away when Covid struck and Molly was made redundant, like so many in the industry. “It was a huge curveball,” she says. “Any other time, you might think you could go to a different travel company, but the whole industry was on its knees.”

A job with Birmingham City Council’s anti-social behaviour team furnished Molly with enough “crazy stories to be an EastEnders scriptwriter” before she moved to Bristol mid-lockdown and spent six months working in recruitment. “I didn’t love it, but it was good experience. It made me realise that I had to find a way back to travel.”

COMING FULL CIRCLE

The chance came with Travel Local, a DMC connecting travellers with local experts. She was swiftly promoted to marketing executive and this is when Molly formed a deep interest in responsible travel, as the company re-examined everything it could be doing around sustainability and ethics, and signed the Glasgow Declaration.

Travel Local was also merging with Berlin-based TripMe, and Molly was tasked with consolidating their marketing strategies and combining both websites.

She spent a summer working in TripMe’s English-speaking office in Berlin and took a deep dive into language with a responsible writing course. She created ethical guidelines to be used for marketing communications, which included avoiding colonial-type words and favouring visual content from local producers. “Every department can do their bit for sustainability and responsible travel,” she notes.

Landing a job at Intrepid in October 2022 as industry partnerships manager brought a move to London, where she has helped grow key accounts. “We hit our target every month last year as a trade team,” she says. The role has also given her the chance to merge her passions.

In Bristol, she volunteered with Bridges for Communities, befriending the refugee family of an Afghan translator for the British Army, in particular bonding with his wife over cooking. This spurred Molly on to become involved with Women In Travel, and use women-led tours of London’s Ethiopian and Indian communities as immersive training tools for agents to learn about Intrepid’s tours.

Musing on future ambitions, Molly laughs: “In five years’ time, maybe I’ll be in Australia, maybe Peru, who knows.”

But make no mistake, wherever she is, Molly will be working hard to make travel as positive a force as it can be.