Writing a Book in the Age of AI with Wanderful’s CEO Beth Santos

Going Places

Beth Santos is a passionate entrepreneur and community builder who many women in the travel industry will recognize as the CEO and founder of Wanderful, an international collective of travelers and travel content creators on a mission to make travel better for all women.

Beth is the author of WANDER WOMAN: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World (2024). In this conversation, we discuss the stories that make this book so special, the challenge of not only writing , but also marketing and promoting the book, breaking through the noise, and what we can do to reclaim our space as women in travel, a true majority in the travel industry that still gets treated as a niche.

We also talk about AI and its impact to our fragile storytelling and media eco-system. I try to surprise Beth by asking my ChatGPT bot questions about Beth and her work and prompting the bot to impersonate Beth. What we learn about AI in the process is fascinating!

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Beth reads an excerpt from Wander Woman
• The challenge of writing a book
• Rethinking the traveler versus tourist narrative and the privilege of travel
• Reclaiming our space as women in travel
• Book publicity and the fairy godmother complex
• Yulia talks to AI about Beth
• The impact of AI on travel creators
• How Wanderful plans to use AI
• Beth responds to ChatGPT impersonating Beth
• Is there a digital space that is safe to build our businesses in?
• Celebrating 11 years of Wanderful
• Building one DEI table in travel

Featured on the show:

• Learn more about Beth on her website
• Check out Beth's book, WANDER WOMAN: How to Reclaim Your Space, Find Your Voice, and Travel the World
• Learn more about Wanderful, a community of travelers and content creators redefining travel for women worldwide
• Get your free solo travel guide from Wanderful
• Check out WITS, a conference for women in travel
• Listen to Beth's podcast, The 85 Percent
• Follow Beth on Instagram
• Follow Wanderful on Instagram
• Check out Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World, a book by Dr. Anu Taranath
• Check out Black Travel Alliance
• Check out Native Women Wilderness

Get more information at: Going Places website

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Going Places with Yulia Denisyuk is a show that sparks a better understanding of people and places near and far by fostering a space for real conversations to occur. Each week, we sit down with travelers, journalists, creators, and people living and working in destinations around the world. Hosted by Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel journalist, photographer, and writer who's worked with National Geographic, The New York Times, BBC Travel, and more.

Learn more about our show at goingplacesmedia.com.