How can Lagom, the Swedish secret of living well, make travel even better?

By Carolyn Ray, Publisher, JourneyWoman

Women’s Travel Wisdom is a five-day travel and wellness retreat designed to empower women through travel, presented by women’s travel leaders JourneyWoman™ and Girls’ Guide to Paris and Beyond. Drawing on the wisdom of 13 best-selling authors, life coaches, activists, award-winning photographers, entrepreneurs and travel experts, speakers will share their wisdom and life experiences to help travelers see the world through a different lens.

Keynote Speaker: Lola Akinmade Åkerström

Award-winning visual storyteller, acclaimed National Geographic photographer, international bestselling author, and entrepreneur Lola Akinmade Åkerström is the author of Due North, the international bestselling “LAGOM: The Swedish Secret of Living Well” and “In Every Mirror She’s Black.“

As a storyteller, Lola was the 2018 Bill Muster Travel Photographer of the Year. Her book, Due North, received the Lowell Thomas Gold Award for Best Travel Book, and she is also the author of international bestselling “LAGOM: The Swedish Secret of Living Well” which is available in 18 foreign editions. Her latest novel, “In Every Mirror She’s Black“, will be published as a lead hardcover around the world in Autumn 2021.

As a mentor, she runs her own online academy, Geotraveler Media Academy, which is dedicated to visual storytelling and helping the next generation of travel storytellers put their heart back into the craft.

What will women learn from you?

“Beyond being a cultural ambassador moving through all the remote places I visit, as women, we can help break stereotypes with our very presence as we experience different cultures, while soaking up aspects of those cultures into our daily lives,” Lola says. “My mission is to never let others define just how far I am capable of growing and expanding and making sure I’m becoming the very best version of myself.”

At our five-day retreat, Lola will share her wisdom about how we can bring more balance into our lives with the Swedish ethos of Lagom, which pushes us to a space where we are living lives we can comfortably maintain and removing undue stress within our control.

How have you learned from the wisdom of others?

Lola is grateful for the wisdom of her many mentors, but in particular Yomi Abiola, founder of The Fem League and The Greater Program.  “She came into my life when I’d plateaued professionally and showed me that I had been placing upper limits on my own expansion. In her own words, “people can only see as far for you as they see for themselves”.

Women’s travel Wisdom keynote speakers include Lola Akinmade Åkerström, Doni Belau, Diana Eden, Brenda Holder, Caren Osten, Debbie Phillips, Carolyn Ray and Loung Ung.

Workshop leaders, including Amanda Burgess, Robyn Griggs-Lawrence, Nora Livingstone, Shawna Robins and Krista Stanley, will provide practical tools to help women travel with intention, incorporating mindfulness, wabi-sabi, animal conservation and Indigenous wisdom.

Attendance is limited to 80 women. Learn more at www.womenstravelwisdom.com.