Darley Newman on the Power of Storytelling in Travel

0:00ZS is a global consulting and technology firm that partners with companies to improve life and how we live it. Working with the world's top travel brands, ZS brings together data, science, technology, and human ingenuity to transform ideas into consumer loyalty. They're ready to help you elevate the journey, improve operations, and uncover preferences and motivations through their AI-powered solutions. In the instances that call for more, they help travelers choose the finer path and never look back. With more than 1 ,700 clients in 170 countries, ZS has built the expertise, fortitude, and vision to help you deliver impact right where it matters.

0:38Sarah Dandashy: Hey, I'm Sari Dandeshi here at the Skift Global Forum. It is an exciting day, and we are having a chance to speak with different attendees, speakers, and the like. And I'm very excited about this interview because we actually go way back. So I've got Darlie Newman here. She is the founder of You'll See, and you probably know her from her show Travels with Darlie. So thank you. Thank you. It's so good to see you. Yes, I know. So we've been at this for quite some time. We won't necessarily say how long, but. I know, right? No, it's good. Now they're saying you should tell people how long you've been doing things, right?

1:15Long time.

1:16Sarah Dandashy: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, yeah. So for people that are kind of tuning in, we'd love to maybe share a little bit of a recap as far as like your background, where they can find you, what you're working on, what's going on? Yeah. So, I mean, I've been a content creator before that word was used. Yeah, right. So I started the World's First Horseback Riding Travel Series, Equitracking. I don't think I even knew that. Yeah, it's still around. It's still syndicated to all these different platforms now, which it started in 2007. That tells you the power of great evergreen content. Yes. But I do these long form travel series, short form content on PBS, Scripps, Tubi.

1:51I have a podcast. Yes. Just wrote a book, but really taking great, meaningful travel content, good stories about history, culture, food, and syndicating them as far as they can go.

2:02Sarah Dandashy: Yeah, that's so it's so exciting because I mean, again, you've been in it for quite some time, which we'll kind of talk about the future is what you're kind of seeing from there. But I love all of that. So what you were here yesterday as well today, we're at the Global Forum. This is this is your first year attending, right? It's my first time attending. And it's funny, you know, I thought about it. So I'm filming my 100th episode season for public television of my third series. And I'm sitting here going, wow, there's so much changing in the industry. I need to come to the Skiff Global Forum this year because it seems like a good time to get your finger on the pulse of what's happening.

2:39Sarah Dandashy: Yeah, absolutely. So what have you seen, by the way, that's changing or what's stuck out to you? So, of course, I'm following AI, as everyone is. But actually, I've learned about a lot of new tools that I can be using from other people. I'm just, I'm really chatting with people and kind of getting insights into what I should do with my whole little media empire next. Yeah. So, what's been like standing out to you when it comes to that? You know, well, something that… Or like inspiring you, at least. Something that inspires… People are talking about how your organization is set up. So I've always had a small organization, but even now, like small is not any less mighty than it was before.

3:14It's getting even mightier with the tools that are out there. Yeah. So and with AI, but I'm hearing about, you know, circular organizations, how your organization is structured. Yes. So all of those things, I'm really taking to heart and kind of internalizing from what I'm learning here. Yeah.

3:28Sarah Dandashy: So, okay, you kind of were mentioning this going into your, you said 100th? Yeah, of travels with Darlie. So travels with Darlie, I started in 2016. Amazing. I mean, I remember that. I remember when I first launched. It's crazy. I started that as an online video series as well with AOL and Huffington Post. And then I flipped it over and got sponsors and went to PBS. But since then, it's now on so many. It's on Six Airlines. It's a podcast with iHeart. It's on Scripps. Good for you. Yeah, I mean, it's just, but I think it's when you tell a good story, people love good stories. Of course. So how do you choose destinations?

4:06That's a hard one. I know. I'm trying to get to all 50 states. Okay. I love that. I think it's really people often don't think about what's in their own backyards.

4:16Sarah Dandashy: Never. Yeah. We have so many rich stories with our national parks. I just did a whole sub series called Revolutionary Road Trip. Yes. I actually have a note here about that. Okay. So how did you do that? How did you choose the places and like kind of put that together? So I spent five years going around to document lesser known and untold stories from the American Revolution at travel sites that you can visit. And it's now part of my Travels with Darley series as a subseries. It's a book. I'm doing like a series of events that bring communities together to talk about their own history. Oh my gosh, it's amazing.

4:52And I just like, I feel it's really important. I mean, I know I'm doing a travel series, but I'm also collecting stories that otherwise may not be out there. Yeah. and putting them out there. And that's living history. I mean, I think what we all do in the travel industry, no matter what realm you're in, it's super important. It changes lives.

5:08Sarah Dandashy: So is there one, without giving away too much context, like a story that maybe like stood out that you can just like share like a little synopsis to like pique our interest? Well, I think a fun one. So I have an event coming up at Princeton University, which is really cool. But a lot of people don't know there was a battle at Princeton University during the American Revolution. Alexander Hamilton was involved. No way. A crazy story. Did he actually fire a cannon and did a cannonball go through the wall of Nassau Hall? Did it decapitate this portrait of King George II, which was damaged during the battle?

5:44So there's all these myths and legends, but a lot of people may step on the campus of Princeton University and think of it as this Ivy League institution, which it is. But it has such a rich history that that has a lot of interesting stories behind it oh my gosh I love that part of that's that's a more fun one there's also the poignant battlefields that I walk through with former veterans and soldiers and that is like there's some chilling stories that are part of the book as well but it's all about those lesser known stories that weren't in the history books which

6:13Sarah Dandashy: is which is incredible so obviously I mean you're really you're really I mean you are immersed in the content space. What I love so much about what you're doing is that it is a full media company. Like you're doing all, like again, from book to podcast to full series to TV shows. I mean, how are you finding, like when you look at social media and maybe there are like others that are in the travel content space, what would you say are things that, whether it's a travel creator or maybe even just even travel brands, what should they be thinking of when it comes to just creating this content? I think getting creative has always been important, but now more so than ever.

6:55And I do think, so I do a lot on social too. I think you can tell a great story in a minute or less. You can tell a meaningful story in a minute or less, but you can also take it and do a deeper dive. But I think people should be thinking about like, how can I take one piece of amazing content and make it multi-platform? Of course. Use it as best I can. Totally. Take all that time and energy I put into it and be efficient with it.

7:17Sarah Dandashy: Yeah, and it's like multi-purpose. Multi-purpose. Yeah, exactly. And no, I'm always, it's funny because it's like I was speaking with others and I was like, how can we reverse engineer it? Like, what are we, like how many clips or like short form pieces of content are we trying to get from this? And then how we kind of like build it back that way, which is one approach. But it, I mean, there's obviously, you have to leave room for some magic to happen too. Yeah, and there's so many approaches, but I think it's really important to put out great content now, especially. with all that's happening.

7:46And I think people want to hear from real people. And that's going to be even more important as we move forward. And events like this where we can meet in person are going to be even more important.

7:55Sarah Dandashy: Totally. So has there been anything that you heard today that like stuck out to you that was just kind of interesting just hearing word on the street here? Or if you sat, you know, sitting in on the session? I'm waiting to see the special guest. Like that's the word on the street right now. Yes, I know. I mean, that's going to be exciting, I think. Drum roll, please. everybody's talking about it so well we'll see um so when you're coming to like just destinations um and you're finding these stories how much research are you doing beforehand like i mean obviously a good amount but then how much is it also pulling out the stories from the people there on the ground i mean that's what i always tell people i'm not coming to interview you i'm coming to have a conversation yeah because i want it to be as it should be easy i want it to be flowing and natural.

8:46I want to uncover stuff that I couldn't find. I couldn't research. I want to learn something. And I, I always tell people, if you go, even as a regular traveler, when I go somewhere, I want to take a tour if I can in the early part of my trip, because I think connecting with local people, you learn so much. They give you tips for the rest of your trip.

9:02Sarah Dandashy: This is very true. So, I mean, I do a lot of research, but, uh, I also like to go in with fresh eyes. I'm just genuinely like curious about stuff. And I think that's what makes it fun and interesting for people to see this content. They hear from so many different voices and then they can say, oh, I could see myself doing that adventure or that hike or having that beer later on if I'm not going to do the hike. It sets the tone for the trip, you know, and it's interesting. For me, it's always that fine balance and being as somebody that is a professional organizer of trips for other people. But sometimes for myself, I'm like, I just want to go in the moment and Because that's also where the magic can kind of happen, especially the people that you meet along the way.

9:44Sarah Dandashy: I love it. Unexpectedly. Unexpectedly. And then you end up at places. I was just in Montana, and I drove from Missoula up to Glacier National Park. Oh, amazing. And I had read about different sites on the way. I didn't have a lot of time to stop. But I stopped at this land of a thousand Buddhas. Oh. Have you heard of this? Not there, but I feel like I've been to a place like that in, I don't know, like Malaysia or something. It's in Montana. It's right outside Missoula. and they're all Montana-made Buddhas. It was super interesting. Are they all doing different things? No, no. Are they all the same?

10:15A lot of them are, they're all the same or similar. And when you look out and you're thinking, now who? Different sizes? There's some different sizes. There's one very large. Yeah. But it's really just stuff like that. I just think it's super interesting. I love the roadside stops still. I can't get it under them. I mean, world's largest Holstein cow in North Dakota recently. I was like, this is just too much. I love it. I mean,

10:36Sarah Dandashy: what is it? The world's largest thermometer and what is it? bar baker between between los angeles and las vegas i think it's great they sell alien jerky there whatever that is i love it but these are fun like and it's i mean it's it's the fun it's so quirky it's so meaningful but it makes our lives more interesting when we can get out and experience it and that's the beauty of our travel industry yeah you know and and again like there's we're so lucky here in the u.s that we have like so much in our backyard uh so your book can you Tell us a little bit about the book. So it's called Revolutionary Road Trip, Hidden Stories of America's Founding Journey.

11:10So I spent five years traveling throughout the original 13 colonies. And I documented lesser known and untold stories of our founding.

11:19Sarah Dandashy: So how would you find it? Because how are you finding these people to find these stories? I mean, literally, it is boots on the ground. I went to battlefields, national parks, historic homes, communities where pivotal events took place that shaped the Southern campaign that shaped and that weren't again they weren't the Boston's of the world they weren't the Philadelphia's I was in York Pennsylvania okay which was a temporary U.S. capital and I looked at the architecture of the revolution there oh wow and I was down in Camden South Carolina where there's a battlefield where they're still uncovering news the thing I learned is everyone thinks about history yeah it's in the past it's in a book.

12:01But even with the American Revolution, something, you know, this pivotal time 250 years ago, we're still uncovering new information. And that's so crazy. And also what I learned, which was super interesting, if you go into any of our state archives, I was with the chief archivist in New Jersey and Trenton. And like there's documents that I don't think many people have looked at. A lot of them are going into AI now and they're being kind of digitized and internalized, which I think is kind of interesting. I was just at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. It's new. So they have an AI version of Teddy Roosevelt.

12:38So you can talk and interact with him and ask him questions. And what's really interesting about it is that they took content from like 23 different archives. So it all got synthesized into one kind of location in a way. So that is a very good use of AI. It's so interesting.

12:57Sarah Dandashy: and it really makes it the sort of like living history it is living history revealed again and and continuously being like unveiled like and rediscovered yeah that's so wow oh wow it's so cool so uh so like shifting gears just a bit um before we wrap up like what what are you seeing in terms of travel be it like because you're out there like you were on the road like whether you're filming whether you're working your book what what kind of travel trends are you seeing that's exciting you? Well, I mean, we know our national parks are in heavy use right now ever since the pandemic, but I think that's exciting.

13:36I love that people are feeling comfortable about getting out into nature.

13:40Sarah Dandashy: Oh, totally. And we want them to get into even more natural places and not just the ones that are the most popular. Yeah. So I'm kind of trying to work on that and find those new places and share them as well. But I'm seeing so many great solo women travelers out there. There's a lot. And I am super inspired by that as someone who is a solo female traveler. So I think that is a great and a lot of awesome new small businesses. Yeah. Merging in so many places that you wouldn't think you could have a business. You're like, there's a coffee shop here. Yeah, right. Hey, and they're making it work. And they're making it.

14:13And I think it's great. So I think there's a lot of positive trends happening.

14:16Sarah Dandashy: It's a reminder of the American dream. It is still alive and well. um so then from the content side of things obviously that is also always evolving what are you seeing in terms of like what's like exciting you with the future of travel content yeah i mean so i'm super excited to be able to document stories that otherwise wouldn't be out there and share them i mean i did two episodes on the civil rights trail that that is what got a few years ago got me interested in learning more about history yeah that's huge and sharing stories from women who lived through a time period and can still tell us that information.

14:53There's some of them are still living today and they can share this firsthand. And I think this is all exciting. And I think travel makes us better people. So the more we can get out there and inspire people to go places they wouldn't think about, like you don't think about going to Selma or Birmingham, well, maybe you should because you can go meet people who live through the civil rights movement.

15:12Sarah Dandashy: And that is going to change your perspective on so many things. As someone that grew up in the South and even some of the different courses I took in college, very much brought a lot of these stories to life as far as like what has been shared and documented. Obviously, there are many more stories that are out there that haven't necessarily been told on a bigger scale. But just doing that deeper dive, I mean, it really, it's tough to totally comprehend the whole fabric of this, of the history of the United States, but just to even get like a better taste or understanding of it. And to have these people that, it wasn't that long ago.

15:51Sarah Dandashy: Like when you think back to like the 70s, when women were able to finally open up a bank account on their own without a male cosigner. That's really not that long ago. It's inspiring that I did this. I have a viral TikTok that went viral with 1.3 million views. Amazing. I was at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, and I briefly just took my phone and talked to Hezekiah Watkins. Yeah. He was a freedom rider, arrested at the age of 13 and put on death row during the civil rights movement. No way. And I asked him a few questions. I put it on TikTok. It's in my show, too, but the TikTok went crazy, but it was so positive.

16:26People were like, this man is a tour guide. I could go meet him. I didn't know this place existed. I feel so badly that he had to live through this. So the empathy, the compassion created from one piece of small content that didn't really take that long to create, but was all about being in a place where someone has something to share that's meaningful. And that is, I just love that. I think it's really great.

16:48Sarah Dandashy: Totally. It just shows you how much meaning there is out there. And traveling just brings us closer to it. Yeah, it's great. It really is great. Well, thank you so much. I so appreciate that you took the time to speak with us today. For those that are tuning in, where can they find out more and follow all your future adventures and endeavors? Yeah, it's Darlie Newman on all the socials. Travels with Darlie on Facebook. My YouTube, Darlie Newman TV. You can look up Travels with Darlie and watch it on a lot of different platforms. If you're flying any airlines, look for it on the in-flight now. That's great.

17:21And yeah, and I have a newsletter, so I love to connect with people. And I love to get other travel tips, honestly. Yeah. So many people reach out and they say, you should go here, you should go there. And I look at those. I catalog those and I might end up there very soon. I love that.

17:36Sarah Dandashy: Always keeping the options open. Yeah. Well, it's amazing. Well, thank you again for joining us. This is great. Thank you. Thanks.

17:48ZS is a global consulting and technology firm that partners with companies to improve life and how we live it. Working with the world's top travel brands, ZS brings together data, science, technology, and human ingenuity to transform ideas into consumer loyalty. They're ready to help you elevate the journey, improve operations, and uncover preferences and motivations through their AI-powered solutions. In the instances that call for more, they help travelers choose the finer path and never look back. With more than 1 ,700 clients in 170 countries, ZS has built the expertise, fortitude, and vision to help you deliver impact right where it matters.