Growing up in rural Virginia with my pet pig, Wilbur, I never imagined I would one day travel the world for a living. College and graduate school led me to a variety of roles, including travel consultant, teacher, media specialist, production director, and speaker. One day, a friend asked me to help plan and lead a student tour to New York City. During the trip, a chaperone commented on what a fantastic job I had–as a tour guide. I explained to them that I wasn’t a tour guide… and added that I wasn’t sure that was even a real job! They assured me it was and connected me with their friend, a recent graduate of ITMI. I was intrigued by the concept and soon discovered that ITMI was the real deal. In 2010 I eagerly attended. I have spent the last ten years working full-time, leading adult and student tours across the US and thirty-eight countries. I take a few months off each year to backpack on my own and have visited an additional twenty-eight countries. What can I say? I love to travel. I believe that travel has the power to transform worldviews and bring people together. There is no greater joy than to witness the moment when travel becomes transformational. As tour directors, we facilitate experiences for people not only to see the world but to walk away changed. It is a great privilege to be a part of ITMI, investing in the next generation of tour professionals. My passion is utilizing technology to simplify and enhance our jobs while providing fantastic experiences for our guests. I love helping both the novice and the nerd get up to speed on technology and current innovations in our field. I have more resources available at ResourcesForTheRoad.com

Annette is passionate about travel, particularly to places she loves. She has undergraduate degrees in Hotel/Restaurant/Tourism Management and French, and an MBA in Hospitality. Annette graduated from ITMI in 2000, right after graduating from college. She has now been in the industry for over 20 years, starting off as a tour director in Italy and France for Collette, and then moving on to work for them as a Product Manager where she planned, contracted, and created itineraries as well as oversaw all operations for the countries she was in charge of. The skills gained as a Product Manager have been the backbone to everything else she has been able to achieve in her tourism career. Her strong connections to Italy, led her to move there from the US, where she spent 11 years exploring every corner, experiencing the culture and history, and sampling all of the delicious foods and wines the country is known for. Annette then became Director of Operations for Cuba Travel Services, where she assisted many US Tour Operators in developing their people-to-people programs to Cuba and managed the operations of all travel-related programs for the company. Annette keeps busy these days overseeing two companies from her home-base in Miami yet still manages to sneak in local guiding and overseas tour directing whenever she can. Annette is the managing partner of the North America division of Whisper System, a company that provides radio guide systems for guided group tours, and managing partner of Daiquiri Tours, where she organizes travel programs to Cuba, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France and other parts of Europe and the world. She also recently spearheaded the founding of her local Chamber of Commerce in the City of Miami Springs, where she is acting President. One of her greatest accomplishments is being an instructor at ITMI, where she can share her passion for her industry with new students, fellow instructors and fellow alumni.