November 14, 2024 • 42 mins
Rachel Rudwall, a prolific travel producer and writer, takes us on a journey from her Midwest roots to the bustling world of media production in Los Angeles. Her story begins with a deep fascination for international studies and foreign languages, which led her to explore media as a powerful tool for connecting people and demystifying the unknown. Rachel's adventurous spirit propelled her to Los Angeles, where she navigated the media landscape and climbed the ranks to produce docu-series for major networks like Discovery Channel and Nat Geo, eventually transitioning to an on-camera presence through her YouTube series and a TV travel show.
Throughout the episode, Rachel shares exhilarating tales from her travels to awe-inspiring destinations like Machu Picchu, Antarctica and Bhutan. Her stories are not just about the breathtaking landscapes but also about the profound connections she felt with these environments and the lessons they taught her about the interconnectedness of our world. Balancing her dynamic career with family life, Rachel reflects on her journey from Ohio to Los Angeles, emphasizing the invaluable support of her partner in managing both her professional and personal aspirations.
Learn more about Rachel at http://www.rachelroams.com/.
Connect with her on:
- Instagram: @rachelroams
- Facebook: @rachelroams
- Twitter/X: @rachelroams
- TikTok: @rachelroams
- LinkedIn: @rachelrudwall
Thank you for listening! Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to the Media in Minutes podcast here or anywhere you get your podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/media-in-minutes/id1555710662
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Angela Tuell (00:05):
Welcome to Media in Minutes.
This is your host, angela Tuell.
This podcast features in-depthinterviews with those who report
on the world around us.
They share everything fromtheir favorite stories to what
happened behind the lens andgive us a glimpse into their
world from our studio here atCommunications Redefined, this
(00:38):
is Media in Minutes.
If you want to know what it'slike to climb Kilimanjaro,
paraglide with a hawk, ice climbwhile also acting as a director
of photography on anEmmy-nominated TV show, or scuba
dive cage-free with bull sharks, Rachel's the woman to ask.
She has had countless globaladventures, ranging from TV
(01:01):
hosting for Travel Channel'sEpic Lists and ABC's Fab Life to
digital hosting for Time andTastemade, to writing articles
and shooting photography formagazines like Afar and Forbes.
Hi, rachel, hello, hello.
I am so excited to talk withyou today.
Thanks for having me.
Yes, I have to say say you arethe real deal.
(01:25):
You know one of those prolifictravel producers and writers
that all the PR professionals inthe travel industry want to
work with, and I've been luckyenough to work with you on
visits to Peru and Tahiti, whichI'm sure we'll talk about.
But I wanted to first find outhow did you get into this career
, you know what led you here.
Rachel Rudwall (01:47):
That's a great question.
So for me it was kind of acircuitous path.
I'll start at the beginning andsay I'm from the Midwest.
And when I learned there was aworld.
I thought that soundsinteresting, I want to go there.
Like anything sort of beyondthe small town seemed really
fascinating.
So I went to college forinternational studies in foreign
(02:20):
languages, thinking that toexplore you had to either maybe
go sort of the NGO route, thenon-governmental organization,
or become a government employeeas a foreign service officer.
Story short, I learned thatthere was another pathway and
that was media production, andthat you could essentially kind
of become an everyday diplomatas a storyteller, connecting
people to the world and to eachother in ways that made them
more excited and maybe lessafraid of the things that they
didn't know.
And I was like I want to dothat.
And so I ended up moving to LosAngeles after college trying to
(02:47):
line up informational interviewswith people who worked in media
production, because I hadn'tstudied anything related and was
like how do I do this?
Like, what is the scoop?
What does an editor do?
What does a producer do?
What does a host do?
And I in the end had anopportunity to, as you do, work
my way up the ladder as a,eventually a producer of
(03:11):
docu-series for TV networks likeDiscovery Channel, nat Geo,
history Channel, and I alsosimultaneously began producing,
shooting, hosting and editing myown YouTube series.
I was the host of the travelseries with a co-producer and
co-host that landed us our firstTV show.
So by sort of doing the thehustle of building my own brand.
(03:35):
In addition to producing theseother docu-series, then I was
able to transition to on-camerawork, and the storytelling path
both in front of and behind thecamera evolved into being able
to write articles for some of myfavorite publications, like
Afar, shoot photography forbrands and publications and so
on, and eventually social mediacontent creation or influencer
(03:57):
work became a natural pathwaytoo.
So it's all under this umbrellaof storytelling you know, long
story long.
Angela Tuell (04:06):
Wait, so where were you from in the Midwest?
I'm from Ohio, ohio.
Okay, I'm in Indianapolis.
I don't know if I've mentionedthat to you.
Rachel Rudwall (04:16):
So not too far there, and so you went to school
in Ohio as well.
I did, I went to.
Angela Tuell (04:20):
Miami.
Rachel Rudwall (04:21):
University in the Southwest state.
Not to be confused with Miamiand Florida, People are like oh,
she escaped Ohio to the palmtrees and the water.
No, there's a different Miami.
That one's in Ohio.
Angela Tuell (04:33):
Yeah, so that took a lot to go out to LA.
Rachel Rudwall (04:37):
It did, and at the same time, I was very much
the type of person who feltcooped up.
Anyway, I was kind of ready forchange, and so moving to a
place that had sunshine andopportunity was exciting.
Even if I didn't really feellike LA as a, as a culture as I
understood it would be veryaligned.
(04:59):
I was like you know, this iswhere the work happens, and so I
made the move and ended upbeing the perfect place for me
to begin developing my skillsand really learn from the people
who are the best atstorytelling.
Angela Tuell (05:10):
Yeah, you know it often happens that way when we
take I don't know if you want tocall it a risk or just
something that doesn't feel ascomfortable that usually we have
where we have the biggestrewards.
Rachel Rudwall (05:21):
A hundred percent, and I'm of the mindset
that if something makes younervous, it's usually a sign
that it matters, right.
So fear, a little bit of fear,can be a really good reminder
that hey, this matters and Iwant to honor this opportunity.
And it feels big and it's okayfor things to feel scary in a
(05:41):
good way.
Yeah.
Angela Tuell (05:43):
Yeah, I love that.
So in doing research to preparefor our interview today, I
wasn't sure where to even start.
With the amount of experienceand the various roles you hold
and have held over the years,how do you describe to others
who aren't familiar about whatyou do?
Rachel Rudwall (06:00):
I tend to just say I'm a storyteller.
So there are so many differentways that we can be storytellers
and we all are in our day today lives when we're telling
stories to our friends, ourparents, our kids.
And you know, we all have thisinnate ability that, as humans,
we are born with.
And for me, I do thatprofessionally, I do that in
(06:23):
media production, I do that inwriting for media outlets,
shooting photography, publicspeaking, hosting, you name it.
It all falls under thatumbrella of storytelling.
Angela Tuell (06:34):
Yeah, definitely so much of your work.
As you've mentioned, there'sprint and digital outlets,
there's video, there's producingphotography.
Tell us a little bit more aboutwhat your day-to-day looks like
, although I know it's verydifferent day-to-day, I'm sure.
Rachel Rudwall (06:49):
It is.
It's different day-to-day.
So today, for example, I'mbased in Portland, oregon, so
I'm sitting in my home office inrainy Portland.
But a couple of weeks ago I wasroad tripping through the
Balkans and Greece, so I wastraveling.
For a few weeks I was producingmedia assets.
Now that I'm back, I'm workingremotely on a number of
(07:11):
producing projects for clients,both in the travel and the tech
space, and those will take meinto the new year.
There will be some travels,some onsite work, but it really
varies.
I mean, as you know, because wehave had the chance to work
together.
Some weeks I'm on a canoeexpedition in the Peruvian
Amazon, thanks to partneringwith you.
(07:33):
Some weeks, I'm on a yacht inTahiti, thanks to partnering
with you.
Angela Tuell (07:38):
I just wish I could have went with you on both
of those.
You know they were amazingadventures.
Rachel Rudwall (07:45):
But then, you know, sometimes I'm at home,
like like everybody else who hasworked from home, especially
over the last several years, andI'm answering emails and kind
of tying up loose ends or preproducing whatever that next
project is.
How often are you traveling?
I travel frequently, but here'swhat I'll say there were times
in my career where I'd be gonefor three and a half months at a
(08:07):
time, up in places like theAlaskan Arctic.
Now that is not the casebecause I have a three-year-old
and so I try to keep my tripsshorter, and so what that means
is I might travel fairlyfrequently, but usually trips
max out around 10 days, becausewhether I'm going to Tahiti or
(08:28):
Peru or Mongolia, I can usuallyget there, participate in
whatever the experience is thatI'm covering and get was a few
weeks long.
But with a little one at home Idon't travel for as long, both
(08:48):
because I really like beingaround, for how much changes and
how every day is different witha little one, and also because
it's a lot to ask of a partner,you know.
Yes, I was going to say you know, I don't want to ask him to do
those three month stretches thatI used to do.
Angela Tuell (09:06):
Right, yes, you are lucky you're still able to
do that, for even to do any ofany of the trouble, yeah.
Rachel Rudwall (09:13):
Anybody who's whose partner or spouse supports
them in chasing the dream anddoing what fills their cup,
especially if it involves beingaway from home, it's pretty
heroic.
Angela Tuell (09:24):
Yes, oh, that's wonderful.
I'm pretty sure it would beimpossible, or is impossible, to
answer the question of yourfavorite destinations type thing
.
But how about which ones havesurprised you or made the
biggest impact, or even whichones would you visit again?
Rachel Rudwall (09:40):
There are so many that I would visit again,
and I think that that's a signnot only of how I have enjoyed a
place, but also of gettingolder.
The older I get, the more I'maware that I'm not going to see
it all, and that's okay.
And so I struggle with that,every single place it's okay to
return.
That come to mind that havereally surprised me.
(10:06):
One is Peru, where I havewanted to travel to Peru for as
long as I can remember and itjust hadn't worked out yet.
And so, when there was theopportunity to partner with you
do this expedition in these 660pound wooden canoe, paddling
through the Amazon rainforest,it gave me a mix of deep
excitement, right, also anxiety.
(10:28):
Yes, I'm not somebody who, likeadventure is is my bag.
I'm so stoked.
If you're like, do you want togo hike in the Himalayas for a
multi-day track, I'm like, yeah,how many?
pairs of socks.
Do I need to not be cold atnight?
Great, I'm in.
But for this one it was such anunfamiliar environment, from
(10:49):
the climate to the wildlife, tothe paddling itself.
I'm an active person, but I'venever done a big sort of paddle
trip, anything like that, and soit gave me the mix of anxiety
and thrill that really helped meto home in on.
(11:09):
Okay, I want to honor thisopportunity.
I want to make sure I'm amplyprepared, that I've done my
research, that I know about thewildlife and things like I mean
we were talking about where thenearest anti-venom is, in case
you get bitten by a viper.
That kind of thing is not apart of my daily life in
Portland, oregon, nor was itgrowing up in Ohio, so, no
(11:29):
matter how much I've traveled,that was something that was
different than my typicalexperiences, and so when I got
there there, what reallysurprised me was how familiar it
(11:53):
felt, and I can't reallyexplain it as clearly as I'd
like, except to say it felt likeas an environment.
It made sense to me as ananimal, where I was like yes,
this is the lungs of our planet,this place, this juicy life
filled place with these warmpeople and these warm, sunny
days.
It made sense in my bones and Ifelt so, not only excited at
(12:16):
that point, but peaceful.
I was connected to exactly whereI'm supposed to be flowing with
the river, with these wonderfulpeople who who were at the helm
, um, on that particular tripand, frankly, I'd love to go
back yes, that's how I felt, andI didn't do the canoe one, but
I did a river cruise there.
Angela Tuell (12:38):
It's a little bit different.
I feel like that's how I feltin that area as well.
It's beautiful and the Peruvianpeople really are some of the
kindest, best people I've met.
Rachel Rudwall (12:48):
Yeah, and then I tacked on.
I booked myself a trip to MachuPicchu.
I just had one day that I wasable to add on in Cusco for
myself.
At the end, I booked this tripto Machu Picchu and was, like
you know, I've wanted to do thismulti-day hike, the Inca Trail,
to get there for again as longas I can remember.
(13:09):
And I didn't have the time andI was like you know, is it kind
of silly to go all the way toMachu Picchu from Cusco for just
one day.
It was, like you know, manyhours of transit to and from and
when I got there, for mepersonally it exceeded
expectations.
And that is really somethingwhen you've heard so many
wonderful things over so manyyears about a place.
(13:30):
When you finally get there,sometimes you go like, oh, it's
crowded or it's different than Ithought.
Angela Tuell (13:34):
Yes, absolutely.
Rachel Rudwall (13:35):
I got there and was like this is the stuff
dreams are made of.
Angela Tuell (13:38):
There's no way to describe it when you're up above
the mountains in Machu.
Rachel Rudwall (13:43):
Picchu and sort of the context of like I've seen
the pictures of the people inthe colorful tunics and maybe
the alpacas walking through andthe terraced city.
But to stand there not only tosort of feel the fresh air and
see the view, but to turn 360degrees and see all of the
(14:03):
mountains around you, it feelslike you're in the clouds.
Angela Tuell (14:06):
Yes, yes, it's incredible.
Oh, you make me want to go backright now.
Okay, I'm ready.
Rachel Rudwall (14:12):
Let's do it.
Angela Tuell (14:13):
So what are some of the other?
Rachel Rudwall (14:15):
we mentioned a few in our intro, but some of
the other, um, you know, mostexciting experiences you've had
while traveling I have lovedother places that are typically
far flung, the most oftenbecause, for me, I everyone
(14:37):
listening in feels like they'rea nature person or an outdoor
person.
At the end of the day, what Ithink is really meaningful for
us as human beings, as animalswho just happen to have complex
thought and conversation, andthings like that, we need
moments that make us feel smallbut connected.
Yeah, and you can have that indifferent ways.
(14:57):
It could be through attending awedding and experiencing love
and hope and community, or itcan be taking a hike and and
looking out across mountains andbeing like man, I'm tiny and
I'm lucky to be here, and soAntarctica, for me, that's a
place that inspires thosefeelings of awe and humility and
connectedness.
(15:18):
It is, yes, vast, which Iexpected before I went.
It is impressive.
I expected that it's cold, Iexpected that, but actually it's
teeming with life and I didn'texpect that.
I thought I'd be going to thisplace that was just sort of cold
and stark and never ending andmaybe some shades of white and
(15:40):
gray, and that I would love it.
I thought I'd love it, but whenI got there, I was amazed at
the life everywhere, and so,whether it was penguin colonies
or whales or seabirds.
It was just teeming with lifeand that astounded me.
Um, I tend to have those sort ofrevelatory moments of, oh, I'm
(16:04):
so fortunate to live on thisplanet when I'm in expanses of
space like that the Himalaya,doing some trekking in Bhutan,
which is a beautiful as a uh ananniversary destination in the U
(16:26):
S specifically.
Um, a lot of people might notknow much about it or, if they
do, it's based on a tumultuousum history in the Balkans.
Um, but road tripping throughthe Balkans with my husband for
the first portion of this tripthat I took several weeks ago
was incredible because therewere so many moments of natural
(16:49):
beauty, from the coastline ofCroatia to the Dinarik Alps in
Kosovo, and and we did what Ithought was going to be a nine
mile hike, um, up to 8,000, somefeet, to one of the tallest
peaks in Kosovo, and from thispeak you can see Albania and
Montenegro, like you can seemultiple countries, but it ended
(17:10):
up being a 14 mile hike.
I'm so sorry.
Loving husband, are you havinga fun anniversary too?
You know, it was amazing how,how far you could see how
impressive this system ofmountains was.
The fall colors were some ofthe best I've seen anywhere in
the world.
Um, I also love Japan, man,japan.
(17:33):
I've been multiple times, donesomething different every time,
and, um, and, and theexperiences that I've had there
show me a number of things.
One, they they connect to mysense of natural beauty.
But two, there's thislong-standing tradition of
respect and kind of caring forothers, and and there's
orderliness.
(17:53):
That means that anytime you areconfused or lost or don't know
where the bus stop is orwhatever, people tend to step
out from behind the counterwhere they're working to help
you.
And so existing in a place thatthat honors other people in
that way continues to remind mehow connected we are and that we
(18:17):
can always do better.
Right To see each other lookout for each other.
Angela Tuell (18:20):
I wish the whole world was like that all the time
.
Rachel Rudwall (18:23):
Right, right right, I mean, and in the US we
were founded on the notion ofindividual freedoms and that
sort of theoretical.
That foundation of our nationis very much at the forefront of
modern conversation too,obviously.
And I benefit from having hadthe luxury of choice.
(18:43):
I chose to move to LA, I choseto work in the field that I'm in
, I chose to get married, Ichose to work to start a family,
all these things.
So I benefit from thatindividual choice and I also
have had the experience ofseeing other cultures and the
way that they do it, in the waythat they do orient themselves
toward community in a way thatthat really respects the, the,
(19:07):
the broader group, and I admireit so much.
Angela Tuell (19:09):
Yeah, that's one of the really important things
about traveling.
Yep, you sound like me with themountains part too, on our.
We went to St Lucia for ourhoneymoon many, many years ago
and I made my husband do theadventure adventure lovers
package for our, for our resort,which was climbing the mountain
on our honeymoon.
Rachel Rudwall (19:32):
Yeah, and I've seen the photos.
I mean, I haven't been to StLucia, but I've seen the photos.
I can imagine that it'd be hotand it'd be humid, but the views
would be amazing.
Angela Tuell (19:43):
It was.
It was.
You know something else.
As we all know, traveling isnot always perfect.
I mean, it just sounds soamazing, as you're describing it
, in the places you go, butoftentimes things can go wrong
or or or maybe not wrong.
But you know things that youhave to be flexible with what
have?
When have you had to do this orwhen have you had an experience
like that?
Rachel Rudwall (20:02):
I feel like I have an experience like that
every single trip, every time.
Okay, yeah, every trip I mean.
Because if you hold reallytightly to expectations and
something's bound to bedifferent whether it's uh, you
think it's worse or it's better,it's like if you have an
expectation then there's a highlikelihood that something will
go differently, at least to adegree.
Most recently, when we wereflying to the Balkans, we were
(20:26):
flying to Dubrovnik.
When I tell you that ouranniversary trip did not start
off as planned, I really meanthat and feel that in my bones,
because we were slated to flyout mid-afternoon from Portland
Airport straight to Amsterdam.
We had a fairly shortconnection in Amsterdam and then
we were going on to Dubrovnik.
(20:47):
Okay, we my mom had flown inthe night before and was very
generously going to watch ourson for the first portion of
this trip, where both my husbandand I were gone together
because it was our 10 yearanniversary.
She was self-sacrificing tospend time, you know, with her
grandkid, and let us have thattime.
So this was our plan Fly outmid-afternoon to Amsterdam,
(21:08):
connect there, get to Dubrovnik.
It was like a maybe 16 hourflight itinerary.
Okay, we wake up at four or 5 AMthat morning because we're
trying to sort of adjust thetime zone change and we see we
have an email from the airlinesaying that our afternoon flight
has been delayed by an hour anda half, which means we're going
(21:30):
to miss our connecting flight.
Right.
So we call the airline, spendan hour on the phone, they
rebook us, they say, okay, wecan get you to Seattle, but you
have to leave like four and ahalf hours earlier, which was a
couple hours away by now, and sowe'd have to mobilize.
They say we can fly you toSeattle, to Amsterdam, to
Dubrovnik.
Okay.
So we mobilize, we say goodbyeto our son early, we get on that
(21:54):
flight to Seattle, we take itand as soon as we land in
Seattle we see that our Seattleto Amsterdam flight has been
delayed by two and a half hours,which means we'll miss our
flight to Dubrovnik.
At that point we're just likewhat do we do?
And we got back on the phonewith the airline after trying to
talk to reps in the airport whocouldn't do much, and being
(22:16):
familiar with passenger rightsis really helpful.
So anybody listening in thereare certain rights that you have
to, things like compensation ormeal vouchers or hotels if you
are delayed a certain amount oftime and it is the fault of the
airline.
So it's not acts of God likeweather events and things, but
if it's mechanical, for example,you have certain recourse.
(22:40):
So we knew that if we were goingto be landing super, super late
compared to the originalitinerary that Delta this is the
airline that I have status with, that we were flying with we
were like they could put us onanother airline.
Um so, long story long again,angela, they put us on a flight
(23:02):
on Turkish air.
We had a six hour layover in inSeattle, then we had to fly to
Istanbul and then back toDubrovnik.
It took I don't know 30 hoursinstead of 16, but we got there
and it was like the wholeprocess was sort of and it was
(23:27):
like the whole process was sortof jaw on the floor,
dumbfounding, going well.
I guess we have to problem solveagain.
One of the most importantthings that I would say to
everyone listening is the peoplethat you are interacting with,
whether they be at the airlineor the hotel that you're staying
at or that you're sitting nextto on the flight.
Everybody's doing their best.
Yeah, everybody just wantsthings to work out OK.
(23:47):
So problem solving should alsoinclude kindness, humility,
self-awareness.
You should never be in a pointwhere frustration means you're
raising your voice, you'retaking it out on the people that
you're talking to, because thepeople on the other end of the
telephone line, they weren't thereason that these flights had
(24:08):
changed.
There were mechanical issues.
They all did what they could tohelp and, at the end of the day
, frankly, I probably need toemail the airline and ask for
some bonus points, some bonusair miles on the account.
That's something they can do aswell on the airline.
Angela Tuell (24:20):
Definitely, definitely.
Is that one of the rules thatthey have to book you on another
airline?
Is it after a certain number ofhours?
Rachel Rudwall (24:28):
They don't have to always, but there are
situations in which um like ifyou're going to be more than I
forget how many hours delayedand um into your end destination
as the result of, say, amechanical change or mechanical
failure, then you can and shouldask is there another airline
that you could put me on to getme there around the time that I
(24:51):
was scheduled to arrive?
We still arrived eight and ahalf or nine hours later than
planned, but if we stayed onDelta.
It would have been a day laterand we were already in Seattle,
and so we didn't want to bestranded in Seattle or have to
fly home and start the next day.
And so so there were costimplications as well as time
implications, and they theyweren't even partnered with
(25:13):
Turkish Air, but they were stillable to buy those seats for us
using the funds that we had, youknow, used to originally
purchase Delta flight.
Angela Tuell (25:23):
Okay, Cause we've never had luck asking.
We booked on another airline,so that's great to know you did
and and hopefully can push forthat in the future?
Rachel Rudwall (25:30):
Yeah it's.
I've only done it a couple oftimes and each of those times it
was a um sort of major travelsnafu that was the result of a
change in airplane size or likea mechanical issue where they
had to go back to the gate,things like that, and in those
instances it takes some pushingbecause it's not the preferred
(25:53):
way for the airline to do things.
But if you say, you know,here's what we're realistically
looking at.
This many hours later, thismany days late, what?
What can we do?
Yeah, then people will do theirbest and they'll tell you
what's possible and what's not,and so it's worth asking.
Angela Tuell (26:11):
Yes, and it's always helpful when you are kind
and nice to that person that'strying to help you.
Rachel Rudwall (26:16):
Yeah, we heard somebody run up to a gate at
Seattle, start yelling.
I'm recording these peopledidn't let me get on my plane
and I can see it right there.
And I'm here and I can see theplane and all of the airline
reps is at Seattle.
They're like yes, sir, the, thethe door closed.
Like the, the door has to close10 minutes before departure.
(26:38):
Right, yelled and yelled andhe's like I'm streaming this
live on the internet so thateveryone can see.
You didn't let me on the flight.
That's right there.
And I thought a how weirdlyself-absorbed that you think you
matter enough to hold up theplane, but b how confusing that
you think the way you'retreating people is more likely
(26:58):
to make them let you on.
What a weird sense ofdisconnect.
Like what?
Where?
Where do you think that this isfine in your brain?
Angela Tuell (27:08):
yeah, yeah, I would.
Rachel Rudwall (27:09):
Yes, I do see that a lot yeah it's like you're
, you're the exception to therule.
If you can't get here on time,then you don't get on the flight
right.
Like Like you're, you're notyou, everybody else got on on
time, yeah, so if you're goingto figure it out right, Then get
(27:31):
on the next flight.
I think that's the way it works, right.
Angela Tuell (27:34):
Exactly yes, yes.
Something else I wanted to talkabout was I know it's a great
honor that you were named anExplorers Club fellow.
For those who are not familiar,could you tell us what that
means?
Rachel Rudwall (27:48):
Yeah, the Explorers Club is a group of
maybe 3,500 people around theworld who are recognized for
their contributions tofurthering knowledge and
exploration.
What that means in practice issome of the famous Explorers
Club members of history includethe first people to the North
(28:11):
Pole, the first people to theSouth Pole, the first people to
summit Everest, the first peopleto get to the deepest point on
Earth, which is theiana trenchin the ocean, and the first
people to make it to the surfaceof the moon.
Like all the apollo astronautsamazing club jane goodall's in
the club.
Uh, there are a lot of reallyprolific explorers, educators,
(28:34):
um mountaineers, um scientistswho have been members of the
club and I always thought it wasthis sort of cool, weird super
secret society of traditionallymen.
And and then one day somebodyfound my work online, a member
of the club, and he said andthis is a paleontologist who's
(28:56):
discovered all these dinosaurbones, right, he's like I found
your work.
Have you heard of the club?
I think you'd be a shoe in.
And I was like, do you what?
you know sort of fully impostersyndrome like are you, yes, are
you misinformed?
Um, and and in the end, uh, heand a buddy of mine who is a
director for National Geographic, whom I, I know through our
(29:18):
work professionally, but also,funnily enough, because he and
my husband were kayak guidestogether in Alaska years ago.
Yeah, so there's there'soverlap in that Venn diagram of
of our worlds.
But, um, we, uh, yeah, we puttogether my application and I
dragged my feet on it Cause Iwas like there's no way it's
going to be approved, as youknow, a storyteller alone, I, I
(29:41):
haven't, yeah, I don't have anyfamous bursts, so I'm not the
first person to climb anything.
So in the end, um, I wasapproved and have been a fellow
in the club since 2019 andactually the the call that I
just got off of, right before wechatted, was with the explorers
club.
Angela Tuell (29:59):
Club.
That's amazing.
Oh, wow, yeah.
So talking a little bit moreabout travel how do you choose
your next destination and whatdo you look for in a hosted trip
?
Rachel Rudwall (30:11):
I choose my next destination based on a couple
of things, and it sort ofdepends on if it's professional
or personal, but there's a lotof overlap in what I look for in
both.
There's always a running shortlist I'm sure this is true of
you and your mind and anybodywho's listening in a running
short list of places that I'd bereally, really excited to go,
whether it's a new place that Ihaven't been to or it's a place
(30:33):
that I want to return to.
So some of those places likePeru was on my list for so long
and I would love to return aswell.
So it's still on the list.
Greenland all of these placessort of float around in my brain
and sometimes I start aconcerted effort to create an
opportunity there.
Like a friend who's a travelwriter for a lot of major
(30:55):
publications, she and I arechatting with some folks in
Greenland about potentiallyputting a trip together and
doing some storytelling in thatpartnership.
That is something that we wouldbe initiating the conversations
on and we'll see where it goes.
But sometimes an opportunitycomes to me where maybe I do
receive an email from someonewho works in PR like you saying
(31:18):
hey, you know, dream YachtWorldwide has these charter
yachts all over the world and Isay, wow, that sounds pretty
dreamy.
And then you and I end upchatting and I learned that
there's an organized trip that'sgoing to Tahiti with that
particular client.
So my next destinations are acombination of opportunities
(31:40):
that land in my inbox and thingsthat I seek out because I'm
really excited about thepossibility.
When it comes to hosted trips,it depends on what type of work
and storytelling I'll be doing.
I don't traditionally accept aton of press trips, because
press trips are, in the end,pretty difficult for writers or
(32:03):
creators to actually make anymoney.
And when you consider, yeah,the not only travel time and
time on site, but also the factthat there are many, many weeks
of creating pitches, sendingpitches and then the time
writing articles, and the factthat that money for writing has
gone down, unlike every othercost or fee in the world, which
(32:27):
continues going up, writerscontinue to get paid less.
So you might get writers who arelike working to organize this
trip with you and they're onlocation for 10 days and they've
been spending all this timepitching.
And then they write the articleand it has multiple rounds of
revisions and they get $250 forthe whole thing.
I don't know if that'ssomething that people listening
in know.
(32:48):
I don't think everyone does know, you're looking at many weeks
of work for what is probablylike one cent per hour, and for
most people that's notsustainable and unless you're a
staff writer at a publication,it's really hard to make a press
trip work, even if the presstrip is dreamy because it's a
place you really wanted to goand it's with a brand or a
(33:10):
property you're excited about.
So when I'm working withdestinations, oftentimes over
the last almost 10 years there'salso a component of content
creation that lives on my socialchannels.
I have an audience of about250,000 people on my social
platforms Um, at Rachel Rome'sis what I go by on social and so
(33:33):
sometimes brands or or hostedtrips with destinations and
properties, they'll reach outand say we want to have you
create multimedia assets thatwould be on your channels as
well as ours, and it's asponsored trip.
And here's our budget.
Yeah, that is easier to makework.
I know it's not something thatevery PR client has available.
(33:54):
Not everybody has additionalbudget on top of, say, hosted
trip, press trip, fees forlodging and stuff and airfare.
But that's something that is aneasier sell for me because then
I can guarantee that you know Ican get home and pay the bills.
So, I say great.
I'm excited to create X, Y or Zdeliverables, depending on what
(34:16):
the client wants and needs, andthen those are licensed to that
brand.
They have photography, theyhave video assets, and then we
might also pitch out an articleand hopefully get additional
coverage, but there's guaranteedcoverage that lives on my
channels.
There's a budget for contentcreation that is custom to that
brand, that is evergreen forthem to live in their library of
(34:38):
multimedia assets.
Angela Tuell (34:40):
Yeah, it's definitely a win-win on all
sides with that kind ofsituation.
Rachel Rudwall (34:45):
Yeah, if a brand has the budget, it can be a
really incredible way to reachnew eyeballs and build up your
content library.
Angela Tuell (34:51):
Yeah, definitely, and I know that.
I know a lot of brands arelooking for that constantly.
That's what it's all about now,right?
Content, videos, photography.
Rachel Rudwall (34:59):
Yeah, it is, and and it does it costs money to
create.
I mean, if you think about thepeople that you might be hiring
for these trips, they're.
They're not only blocking outtime on their calendars and
doing the work, but they arebringing all their camera
equipment, their licensing,photo and video editing software
.
They're pushing out to sometimeshundreds of thousands of people
(35:22):
that they've spent yearsbuilding and cultivating that
audience.
So it's a really layeredprocess where a lot goes into it
and there are costs and there'soverhead and that's how you
know you're typically gettingsomebody who is properly
equipped, who's been doing itfor a while and whether or not
the budget is aligned.
If you're reaching out tosomebody who, whose voice you
(35:45):
respect, that aligns with yourbrand, who does things
professionally in a way thatengages you just knowing that
that might be a part of theconversation.
Having fees associated withcontent creation, you know
that's something to expect.
That could be a part of thatconversation and it isn't
probably a surprise to peoplelistening nowadays that that's a
(36:07):
part of a lot of theseconversations.
But it's not because people arebeing greedy and going like I
want to have a great trip andcome home rich Like I want to be
able to pay the bills.
Make sure that I have the rightgear rental.
Sometimes I'll rent new cameralenses that I don't have in my
own kit.
Yeah, bring with me, like thisassignment that I had in
Mongolia, where I was going tobe photographing the golden
(36:29):
Eagle festival, and it's these Isaw that, loved it, loved it.
Yes, winning photography awardsfor these images, which is
really exciting as well, becauseto be able to to document a
culture and a subculture that'sthat's so elegant and
fascinating and far removed isreally fun.
But yeah, I, I, there's a costthat goes into renting the right
(36:52):
lenses if you don't have themin your kit and that sort of
thing.
So, yeah, that's sort of a longanswer to your question of what
I look for, but those are someof the things that that play a
part in the conversations.
Angela Tuell (37:05):
That's great insight, and you mentioned PR
professionals, which a lot ofour listeners are.
What is the best way for themto get ideas in front of you,
and do you have any pet peeveswhen it comes to PR
professionals?
Great question.
Rachel Rudwall (37:20):
So getting ideas in front of me.
I have a website which israchelromescom.
That's my social handle too atRachel Romes.
On all the platforms I'm onLinkedIn but as Rachel Rudwall,
and so so folks can reach outthere.
Things to keep in mind petpeeves when, when you say hi and
(37:41):
then it says insert name, don'tdo no.
Sometimes there are people whojust don't do the due diligence
of of checking that they haveadded the writer or creator's
name in and that's an immediatearchive or delete, like not
answering if you can't take thetime to copy and paste and then
(38:03):
see who you're emailing.
But also reach out if somethingis aligned, as opposed to just
reaching out about anything andeverything.
I get a lot of emails, a lot ofemails from PR professionals,
and sometimes they have nothingto do with what I do.
I have people reach out and saywe'd like a paid placement on
your page where you're doingeight Instagram stories a month
(38:24):
for collagen supplements.
And I'm like at what point?
Have you ever seen me doanything related to supplements
on my page, like I'll partnerwith nutrition brands and things
like that If it's like.
This is a bar, a snack bar thatI eat all the time, or whatever
.
Sure, and while you're travelingright, it's like a travel snack
a remote track and there's aparticular snack and it feels
(38:47):
like it's aligned.
Sure, but at no point have Ireferenced supplements or
collagen or whatever.
So that's just an example oflike, do your research and see
if this is in fact aligned.
And, um, I know I've mentionedoutdoor adventure and things
like that, but certainly, like aluxury bent trip can be a fit
for me too and for my audience.
When you look at my Instagramright now, you'll see that I'm
(39:10):
putting out content aboutPortugal and Portugal.
Lisbon, Portugal, it's a cityand there's food and drink and
you're dressing nicely ascompared to if you were trekking
in the Alps in Kosovo, right,Like different style of trip.
That is absolutely of interesttoo.
So there are a lot of thingsthat are aligned and and folks
(39:32):
can check that out.
But if you're specificallytrying to get a college and
supplement partnership, theremight be someone who's a better
fit for you.
Angela Tuell (39:41):
Find someone else, right?
So before we go I have to askwhat projects or trips are on
the horizon for you.
Rachel Rudwall (39:49):
I have numerous projects that I'm excited about
gearing up in the new year.
One is that I am both emceeingand show producing a big event
in Las Vegas called TGA show.
So the Travel Goods Associationhas put on a show for I think
(40:13):
it's 40 some years and itreturned last year for the first
time since, I think,pre-pandemic and is really
working to do somethingdifferent.
So historically it's beenretailers and um and brands.
Where they go meet, they strikeup conversations and deals
about distribution of luggage,for example, or eye masks.
But, as of last year, tga showinvolved content creators and
brought in some really big namespeakers and things and I had
(40:34):
the pleasure of being one of thespeakers they brought in,
alongside Samantha Brown andChris Picard and some really big
names in the travel industry,and I was really impressed at
what they're working to build tobridge this gap between
creators who have big audienceswho also are just.
They did a great job of bringingnice people who act with
(40:54):
integrity, like no diva energyright.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it was amazing.
I was so impressed.
So they're melding worldsbetween creators and the brands
and the distributors.
So that's something that peoplelistening in would probably
benefit from at least lookinginto because there might be a
way for them to get involvedwith TGA show that's in March in
(41:14):
Las Vegas, end of March, and soI'm emceeing this year and
helping to build out the stableof speakers and the schedule and
I'm really excited about that.
I'm also producing some contentand some event work for Google
and then I have some big tripson the horizon that are still
sort of formulating and and Idon't want to jinx them by
(41:37):
talking about them too soon butthey're in the works.
Angela Tuell (41:41):
Great.
Well, we will keep watching andlistening.
Rachel Rudwall (41:44):
Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to share.
Tune in, say hi.
You can find me at Rachel Roamsand you'll be seeing content
from everywhere from the Balkansto Portugal to Peru.
I've been putting out Perucontent from our trip to you
know that you arranged down toPeru, so if folks want to know
what it's like to canoe theAmazon rainforest, they can
check that out.
Angela Tuell (42:05):
We'll put links in our show notes as well.
Thank you so much, Rachel.
Thank you for having me.
That's all for this episode ofMedia in Minutes, a podcast by
Communications Redefined.
Please take a moment to rate,review and subscribe to our show
.
We'd love to hear what youthink.
You find more at communicationsredefinecom podcast.
I'm your host, angela tool.
(42:27):
Talk to you next time.
Welcome to Media in Minutes.
This is your host, angela Tuell.
This podcast features in-depthinterviews with those who report
on the world around us.
They share everything fromtheir favorite stories to what
happened behind the lens andgive us a glimpse into their
world from our studio here atCommunications Redefined, this
(00:38):
is Media in Minutes.
If you want to know what it'slike to climb Kilimanjaro,
paraglide with a hawk, ice climbwhile also acting as a director
of photography on anEmmy-nominated TV show, or scuba
dive cage-free with bull sharks, Rachel's the woman to ask.
She has had countless globaladventures, ranging from TV
(01:01):
hosting for Travel Channel'sEpic Lists and ABC's Fab Life to
digital hosting for Time andTastemade, to writing articles
and shooting photography formagazines like Afar and Forbes.
Hi, rachel, hello, hello.
I am so excited to talk withyou today.
Thanks for having me.
Yes, I have to say say you arethe real deal.
(01:25):
You know one of those prolifictravel producers and writers
that all the PR professionals inthe travel industry want to
work with, and I've been luckyenough to work with you on
visits to Peru and Tahiti, whichI'm sure we'll talk about.
But I wanted to first find outhow did you get into this career
, you know what led you here.
Rachel Rudwall (01:47):
That's a great question.
So for me it was kind of acircuitous path.
I'll start at the beginning andsay I'm from the Midwest.
And when I learned there was aworld.
I thought that soundsinteresting, I want to go there.
Like anything sort of beyondthe small town seemed really
fascinating.
So I went to college forinternational studies in foreign
(02:20):
languages, thinking that toexplore you had to either maybe
go sort of the NGO route, thenon-governmental organization,
or become a government employeeas a foreign service officer.
Story short, I learned thatthere was another pathway and
that was media production, andthat you could essentially kind
of become an everyday diplomatas a storyteller, connecting
people to the world and to eachother in ways that made them
more excited and maybe lessafraid of the things that they
didn't know.
And I was like I want to dothat.
And so I ended up moving to LosAngeles after college trying to
(02:47):
line up informational interviewswith people who worked in media
production, because I hadn'tstudied anything related and was
like how do I do this?
Like, what is the scoop?
What does an editor do?
What does a producer do?
What does a host do?
And I in the end had anopportunity to, as you do, work
my way up the ladder as a,eventually a producer of
(03:11):
docu-series for TV networks likeDiscovery Channel, nat Geo,
history Channel, and I alsosimultaneously began producing,
shooting, hosting and editing myown YouTube series.
I was the host of the travelseries with a co-producer and
co-host that landed us our firstTV show.
So by sort of doing the thehustle of building my own brand.
(03:35):
In addition to producing theseother docu-series, then I was
able to transition to on-camerawork, and the storytelling path
both in front of and behind thecamera evolved into being able
to write articles for some of myfavorite publications, like
Afar, shoot photography forbrands and publications and so
on, and eventually social mediacontent creation or influencer
(03:57):
work became a natural pathwaytoo.
So it's all under this umbrellaof storytelling you know, long
story long.
Angela Tuell (04:06):
Wait, so where were you from in the Midwest?
I'm from Ohio, ohio.
Okay, I'm in Indianapolis.
I don't know if I've mentionedthat to you.
Rachel Rudwall (04:16):
So not too far there, and so you went to school
in Ohio as well.
I did, I went to.
Angela Tuell (04:20):
Miami.
Rachel Rudwall (04:21):
University in the Southwest state.
Not to be confused with Miamiand Florida, People are like oh,
she escaped Ohio to the palmtrees and the water.
No, there's a different Miami.
That one's in Ohio.
Angela Tuell (04:33):
Yeah, so that took a lot to go out to LA.
Rachel Rudwall (04:37):
It did, and at the same time, I was very much
the type of person who feltcooped up.
Anyway, I was kind of ready forchange, and so moving to a
place that had sunshine andopportunity was exciting.
Even if I didn't really feellike LA as a, as a culture as I
understood it would be veryaligned.
(04:59):
I was like you know, this iswhere the work happens, and so I
made the move and ended upbeing the perfect place for me
to begin developing my skillsand really learn from the people
who are the best atstorytelling.
Angela Tuell (05:10):
Yeah, you know it often happens that way when we
take I don't know if you want tocall it a risk or just
something that doesn't feel ascomfortable that usually we have
where we have the biggestrewards.
Rachel Rudwall (05:21):
A hundred percent, and I'm of the mindset
that if something makes younervous, it's usually a sign
that it matters, right.
So fear, a little bit of fear,can be a really good reminder
that hey, this matters and Iwant to honor this opportunity.
And it feels big and it's okayfor things to feel scary in a
(05:41):
good way.
Yeah.
Angela Tuell (05:43):
Yeah, I love that.
So in doing research to preparefor our interview today, I
wasn't sure where to even start.
With the amount of experienceand the various roles you hold
and have held over the years,how do you describe to others
who aren't familiar about whatyou do?
Rachel Rudwall (06:00):
I tend to just say I'm a storyteller.
So there are so many differentways that we can be storytellers
and we all are in our day today lives when we're telling
stories to our friends, ourparents, our kids.
And you know, we all have thisinnate ability that, as humans,
we are born with.
And for me, I do thatprofessionally, I do that in
(06:23):
media production, I do that inwriting for media outlets,
shooting photography, publicspeaking, hosting, you name it.
It all falls under thatumbrella of storytelling.
Angela Tuell (06:34):
Yeah, definitely so much of your work.
As you've mentioned, there'sprint and digital outlets,
there's video, there's producingphotography.
Tell us a little bit more aboutwhat your day-to-day looks like
, although I know it's verydifferent day-to-day, I'm sure.
Rachel Rudwall (06:49):
It is.
It's different day-to-day.
So today, for example, I'mbased in Portland, oregon, so
I'm sitting in my home office inrainy Portland.
But a couple of weeks ago I wasroad tripping through the
Balkans and Greece, so I wastraveling.
For a few weeks I was producingmedia assets.
Now that I'm back, I'm workingremotely on a number of
(07:11):
producing projects for clients,both in the travel and the tech
space, and those will take meinto the new year.
There will be some travels,some onsite work, but it really
varies.
I mean, as you know, because wehave had the chance to work
together.
Some weeks I'm on a canoeexpedition in the Peruvian
Amazon, thanks to partneringwith you.
(07:33):
Some weeks, I'm on a yacht inTahiti, thanks to partnering
with you.
Angela Tuell (07:38):
I just wish I could have went with you on both
of those.
You know they were amazingadventures.
Rachel Rudwall (07:45):
But then, you know, sometimes I'm at home,
like like everybody else who hasworked from home, especially
over the last several years, andI'm answering emails and kind
of tying up loose ends or preproducing whatever that next
project is.
How often are you traveling?
I travel frequently, but here'swhat I'll say there were times
in my career where I'd be gonefor three and a half months at a
(08:07):
time, up in places like theAlaskan Arctic.
Now that is not the casebecause I have a three-year-old
and so I try to keep my tripsshorter, and so what that means
is I might travel fairlyfrequently, but usually trips
max out around 10 days, becausewhether I'm going to Tahiti or
(08:28):
Peru or Mongolia, I can usuallyget there, participate in
whatever the experience is thatI'm covering and get was a few
weeks long.
But with a little one at home Idon't travel for as long, both
(08:48):
because I really like beingaround, for how much changes and
how every day is different witha little one, and also because
it's a lot to ask of a partner,you know.
Yes, I was going to say you know, I don't want to ask him to do
those three month stretches thatI used to do.
Angela Tuell (09:06):
Right, yes, you are lucky you're still able to
do that, for even to do any ofany of the trouble, yeah.
Rachel Rudwall (09:13):
Anybody who's whose partner or spouse supports
them in chasing the dream anddoing what fills their cup,
especially if it involves beingaway from home, it's pretty
heroic.
Angela Tuell (09:24):
Yes, oh, that's wonderful.
I'm pretty sure it would beimpossible, or is impossible, to
answer the question of yourfavorite destinations type thing
.
But how about which ones havesurprised you or made the
biggest impact, or even whichones would you visit again?
Rachel Rudwall (09:40):
There are so many that I would visit again,
and I think that that's a signnot only of how I have enjoyed a
place, but also of gettingolder.
The older I get, the more I'maware that I'm not going to see
it all, and that's okay.
And so I struggle with that,every single place it's okay to
return.
That come to mind that havereally surprised me.
(10:06):
One is Peru, where I havewanted to travel to Peru for as
long as I can remember and itjust hadn't worked out yet.
And so, when there was theopportunity to partner with you
do this expedition in these 660pound wooden canoe, paddling
through the Amazon rainforest,it gave me a mix of deep
excitement, right, also anxiety.
(10:28):
Yes, I'm not somebody who, likeadventure is is my bag.
I'm so stoked.
If you're like, do you want togo hike in the Himalayas for a
multi-day track, I'm like, yeah,how many?
pairs of socks.
Do I need to not be cold atnight?
Great, I'm in.
But for this one it was such anunfamiliar environment, from
(10:49):
the climate to the wildlife, tothe paddling itself.
I'm an active person, but I'venever done a big sort of paddle
trip, anything like that, and soit gave me the mix of anxiety
and thrill that really helped meto home in on.
(11:09):
Okay, I want to honor thisopportunity.
I want to make sure I'm amplyprepared, that I've done my
research, that I know about thewildlife and things like I mean
we were talking about where thenearest anti-venom is, in case
you get bitten by a viper.
That kind of thing is not apart of my daily life in
Portland, oregon, nor was itgrowing up in Ohio, so, no
(11:29):
matter how much I've traveled,that was something that was
different than my typicalexperiences, and so when I got
there there, what reallysurprised me was how familiar it
(11:53):
felt, and I can't reallyexplain it as clearly as I'd
like, except to say it felt likeas an environment.
It made sense to me as ananimal, where I was like yes,
this is the lungs of our planet,this place, this juicy life
filled place with these warmpeople and these warm, sunny
days.
It made sense in my bones and Ifelt so, not only excited at
(12:16):
that point, but peaceful.
I was connected to exactly whereI'm supposed to be flowing with
the river, with these wonderfulpeople who who were at the helm
, um, on that particular tripand, frankly, I'd love to go
back yes, that's how I felt, andI didn't do the canoe one, but
I did a river cruise there.
Angela Tuell (12:38):
It's a little bit different.
I feel like that's how I feltin that area as well.
It's beautiful and the Peruvianpeople really are some of the
kindest, best people I've met.
Rachel Rudwall (12:48):
Yeah, and then I tacked on.
I booked myself a trip to MachuPicchu.
I just had one day that I wasable to add on in Cusco for
myself.
At the end, I booked this tripto Machu Picchu and was, like
you know, I've wanted to do thismulti-day hike, the Inca Trail,
to get there for again as longas I can remember.
(13:09):
And I didn't have the time andI was like you know, is it kind
of silly to go all the way toMachu Picchu from Cusco for just
one day.
It was, like you know, manyhours of transit to and from and
when I got there, for mepersonally it exceeded
expectations.
And that is really somethingwhen you've heard so many
wonderful things over so manyyears about a place.
(13:30):
When you finally get there,sometimes you go like, oh, it's
crowded or it's different than Ithought.
Angela Tuell (13:34):
Yes, absolutely.
Rachel Rudwall (13:35):
I got there and was like this is the stuff
dreams are made of.
Angela Tuell (13:38):
There's no way to describe it when you're up above
the mountains in Machu.
Rachel Rudwall (13:43):
Picchu and sort of the context of like I've seen
the pictures of the people inthe colorful tunics and maybe
the alpacas walking through andthe terraced city.
But to stand there not only tosort of feel the fresh air and
see the view, but to turn 360degrees and see all of the
(14:03):
mountains around you, it feelslike you're in the clouds.
Angela Tuell (14:06):
Yes, yes, it's incredible.
Oh, you make me want to go backright now.
Okay, I'm ready.
Rachel Rudwall (14:12):
Let's do it.
Angela Tuell (14:13):
So what are some of the other?
Rachel Rudwall (14:15):
we mentioned a few in our intro, but some of
the other, um, you know, mostexciting experiences you've had
while traveling I have lovedother places that are typically
far flung, the most oftenbecause, for me, I everyone
(14:37):
listening in feels like they'rea nature person or an outdoor
person.
At the end of the day, what Ithink is really meaningful for
us as human beings, as animalswho just happen to have complex
thought and conversation, andthings like that, we need
moments that make us feel smallbut connected.
Yeah, and you can have that indifferent ways.
(14:57):
It could be through attending awedding and experiencing love
and hope and community, or itcan be taking a hike and and
looking out across mountains andbeing like man, I'm tiny and
I'm lucky to be here, and soAntarctica, for me, that's a
place that inspires thosefeelings of awe and humility and
connectedness.
(15:18):
It is, yes, vast, which Iexpected before I went.
It is impressive.
I expected that it's cold, Iexpected that, but actually it's
teeming with life and I didn'texpect that.
I thought I'd be going to thisplace that was just sort of cold
and stark and never ending andmaybe some shades of white and
(15:40):
gray, and that I would love it.
I thought I'd love it, but whenI got there, I was amazed at
the life everywhere, and so,whether it was penguin colonies
or whales or seabirds.
It was just teeming with lifeand that astounded me.
Um, I tend to have those sort ofrevelatory moments of, oh, I'm
(16:04):
so fortunate to live on thisplanet when I'm in expanses of
space like that the Himalaya,doing some trekking in Bhutan,
which is a beautiful as a uh ananniversary destination in the U
(16:26):
S specifically.
Um, a lot of people might notknow much about it or, if they
do, it's based on a tumultuousum history in the Balkans.
Um, but road tripping throughthe Balkans with my husband for
the first portion of this tripthat I took several weeks ago
was incredible because therewere so many moments of natural
(16:49):
beauty, from the coastline ofCroatia to the Dinarik Alps in
Kosovo, and and we did what Ithought was going to be a nine
mile hike, um, up to 8,000, somefeet, to one of the tallest
peaks in Kosovo, and from thispeak you can see Albania and
Montenegro, like you can seemultiple countries, but it ended
(17:10):
up being a 14 mile hike.
I'm so sorry.
Loving husband, are you havinga fun anniversary too?
You know, it was amazing how,how far you could see how
impressive this system ofmountains was.
The fall colors were some ofthe best I've seen anywhere in
the world.
Um, I also love Japan, man,japan.
(17:33):
I've been multiple times, donesomething different every time,
and, um, and, and theexperiences that I've had there
show me a number of things.
One, they they connect to mysense of natural beauty.
But two, there's thislong-standing tradition of
respect and kind of caring forothers, and and there's
orderliness.
(17:53):
That means that anytime you areconfused or lost or don't know
where the bus stop is orwhatever, people tend to step
out from behind the counterwhere they're working to help
you.
And so existing in a place thatthat honors other people in
that way continues to remind mehow connected we are and that we
(18:17):
can always do better.
Right To see each other lookout for each other.
Angela Tuell (18:20):
I wish the whole world was like that all the time
.
Rachel Rudwall (18:23):
Right, right right, I mean, and in the US we
were founded on the notion ofindividual freedoms and that
sort of theoretical.
That foundation of our nationis very much at the forefront of
modern conversation too,obviously.
And I benefit from having hadthe luxury of choice.
(18:43):
I chose to move to LA, I choseto work in the field that I'm in
, I chose to get married, Ichose to work to start a family,
all these things.
So I benefit from thatindividual choice and I also
have had the experience ofseeing other cultures and the
way that they do it, in the waythat they do orient themselves
toward community in a way thatthat really respects the, the,
(19:07):
the broader group, and I admireit so much.
Angela Tuell (19:09):
Yeah, that's one of the really important things
about traveling.
Yep, you sound like me with themountains part too, on our.
We went to St Lucia for ourhoneymoon many, many years ago
and I made my husband do theadventure adventure lovers
package for our, for our resort,which was climbing the mountain
on our honeymoon.
Rachel Rudwall (19:32):
Yeah, and I've seen the photos.
I mean, I haven't been to StLucia, but I've seen the photos.
I can imagine that it'd be hotand it'd be humid, but the views
would be amazing.
Angela Tuell (19:43):
It was.
It was.
You know something else.
As we all know, traveling isnot always perfect.
I mean, it just sounds soamazing, as you're describing it
, in the places you go, butoftentimes things can go wrong
or or or maybe not wrong.
But you know things that youhave to be flexible with what
have?
When have you had to do this orwhen have you had an experience
like that?
Rachel Rudwall (20:02):
I feel like I have an experience like that
every single trip, every time.
Okay, yeah, every trip I mean.
Because if you hold reallytightly to expectations and
something's bound to bedifferent whether it's uh, you
think it's worse or it's better,it's like if you have an
expectation then there's a highlikelihood that something will
go differently, at least to adegree.
Most recently, when we wereflying to the Balkans, we were
(20:26):
flying to Dubrovnik.
When I tell you that ouranniversary trip did not start
off as planned, I really meanthat and feel that in my bones,
because we were slated to flyout mid-afternoon from Portland
Airport straight to Amsterdam.
We had a fairly shortconnection in Amsterdam and then
we were going on to Dubrovnik.
(20:47):
Okay, we my mom had flown inthe night before and was very
generously going to watch ourson for the first portion of
this trip, where both my husbandand I were gone together
because it was our 10 yearanniversary.
She was self-sacrificing tospend time, you know, with her
grandkid, and let us have thattime.
So this was our plan Fly outmid-afternoon to Amsterdam,
(21:08):
connect there, get to Dubrovnik.
It was like a maybe 16 hourflight itinerary.
Okay, we wake up at four or 5 AMthat morning because we're
trying to sort of adjust thetime zone change and we see we
have an email from the airlinesaying that our afternoon flight
has been delayed by an hour anda half, which means we're going
(21:30):
to miss our connecting flight.
Right.
So we call the airline, spendan hour on the phone, they
rebook us, they say, okay, wecan get you to Seattle, but you
have to leave like four and ahalf hours earlier, which was a
couple hours away by now, and sowe'd have to mobilize.
They say we can fly you toSeattle, to Amsterdam, to
Dubrovnik.
Okay.
So we mobilize, we say goodbyeto our son early, we get on that
(21:54):
flight to Seattle, we take itand as soon as we land in
Seattle we see that our Seattleto Amsterdam flight has been
delayed by two and a half hours,which means we'll miss our
flight to Dubrovnik.
At that point we're just likewhat do we do?
And we got back on the phonewith the airline after trying to
talk to reps in the airport whocouldn't do much, and being
(22:16):
familiar with passenger rightsis really helpful.
So anybody listening in thereare certain rights that you have
to, things like compensation ormeal vouchers or hotels if you
are delayed a certain amount oftime and it is the fault of the
airline.
So it's not acts of God likeweather events and things, but
if it's mechanical, for example,you have certain recourse.
(22:40):
So we knew that if we were goingto be landing super, super late
compared to the originalitinerary that Delta this is the
airline that I have status with, that we were flying with we
were like they could put us onanother airline.
Um so, long story long again,angela, they put us on a flight
(23:02):
on Turkish air.
We had a six hour layover in inSeattle, then we had to fly to
Istanbul and then back toDubrovnik.
It took I don't know 30 hoursinstead of 16, but we got there
and it was like the wholeprocess was sort of and it was
(23:27):
like the whole process was sortof jaw on the floor,
dumbfounding, going well.
I guess we have to problem solveagain.
One of the most importantthings that I would say to
everyone listening is the peoplethat you are interacting with,
whether they be at the airlineor the hotel that you're staying
at or that you're sitting nextto on the flight.
Everybody's doing their best.
Yeah, everybody just wantsthings to work out OK.
(23:47):
So problem solving should alsoinclude kindness, humility,
self-awareness.
You should never be in a pointwhere frustration means you're
raising your voice, you'retaking it out on the people that
you're talking to, because thepeople on the other end of the
telephone line, they weren't thereason that these flights had
(24:08):
changed.
There were mechanical issues.
They all did what they could tohelp and, at the end of the day
, frankly, I probably need toemail the airline and ask for
some bonus points, some bonusair miles on the account.
That's something they can do aswell on the airline.
Angela Tuell (24:20):
Definitely, definitely.
Is that one of the rules thatthey have to book you on another
airline?
Is it after a certain number ofhours?
Rachel Rudwall (24:28):
They don't have to always, but there are
situations in which um like ifyou're going to be more than I
forget how many hours delayedand um into your end destination
as the result of, say, amechanical change or mechanical
failure, then you can and shouldask is there another airline
that you could put me on to getme there around the time that I
(24:51):
was scheduled to arrive?
We still arrived eight and ahalf or nine hours later than
planned, but if we stayed onDelta.
It would have been a day laterand we were already in Seattle,
and so we didn't want to bestranded in Seattle or have to
fly home and start the next day.
And so so there were costimplications as well as time
implications, and they theyweren't even partnered with
(25:13):
Turkish Air, but they were stillable to buy those seats for us
using the funds that we had, youknow, used to originally
purchase Delta flight.
Angela Tuell (25:23):
Okay, Cause we've never had luck asking.
We booked on another airline,so that's great to know you did
and and hopefully can push forthat in the future?
Rachel Rudwall (25:30):
Yeah it's.
I've only done it a couple oftimes and each of those times it
was a um sort of major travelsnafu that was the result of a
change in airplane size or likea mechanical issue where they
had to go back to the gate,things like that, and in those
instances it takes some pushingbecause it's not the preferred
(25:53):
way for the airline to do things.
But if you say, you know,here's what we're realistically
looking at.
This many hours later, thismany days late, what?
What can we do?
Yeah, then people will do theirbest and they'll tell you
what's possible and what's not,and so it's worth asking.
Angela Tuell (26:11):
Yes, and it's always helpful when you are kind
and nice to that person that'strying to help you.
Rachel Rudwall (26:16):
Yeah, we heard somebody run up to a gate at
Seattle, start yelling.
I'm recording these peopledidn't let me get on my plane
and I can see it right there.
And I'm here and I can see theplane and all of the airline
reps is at Seattle.
They're like yes, sir, the, thethe door closed.
Like the, the door has to close10 minutes before departure.
(26:38):
Right, yelled and yelled andhe's like I'm streaming this
live on the internet so thateveryone can see.
You didn't let me on the flight.
That's right there.
And I thought a how weirdlyself-absorbed that you think you
matter enough to hold up theplane, but b how confusing that
you think the way you'retreating people is more likely
(26:58):
to make them let you on.
What a weird sense ofdisconnect.
Like what?
Where?
Where do you think that this isfine in your brain?
Angela Tuell (27:08):
yeah, yeah, I would.
Rachel Rudwall (27:09):
Yes, I do see that a lot yeah it's like you're
, you're the exception to therule.
If you can't get here on time,then you don't get on the flight
right.
Like Like you're, you're notyou, everybody else got on on
time, yeah, so if you're goingto figure it out right, Then get
(27:31):
on the next flight.
I think that's the way it works, right.
Angela Tuell (27:34):
Exactly yes, yes.
Something else I wanted to talkabout was I know it's a great
honor that you were named anExplorers Club fellow.
For those who are not familiar,could you tell us what that
means?
Rachel Rudwall (27:48):
Yeah, the Explorers Club is a group of
maybe 3,500 people around theworld who are recognized for
their contributions tofurthering knowledge and
exploration.
What that means in practice issome of the famous Explorers
Club members of history includethe first people to the North
(28:11):
Pole, the first people to theSouth Pole, the first people to
summit Everest, the first peopleto get to the deepest point on
Earth, which is theiana trenchin the ocean, and the first
people to make it to the surfaceof the moon.
Like all the apollo astronautsamazing club jane goodall's in
the club.
Uh, there are a lot of reallyprolific explorers, educators,
(28:34):
um mountaineers, um scientistswho have been members of the
club and I always thought it wasthis sort of cool, weird super
secret society of traditionallymen.
And and then one day somebodyfound my work online, a member
of the club, and he said andthis is a paleontologist who's
(28:56):
discovered all these dinosaurbones, right, he's like I found
your work.
Have you heard of the club?
I think you'd be a shoe in.
And I was like, do you what?
you know sort of fully impostersyndrome like are you, yes, are
you misinformed?
Um, and and in the end, uh, heand a buddy of mine who is a
director for National Geographic, whom I, I know through our
(29:18):
work professionally, but also,funnily enough, because he and
my husband were kayak guidestogether in Alaska years ago.
Yeah, so there's there'soverlap in that Venn diagram of
of our worlds.
But, um, we, uh, yeah, we puttogether my application and I
dragged my feet on it Cause Iwas like there's no way it's
going to be approved, as youknow, a storyteller alone, I, I
(29:41):
haven't, yeah, I don't have anyfamous bursts, so I'm not the
first person to climb anything.
So in the end, um, I wasapproved and have been a fellow
in the club since 2019 andactually the the call that I
just got off of, right before wechatted, was with the explorers
club.
Angela Tuell (29:59):
Club.
That's amazing.
Oh, wow, yeah.
So talking a little bit moreabout travel how do you choose
your next destination and whatdo you look for in a hosted trip
?
Rachel Rudwall (30:11):
I choose my next destination based on a couple
of things, and it sort ofdepends on if it's professional
or personal, but there's a lotof overlap in what I look for in
both.
There's always a running shortlist I'm sure this is true of
you and your mind and anybodywho's listening in a running
short list of places that I'd bereally, really excited to go,
whether it's a new place that Ihaven't been to or it's a place
(30:33):
that I want to return to.
So some of those places likePeru was on my list for so long
and I would love to return aswell.
So it's still on the list.
Greenland all of these placessort of float around in my brain
and sometimes I start aconcerted effort to create an
opportunity there.
Like a friend who's a travelwriter for a lot of major
(30:55):
publications, she and I arechatting with some folks in
Greenland about potentiallyputting a trip together and
doing some storytelling in thatpartnership.
That is something that we wouldbe initiating the conversations
on and we'll see where it goes.
But sometimes an opportunitycomes to me where maybe I do
receive an email from someonewho works in PR like you saying
(31:18):
hey, you know, dream YachtWorldwide has these charter
yachts all over the world and Isay, wow, that sounds pretty
dreamy.
And then you and I end upchatting and I learned that
there's an organized trip that'sgoing to Tahiti with that
particular client.
So my next destinations are acombination of opportunities
(31:40):
that land in my inbox and thingsthat I seek out because I'm
really excited about thepossibility.
When it comes to hosted trips,it depends on what type of work
and storytelling I'll be doing.
I don't traditionally accept aton of press trips, because
press trips are, in the end,pretty difficult for writers or
(32:03):
creators to actually make anymoney.
And when you consider, yeah,the not only travel time and
time on site, but also the factthat there are many, many weeks
of creating pitches, sendingpitches and then the time
writing articles, and the factthat that money for writing has
gone down, unlike every othercost or fee in the world, which
(32:27):
continues going up, writerscontinue to get paid less.
So you might get writers who arelike working to organize this
trip with you and they're onlocation for 10 days and they've
been spending all this timepitching.
And then they write the articleand it has multiple rounds of
revisions and they get $250 forthe whole thing.
I don't know if that'ssomething that people listening
in know.
(32:48):
I don't think everyone does know, you're looking at many weeks
of work for what is probablylike one cent per hour, and for
most people that's notsustainable and unless you're a
staff writer at a publication,it's really hard to make a press
trip work, even if the presstrip is dreamy because it's a
place you really wanted to goand it's with a brand or a
(33:10):
property you're excited about.
So when I'm working withdestinations, oftentimes over
the last almost 10 years there'salso a component of content
creation that lives on my socialchannels.
I have an audience of about250,000 people on my social
platforms Um, at Rachel Rome'sis what I go by on social and so
(33:33):
sometimes brands or or hostedtrips with destinations and
properties, they'll reach outand say we want to have you
create multimedia assets thatwould be on your channels as
well as ours, and it's asponsored trip.
And here's our budget.
Yeah, that is easier to makework.
I know it's not something thatevery PR client has available.
(33:54):
Not everybody has additionalbudget on top of, say, hosted
trip, press trip, fees forlodging and stuff and airfare.
But that's something that is aneasier sell for me because then
I can guarantee that you know Ican get home and pay the bills.
So, I say great.
I'm excited to create X, Y or Zdeliverables, depending on what
(34:16):
the client wants and needs, andthen those are licensed to that
brand.
They have photography, theyhave video assets, and then we
might also pitch out an articleand hopefully get additional
coverage, but there's guaranteedcoverage that lives on my
channels.
There's a budget for contentcreation that is custom to that
brand, that is evergreen forthem to live in their library of
(34:38):
multimedia assets.
Angela Tuell (34:40):
Yeah, it's definitely a win-win on all
sides with that kind ofsituation.
Rachel Rudwall (34:45):
Yeah, if a brand has the budget, it can be a
really incredible way to reachnew eyeballs and build up your
content library.
Angela Tuell (34:51):
Yeah, definitely, and I know that.
I know a lot of brands arelooking for that constantly.
That's what it's all about now,right?
Content, videos, photography.
Rachel Rudwall (34:59):
Yeah, it is, and and it does it costs money to
create.
I mean, if you think about thepeople that you might be hiring
for these trips, they're.
They're not only blocking outtime on their calendars and
doing the work, but they arebringing all their camera
equipment, their licensing,photo and video editing software
.
They're pushing out to sometimeshundreds of thousands of people
(35:22):
that they've spent yearsbuilding and cultivating that
audience.
So it's a really layeredprocess where a lot goes into it
and there are costs and there'soverhead and that's how you
know you're typically gettingsomebody who is properly
equipped, who's been doing itfor a while and whether or not
the budget is aligned.
If you're reaching out tosomebody who, whose voice you
(35:45):
respect, that aligns with yourbrand, who does things
professionally in a way thatengages you just knowing that
that might be a part of theconversation.
Having fees associated withcontent creation, you know
that's something to expect.
That could be a part of thatconversation and it isn't
probably a surprise to peoplelistening nowadays that that's a
(36:07):
part of a lot of theseconversations.
But it's not because people arebeing greedy and going like I
want to have a great trip andcome home rich Like I want to be
able to pay the bills.
Make sure that I have the rightgear rental.
Sometimes I'll rent new cameralenses that I don't have in my
own kit.
Yeah, bring with me, like thisassignment that I had in
Mongolia, where I was going tobe photographing the golden
(36:29):
Eagle festival, and it's these Isaw that, loved it, loved it.
Yes, winning photography awardsfor these images, which is
really exciting as well, becauseto be able to to document a
culture and a subculture that'sthat's so elegant and
fascinating and far removed isreally fun.
But yeah, I, I, there's a costthat goes into renting the right
(36:52):
lenses if you don't have themin your kit and that sort of
thing.
So, yeah, that's sort of a longanswer to your question of what
I look for, but those are someof the things that that play a
part in the conversations.
Angela Tuell (37:05):
That's great insight, and you mentioned PR
professionals, which a lot ofour listeners are.
What is the best way for themto get ideas in front of you,
and do you have any pet peeveswhen it comes to PR
professionals?
Great question.
Rachel Rudwall (37:20):
So getting ideas in front of me.
I have a website which israchelromescom.
That's my social handle too atRachel Romes.
On all the platforms I'm onLinkedIn but as Rachel Rudwall,
and so so folks can reach outthere.
Things to keep in mind petpeeves when, when you say hi and
(37:41):
then it says insert name, don'tdo no.
Sometimes there are people whojust don't do the due diligence
of of checking that they haveadded the writer or creator's
name in and that's an immediatearchive or delete, like not
answering if you can't take thetime to copy and paste and then
(38:03):
see who you're emailing.
But also reach out if somethingis aligned, as opposed to just
reaching out about anything andeverything.
I get a lot of emails, a lot ofemails from PR professionals,
and sometimes they have nothingto do with what I do.
I have people reach out and saywe'd like a paid placement on
your page where you're doingeight Instagram stories a month
(38:24):
for collagen supplements.
And I'm like at what point?
Have you ever seen me doanything related to supplements
on my page, like I'll partnerwith nutrition brands and things
like that If it's like.
This is a bar, a snack bar thatI eat all the time, or whatever
.
Sure, and while you're travelingright, it's like a travel snack
a remote track and there's aparticular snack and it feels
(38:47):
like it's aligned.
Sure, but at no point have Ireferenced supplements or
collagen or whatever.
So that's just an example oflike, do your research and see
if this is in fact aligned.
And, um, I know I've mentionedoutdoor adventure and things
like that, but certainly, like aluxury bent trip can be a fit
for me too and for my audience.
When you look at my Instagramright now, you'll see that I'm
(39:10):
putting out content aboutPortugal and Portugal.
Lisbon, Portugal, it's a cityand there's food and drink and
you're dressing nicely ascompared to if you were trekking
in the Alps in Kosovo, right,Like different style of trip.
That is absolutely of interesttoo.
So there are a lot of thingsthat are aligned and and folks
(39:32):
can check that out.
But if you're specificallytrying to get a college and
supplement partnership, theremight be someone who's a better
fit for you.
Angela Tuell (39:41):
Find someone else, right?
So before we go I have to askwhat projects or trips are on
the horizon for you.
Rachel Rudwall (39:49):
I have numerous projects that I'm excited about
gearing up in the new year.
One is that I am both emceeingand show producing a big event
in Las Vegas called TGA show.
So the Travel Goods Associationhas put on a show for I think
(40:13):
it's 40 some years and itreturned last year for the first
time since, I think,pre-pandemic and is really
working to do somethingdifferent.
So historically it's beenretailers and um and brands.
Where they go meet, they strikeup conversations and deals
about distribution of luggage,for example, or eye masks.
But, as of last year, tga showinvolved content creators and
brought in some really big namespeakers and things and I had
(40:34):
the pleasure of being one of thespeakers they brought in,
alongside Samantha Brown andChris Picard and some really big
names in the travel industry,and I was really impressed at
what they're working to build tobridge this gap between
creators who have big audienceswho also are just.
They did a great job of bringingnice people who act with
(40:54):
integrity, like no diva energyright.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it was amazing.
I was so impressed.
So they're melding worldsbetween creators and the brands
and the distributors.
So that's something that peoplelistening in would probably
benefit from at least lookinginto because there might be a
way for them to get involvedwith TGA show that's in March in
(41:14):
Las Vegas, end of March, and soI'm emceeing this year and
helping to build out the stableof speakers and the schedule and
I'm really excited about that.
I'm also producing some contentand some event work for Google
and then I have some big tripson the horizon that are still
sort of formulating and and Idon't want to jinx them by
(41:37):
talking about them too soon butthey're in the works.
Angela Tuell (41:41):
Great.
Well, we will keep watching andlistening.
Rachel Rudwall (41:44):
Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to share.
Tune in, say hi.
You can find me at Rachel Roamsand you'll be seeing content
from everywhere from the Balkansto Portugal to Peru.
I've been putting out Perucontent from our trip to you
know that you arranged down toPeru, so if folks want to know
what it's like to canoe theAmazon rainforest, they can
check that out.
Angela Tuell (42:05):
We'll put links in our show notes as well.
Thank you so much, Rachel.
Thank you for having me.
That's all for this episode ofMedia in Minutes, a podcast by
Communications Redefined.
Please take a moment to rate,review and subscribe to our show
.
We'd love to hear what youthink.
You find more at communicationsredefinecom podcast.
I'm your host, angela tool.
(42:27):
Talk to you next time.
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