#MomCrush Monday: Meet Henley Vazquez, co-founder of Fora 

momcrush monday henley vazquez fora
Henley Vazquez

1.) You are the co-founder of Fora. What inspired you to start this unique business?

The pandemic changed a lot for the world. For me, watching my small agency’s business go down the tubes was crushing – I’d spent years building it up, and then in 12 months I’d lost it all. I focused on keeping employees on salary via government loans and refunding clients, but I knew I needed a change. When I reconnected with Evan Frank in 2021, a longtime friend and co-founder of onefinestay, we both had the same idea: travel is coming back, remote work isn’t disappearing, why can’t more people do the job I loved so much, and how can I build a more sustainable organization. That’s when we decided to build Fora alongside our other co-founder Jake Peters. 

2.) Fora is a brand new tech-forward travel agency invented to help those passionate about travel – particularly stay at home moms and moms who have been a part of the Great Resignation. Tell us more about this and why your focus has become SAHMs and moms. Why is this particular demographic important to you?

Plenty of women have participated in the Great Resignation, but for a long time, that resignation wasn’t voluntary – not now, and not for years. Motherhood brings a ton of fulfillment but also sidelines careers, voluntarily and involuntarily. I’d seen highly educated and motivated women searching for flexible and meaningful part-time work after their corporate jobs mommy-tracked them, and I’d never seen much success. At the same time, I’ve clocked women doing my job – researching and recommending high-end travel – but not getting paid because they weren’t doing the actual booking. If I could empower these women to turn their passion for travel into income, wouldn’t that solve a few problems? We’d create jobs (and joy!) while also providing a better sales force for the hotels I love, who would much rather have a booking come in from a trusted travel advisor than through an OTA like Expedia or Booking.com. Though I knew we’d need better tooling and technology than the travel world currently offers to activate the non-professionals, and that’s where we’re focused.

3.) You are a mother, a travel expert, seasoned travel advisor, Indagare vet, and a business owner. How do you find time for yourself?

I don’t have much of a social life! Luckily, I love my industry and many of my closest friends are also travel advisors, so when I’m at a work dinner or on a work trip, I’m also getting to spend time with the people I love. But mostly, when I’m not working, I’m at home on my sofa with my kids and my dog, and I’m dead asleep before 10 pm. My travel looks pretty glam to the outside world, but my day-to-day life is making school lunches, coordinating soccer and dance practice, rushing to the office, and trying to fit in exercise (boxing saves my sanity). So my “me time” is the very boring stuff – binge watching Yellowstone with a glass of wine while the dog snores – and I appreciate every second.

momcrush monday henley vazquez fora
Henley Vazquez with her family

4.) For our SAHMs and mom readers, what traveling tips can you share with them if they’re hesitant to travel whether it be due to Covid or traveling with their little ones?

I totally understand the hesitation. Traveling during a pandemic, and traveling with young children, feels a bit like skydiving and praying someone packed the parachute correctly. I also don’t believe that anyone should be shamed for feeling concerned about health or overwhelmed by the logistics of dragging kids around the world. That said, I have never, not once, regretted a trip I’ve taken, and despite all the headaches that come with jetlag, covid tests, passport renewals, etc., I know my kids and I both return from each and every adventure feeling a bit more connected to the world, and to each other. I cover a lot of ages (I have a 15 yo, 12 yo, and 4 yo), so our travel is by nature complicated because interests and abilities don’t always align, but we figure it out together, and it’s always worth it. I am also a huge proponent of traveling alone with one child (if you’re a mom of multiples, and have a partner who will wrangle the others while you’re gone) to get that special one-on-one time. In terms of covid, I can only offer the input that, despite being on many, many planes and in destinations as far flung as Rwanda during the pandemic, I’ve never gotten sick (knock on wood!). There’s no perfect system, but I feel pretty confident that I haven’t created more risk for myself than I would have by staying local and eating indoors, visiting friends, going to the gym. It’s all so unpredictable but I consider myself very lucky to be a part of getting tourism dollars back into communities that very much need them.

5.) What is your favorite song lyric? Why?

Beyonce said it best: “Strong enough to make these millions, strong enough to bear the children, then get back to business.” 🙂

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