CHANGERS:PROFILE-Dominique Callimanopulos ELEVATE DESTINATIONS

This is another interview with somebody who has taken on making a huge change in the world while also creating a path for us to do the same. I met Dominique Callimanopulos in a simple desk-side meeting at my office where she had come to tell me a bit about her company, Elevate Destinations. I had been impressed for a while by Elevate’s website (even their tag line gets me in the best way: “Make Travel Matter.”), and even wrote one of my earliest blog postings, which Dominique didn’t know, about the company. I was immediately taken with how easy and comfortable she was in our conversation, and how lit up she was about the work she does. I wish that kind of passion on all of us…

Mission Statement: Elevate Destinations, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a philanthropic travel company that combines singular journeys with social good.  Five percent of the net cost of every trip is donated to local non-profits and projects that support the environment and community development. Customized itineraries feature community initiatives and volunteer opportunities as well as eco-hotels and lodges.  Elevate destinations also specializes in donor travel: organizing first class trips for donors and board members of leading international organizations.

Elevate also has a terrific “conscious travel blog” that you should absolutely bookmark: Responsive Travel.

With Bedouin leader in Sahara Desert, 03/2009

Dominique Callimanopulos, Founder and CEO, grew up witnessing the disparity between tourists and local conditions they visit and created Elevate Destinations to provide unique travel which cares for local people, wildlife, and natural resources.
Dominique studied the impact of tourism in the Seychelle Islands for her Anthropology thesis at Wesleyan University and has continued to explore global social and human conditions through 25 years of work with social change organizations in the fields of human rights, international development, environmental protection, and psychology before founding Elevate Destinations in 2005.

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Tell me a little bit about the genesis of Elevate Destinations. What possessed you? There must have been easier things to start—why this?

Elevate Destinations was an outgrowth of Elevate, Inc. a consulting company I founded to work with clients making a positive social impact.  I was traveling a lot, consulting with international non-profit clients, and saw the opportunity to create a sustainable travel company that gave back to destination communities.  For me, this was a way to leverage funds for important global issues.

What obstacles along the way almost stopped you?

Nothing almost stopped me.  I have been excited about my company from the start!  While there has been a slowdown in travel on the consumer front this year, because of the economy, our donor travel programs have continued to flourish–testimony to the power of witnessing the impact of projects in the field.  We have used the recession to strengthen our programs and partnerships and develop new initiatives.

Maasai Wedding, Tanzania 12/2008

When pulling it all together, did family and friends support you or think you were nuts?

I founded Elevate Destinations pretty much on my own, without much support from family or friends.  I was driven by my own vision of what I could create, and grew the company organically, learning as I went.  The best support has come from my staff/team and travel associates.  They have been second to none in their commitment, integrity, and support.  Our clients have also been terrific to work with.  Family and friends have played a more supportive role as the company has grown.

Did your youth/upbringing/family life seem to put you on this path, or did you come to it later? What were you doing before this?

My upbringing put me on many paths!  Growing up in a fairly wealthy international family, which traveled a lot to off-the-beaten-track destinations, I had the opportunity to explore a lot of different worlds, and always had a keen interest in people & cultures different from my own.  This led me to major in anthropology at Wesleyan University, looking specifically at the impact of tourism on social/cultural change.  Coming out of college, I worked for an organization called Cultural Survival, which defends the rights of indigenous people.  Later, after fundraising for many different non-profits, I pursued a degree and research in psychology.  I was working as a psychotherapist when I founded Elevate but I really enjoy working at an international level as an entrepreneur.

Any advice for others wanting to create a way to be of service or provide a structure (for others) for charitable work?

I am inspired on a daily basis by the work our non-profit partners are doing around the world.  There are so many ways to make a difference right now, whether through non-profit work, corporate channels, or as a social entrepreneur.  The power of one (and of many) is in clear evidence in this century.  The biggest challenge we face is climate change, which is rapidly affecting citizens, destinations, habitats, and travelers.

While there won’t ever be a standard, what is an example of a particular day like for a participant on one of your trips?

Part of the reason I love my work is that I imagine I am going on every itinerary we put together!  Our trips are designed to be 100% inspiration.  Nature, ease, beauty and comfort, and the harmony that comes from giving back to the environments you are visiting make it very hard to return home!

I think of a typical day I had in Northern Kenya this summer, while visiting Tassia Lodge in Lakipia: www.tassiasafaris.com. The day began with an incredible sunrise across the vast 2.2-million-acre plains and mountains that constitute the Northern Rangelands of Kenya.  When morning tea arrived, served on my terrace (all dwellings at Tassia are built into a rocky escarpment), a mongoose scurried quickly towards my tea tray to steal a biscuit.  Before the heat of the day, my hosts, Martin Wheeler and Antonia Hall, took me on a walk to explore the caves and wildlife on the property.  On a walking safari, you have to be particularly alert to animals around you, as you have little protection but your own awareness (and Martin’s gun!)  As all animals leave their traces, with a good guide you can read what species have preceded you, whether they are still in the vicinity or not.  After a scramble into the ancient grottos of a rare Maasai tribe, and a near encounter with a buffalo, we headed back to the lodge for a sumptuous breakfast and to plan the rest of the day’s activities—visiting a local village, assisting local Maasai women with crafts they are producing for income, and maybe going for a horse or camel ride later in the day.

At a bonfire-lit dinner under a star-laden African night sky, we traded traveler stories and talked about solutions to the drought that is affecting the region.  These are typical elements in a day for any of our travelers.  The point of our company is to connect our clients with beauty, enchantment, and the humanity of our planet.  In a way, I see the kind of travel we design as “re-ensoulment”, one that serves people with a sense of humanitarian agency.  Such travel can restore a person’s inner balance of pleasure, excitement, and purpose, and sharpen their perception of the world as well.

Is there an ideal client for an Elevate trip?

Travelers who are interested and curious about the world they live in and want to get below the surface, with local inhabitants and communities while experiencing imaginative and innovative dwellings and environments.  “Experiential Travel” is one recently minted term that is being used to describe such travelers.  The ideal Elevate client also wants to make a contribution–small or large—to the destination they visit.

ED Traveler Lynda Salmon with children in Bwindi, Uganda (July 2009)

If not this, what? (What might you be doing if not Elevate?)

I would be an explorer/traveler/philanthropist/writer/journalist based in Africa.

What has been the best reward for the work you do?

Amazing relationships with clients and partners and the knowledge of many global initiatives to improve life on earth.  I also enjoy the travel!

What has been the greatest disappointment along the way?

None.  I’m excited.

What’s next?

Scaling up our business so that we are serving our clients and partners to maximum effect and making a greater philanthropic impact.  We are currently designing independent donor travel: theme based trips to educate independent philanthropists about specific issues.  Our first one will be focused on water issues.  Subsequent trips will look at climate change; women’s and youth empowerment; microcredit; coastal and rainforest ecologies, and more.