All posts filed under: Culture

Dancing with the Bride

Tripadvisor Byline: Wedding Planning During Covid

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Are you planning a wedding during this Covid pandemic? I have some advice for you via Tripadvisor! Wedding planning during Covid: it’s been rough! This past weekend I saw one of my first maskless weddings come through on my Instagram stories. The wedding was in New York where we have high vaccination rates and I couldn’t help but to smile. Slowly, we can start looking forward to these things. But it was pretty risky of the bride. Who knew President Biden was going to exceed his vaccination targets within the first 100 days in office. Brides like my dear friend, Kelly King, postponed their weddings more than once another friend Camilla Lesser, after going through several plans, eloped and had a beautiful wedding in St. Lucia. I spoke to these brides and wedding planner Courtney Ajinca, who planned Cynthia Bailey and Mike Hill’s wedding for Tripadvisor.com. It’s one of the most awful things you can tell a couple in the months or weeks before their big day: “We have to cancel the wedding.” More often …

Audacity Fest Badge Nneya Richards

BIPOC Travelers + Allies See Me at Audacity Fest Sat May 1st!

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I am so appreciative of the support you perfectionists have given me over the years. I love being able to impart my experience and industry knowledge to you and here’s a fun accessible opportunity coming up for you to hear me and my colleagues speak. BIPOC Travelers + Allies See Me at Audacity Fest Sat May 1st!I’ll be speaking on a panel on Bridging the Gap from Industry to Influencer. There are a few verticals to what is known as the BIPOC travel movement. Forward facing, we have the influencers who work their magic in the social media space. Internally, we have the corporate partners that are our representations at the Board of Tourism tables. On the research side, we have the data aggregators to help create the full picture, through numbers, of our impact on the industry. On the ground, we have the vendors and suppliers who help bring our experience to life. This panel is a moment for us all to come together and see how we can advocate for one another.  I’m so excited to chat …

Cropped Stella Tripadvisor Image

New Byline for TripAdvisor: A Profile on Stella Jean!

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I have a new byline for TripAdvisor: a profile on of Stella Jean, my favorite Italian designer! In honor of Black History month, I’ve contributed to Heather Greenwood Davis and Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon‘s package celebrating Black Joy internationally. The women wonderfully state You won’t find tragic stories in this package. Instead, we’ve opted to focus on Black Joy, on the parts of travel that draw us all year long, and on the ways we are working to change the industry so that it welcomes us as much as we yearn for it. Travel is in our blood, whether by force or by choice. And in a year when the world has shut down much of our access to it, we hope the decision to celebrate our past, present and future – told through this collection of contemporary stories by young Black writers – resonates with you, too. Heather Greenwood Davis and Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon Take a look through this package, and check out my quick run down on Stella Jean! For me, it was exciting to share …

Nneya drinking red drink with a straw Jamaican Sorrel

Perfect Recipe: Jamaican Sorrel

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At my Uncle’s funeral in May, in addition to talking about his kindness and generosity, many people had a lot to say about his cooking. That’s the magic of food, breaking bread. It brings people together. It’s why most of my fondest memories of my travels are centers around meals. It’s also why I’m so close to my Jamaican heritage. I often wonder would I feel as Jamaican, being born here in NYC if my family didn’t eat Jamaican food? If I didn’t crave escovich fish, fish tea or curry goat? I’ve always been proud to share my Jamaican culinary heritage with others. I even shared my mom’s stuffed red snapper on here before. So as the days are getting hotter in NYC, I thought I’d share a drink that’s been cooling me down, Jamaican sorrel. Now, this isn’t my Uncle Wayne’s exact recipe — we certainly freestyle a lot in our family, but this will definitely get you started.  You definitely see this hibiscus drink a lot in the West Indies over the holidays, …