From Competition to Community: What Women Leading Travel Taught Me About Leadership

When I first heard about Women Leading Travel in 2020, the world—and our industry—looked very different.

Like many travel professionals, I was navigating uncertainty while trying to balance a demanding career with the realities of life at home. After years of moving at full speed, traveling constantly and building my career, everything suddenly stopped.

For the first time in a long time, I found myself asking a difficult question:

Who am I when I'm not constantly working?

At the same time, I was learning how to be more present as a mother to my young daughter. Like many women, I felt pulled in multiple directions. When I focused on work, I worried I wasn't giving enough at home. When I focused on home, I worried I wasn't giving enough at work.

What I didn't realize at the time was that countless other women were asking themselves those same questions.

Finding More Than a Network

When I joined one of my first Women Leading Travel meetings, I expected a professional networking group.

What I found was something far more meaningful: a community.

For the first time, I heard women openly discussing topics that many of us quietly carry throughout our careers:

• Leadership
• Confidence
• Career growth
• Burnout
• Imposter syndrome
• Motherhood
• Ambition
• The constant balancing act between professional and personal responsibilities

I left that meeting with something I hadn't expected: relief.

I wasn't alone.

Redefining Leadership

Earlier in my career, I viewed leadership through a traditional lens.

I believed success came from self-reliance. From proving I could do it all on my own.

Many of us were taught that.

I remember seeking advice from senior women throughout my career and occasionally hearing a version of the same message:

"Nobody made it easier for me."

For a long time, I accepted that as part of the journey.

But over the years, I learned a different lesson.

Leadership is not about standing alone.

Leadership is about bringing people with you.

Mentorship is not charity.

Collaboration is not weakness.

Helping another woman succeed does not diminish our own success—it expands it.

The Power of Making Space

Throughout my career, there have been countless moments when I reached out to senior leaders for advice, perspective, encouragement or guidance.

Every time, someone answered.

Someone made time.

Someone shared what they had learned.

Someone helped me navigate the next step.

Those experiences shaped not only my career, but also my understanding of what responsibility looks like once we reach leadership positions.

Because when someone helps you climb, you eventually realize your responsibility is to do the same for others.

Leadership Doesn't End at Work

One of the most meaningful lessons I've learned through Women Leading Travel is that leadership is not defined by a title.

It's defined by what we do with the opportunities we've been given.

That lesson inspired me to become involved with Programa Velasco, a U.S.–Salvadoran nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs and supporting mental health initiatives for women.

As a Salvadoran woman who has benefited from the guidance, mentorship, and support of others throughout my career, the mission felt deeply personal.

Through Programa Velasco, I've seen firsthand what happens when women are given access to education, resources, mentorship and a community that believes in their potential.

A small business grows.

A family gains financial stability.

A woman discovers confidence she didn't know she had.

A community becomes stronger.

The outcomes may look different from those we see in corporate leadership, but the principle is exactly the same:

When women support women, extraordinary things happen.

That realization has reinforced something I now believe wholeheartedly:

Success is not measured solely by what we achieve ourselves, but by how many others we help bring along with us.

Progress Across Generations

When I think about progress, I often think about two women.

My mother.

And my daughter.

My mother graduated as a chemical engineer in El Salvador in the 1980s, at a time when very few women entered that profession. She belonged to a generation that fought for opportunities many of us benefit from today.

Then I think about my daughter, Isabel.

At twelve years old, she changes her mind every year about what she wants to become.

A pilot.

A doctor.

A chef.

Something entirely different.

What gives me hope is that she has never felt the need to place the word "female" in front of any of those dreams.

To her, they are simply possibilities.

That is progress.

Not perfect progress. Perhaps not fast enough progress.

But progress nonetheless.

Making Room at the Table

Every woman who has earned a leadership position understands the sacrifices, setbacks, and doubts that often accompany the journey.

But once we earn our seat at the table, our responsibility changes.

Our job is no longer just to keep that seat.

Our job is to make room for someone else.

To mentor.

To advocate.

To sponsor.

To volunteer.

To extend a hand.

Because creating opportunities for another woman does not make our voice smaller.

It makes our impact greater.

As I shared during my remarks at the Women Leading in Travel Forum this year, one of the most powerful things we can do as leaders is choose community over competition.

The travel industry—and every industry—becomes stronger when we invest in one another's success.

The question for all of us is simple:

Who can we help bring to the table next?

Originally published on LinkedIn by Delia Osegueda and shared with permission.