If travel experiences and looking for deals on cool places to stay is in your future, you’ll want to check out this interview with Nick Winikoff, the co-founder of Vuepeer.
They compare over 2,500,000 listings from a multitude online marketplaces, and by combining results from multiple marketplaces, they can save you time and money on travel.
Vuepeer’s mission is to make searching and finding travel rentals easy and fun. By travel rentals, we are referring to peer-to-peer (P2P) lodging, car, boat, experience, bike, etc. rentals. Anything specific, rare or different.
“A while back we noticed that there were hundreds of special, really quite good, websites with P2P rentals on-line. We gathered that people had an interest in using these websites, but had no interest to find, or personally discover each one. This is the seed that grew into Vuepeer. We are on a mission to create a tool you can use to discover great rentals from all over the Internet and the world.”
Aside from their search, (which is awesome) they want to create and curate content that you the consumer and traveler find entertaining and helpful. They talk about P2P travel rentals and try to make it relevant to you. To achieve this goal they include interviews, stories, advice, comparisons, top lists and opinion pieces on their blog. They’re actively searching for new writers, travelers and hosts to contribute in anyway to add to the community. So help yourself out, help others out, give them some honest feedback so they can provide you and the community with valuable content every day.
Michelle Khouri is a natural-born storyteller with a keen eye and inquisitive spirit. A lengthy career in communications gifted her with a mind for strategy and project management. Michelle is a PR veteran and magazine editor whose multidisciplinary communications experience includes planning complex, large-scale events, art directing photo shoots, hosting travel videos, leading media outreach campaigns, and creating thousands of pieces of content. A longtime writer, Michelle is passionate about uncovering hidden stories about the arts, culture and society.
She believes in the power of skilled storytelling. Think of her as a Renaissance woman of modern communication.
Michelle serves as the Atlanta editor and Nashville editor for Where. She has been to 22 countries throughout the Western Hemisphere, and says her next goal is to explore the Eastern Hemisphere. "My parents and grandparents are from a total of five different countries, and I credit my mom for making travel the highest priority in our household." Follow her on Twitter as @michellekhouri and on Instagram as @michellekhouri. She also tweets for @whereatlanta and updates Where's Atlanta Facebook page with awesome content.
Michelle's Take on Atlanta: Atlanta is full of juxtaposition—it is at once rich with Civil War history and bubbling with an innovative population of artists and entrepreneurs. Atlanta both embraces its Southern heritage and strives to pave new roads in almost every industry. I’m dazzled by this city every day.
Michelle's Take on Nashville: Nashville is often pigeonholed as a music city—and in many ways it is. But when you dig deeper into Nashville, you find one of the largest and most collaborative communities of artists in the nation. What I love most about these people is that they aren’t just talented leatherworkers, clothing designers, jewelers or sculptors—they’re brilliant entrepreneurs.
Most memorable travel experience: My mom, sister and I backpacked through Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, and we stopped in Salzburg for a day. I have yet to see a city as small as Salzburg packed so full of history and beauty. After walking through the cobblestone streets and visiting Mozart’s birth home, we sat on the grassy banks of the Salzach river and fell asleep. We napped there for about an hour, bathed in sunshine and enveloped in the city’s floral aroma. It was heavenly!
Last notable trip: London. I created the day’s itinerary each morning, choosing my stops based on the weather and my mood. I also got a tattoo and spent tons of quality time with good friends while I was there. It was heaven!
Place you always return to visit: Colombia. My family is Colombian and I grew up entrenched in the culture. Colombia is a breathtaking, geographically diverse country with some of the kindest and happiest people I’ve ever known.
Hali, after graduating from The University of MA- Lowell with a degree in Sociology, I became one of the founding members of UnCharted Studios –an amazing art gallery, in Lowell MA. I decided to travel to Italy to study classical painting for a month. Little did I know I would fall in love with Italy (and my husband) and extend my stay- by nearly five years!
My grandfather’s soft spoken words “where there’s a will, there’s a way” define much of what I have achieved in life thus far whether it be co-founding an art studio, traveling to Italy to paint in the hallowed halls of Master painters, or finding a way to stay in Italy! I found work in the travel industry, and went on to work in many well-known and highly rated travel agencies in both Italy and the US including Romaround, KissfromItaly, L&B Italian Tours, Rome Urban Adventures, and Easy Vatican. If you search TripAdvisor or Google using key words “Hali, Italian, Travel” you will see many 5 star reviews of my performance.
She created the Hali's Boutique Italian Travel and craft unique itineraries for my guests traveling to Italy. She work with some of the best wineries, restaurants, guides, and hotels in Italy. She have been in the industry for the past 6 years, spending thousands of hours visiting and researching the very best things Italy has to offer.
Andy is the owner of CrossFit LA (CFLA), one of the most successful CrossFit training centers in the world. Established in 2004, CFLA was the ninth licensed CrossFit affiliate in the world (out of 10,000+), and the first to be featured in national media. A former professional adventure racer, extreme athlete, and master white-water kayaker and mountaineer, Andy has completed three Eco-Challenges, one Raid Gauloises, and the La Ruta de los Conquistadores (a three-day mountain bike race known as the world’s hardest). A classically-trained trumpet player (Eastman School of Music) and a Marine Gulf War veteran, Andy was the oldest participant, at 43, to qualify for the 2009 CrossFit Games.
Andy has been a CrossFit trainer for over 11 years and hold CrossFit sports-specific certifications in Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, powerlifting, the Pose Method of Running, endurance, and nutrition. Andy is a VIVOBAREFOOT running coach and a CHEK level 2 corrective high-performance exercise kinesiologist and nutrition and lifestyle coach. With an undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester and a master’s degree in spiritual psychology from the University of Santa Monica, Andy lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Julia, and their son, Dashel.
While the workouts might seem random, there is actually a system to Andy’s method of training general physical preparedness. Andy does not write his workouts for a specialized athlete, but rather for a student looking to get better at a lot of things. “I’ll sit down to write a three week cycle and I’ll try to make that be a complete balanced program in three weeks. I look at the whole picture and think, if this were a complete cycle someone was going through, do they hit as many of the ten fundamental skills and does it give balance in all the metabolic pathways? And then, is it fun, and are the lengths of the workouts variable? I look for balance in that three week cycle.”
Greg Schwem’s comedic take on the 21st century workplace and work/life balance has landed him on SIRIUS Radio, FOX News, Comedy Central and the pages of Parents Magazine. More than just a business humorist, Greg is also an author, nationally syndicated humor columnist, award-winning greeting card writer and creator of funnydadinc, voted one of the top Dad humor sites of 2016. He has shared the concert stage with the likes of Celine Dion and Jay Leno.
A graduate of Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism, Greg never envisioned a career in laughter. Instead, he settled in Florida, becoming an award-winning reporter for NBC-owned WPTV in West Palm Beach. But the comedy bug bit Greg hard and he returned to his hometown of Chicago, where he honed his standup act in nightclubs. When he began inserting material about business and technology into his act, audience members approached him and said, “You really should come down to my office and tell those jokes.” Behold! A new approach to comedy was born.
Greg’s show provides a hilarious look at today’s corporate environment and the latest tools used to conduct business. Indeed, Greg’s client list includes such corporate heavyweights as McDonald’s, Microsoft, General Motors, IBM, Hyatt Hotels, United Airlines and Cisco Systems. What sets Greg apart from other corporate entertainers is his ability—and willingness—to customize material for his audience while working within the parameters of the corporate environment. That means no profanity or politically incorrect material. “That’s never been a part of my show anyway,” Greg recently told a reporter.
When Greg hits the stage he already has perused the company’s Internet site, combed the internal message boards and even sifted through numerous PowerPoint presentations. “There is no such thing as too much information,” Greg says. “I know corporate audiences like to laugh at themselves so the more ammunition I get, the funnier it will be. Just don’t give me a 10-K report. There is NOTHING funny about that.”
Greg’s preparation always includes a conference call with company executives and, in some cases, an onsite visit.
Besides customized material, Greg entertains audiences with stories about tedious business meetings, SmartPhone addiction, “frequently” asked questions and his fascination with the American Girl Doll company. In addition to his hefty speaking schedule, Greg writes a weekly humor column nationally distributed by Tribune Media Services. He also is the author of Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad and The Road to Success Goes Through the Salad Bar: A Pile of BS (Business Stories) From a Corporate Comedian.
Karen MacNeil is the only American to have won every major wine award given in the English language.
These include the Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year (James Beard Foundation) and the Global Wine Communicator of the Year (International Wine and Spirits Association). In a full-page profile on her, TIME Magazine called Karen “America’s Missionary of the Vine.”
But deep global wine knowledge is only part of the story. Karen is considered America’s foremost wine presenter–a speaker who can enchant audiences from 5 to 500, and from wine novices to wine collectors alike. Her customized TED-like talks are accompanied by extraordinary wines which she personally selects for the event.
Karen is also the author of the award-winning book, THE WINE BIBLE, the single best- selling wine book in the United States, praised as “The most informative and entertaining book I’ve ever seen on the subject” (Danny Meyer), “Astounding” (Thomas Keller), and “A masterpiece of wine writing…the single best wine book written in years…” (Kevin Zraly).
The former wine correspondent for the Today Show, Karen was the host of the PBS series Wine, Food and Friends with Karen MacNeil, for which she won an Emmy. Karen is the creator and editor of WineSpeed, the leading digital “e-letter” in the U.S. for fast, authoritative information about wine. Her articles on wine and food have been published in more than 50 newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, Town & Country, Elle, and Worth. She was the first Food and Wine Editor of USA Today. Karen currently hosts #SipWithKaren, the leading Twitter tasting in the global wine sphere, which each month reaches 20+ million timelines from Indiana to India.
Karen’s firm, Karen MacNeil & Company, creates customized corporate events and wine tours around the world for companies and individual groups. Among Karen’s corporate clients are Lexus, Merrill Lynch, Disney, General Electric, UBS, and Singapore Airlines, as well as numerous law and biotech firms.
Karen is the creator and Chairman Emeritus of the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America in the Napa Valley, which has been called “the Harvard of wine education.”
Megan Peterson (Executive Director) has been involved in features, television, and documentary film-making for more than 15 years, and is passionate about all things film and story. She has produced, directed and written more than 150 hours of on-air programming for a wide range of cable networks, along with multiple distributed independent features, industrials and music videos. Recently, Ms. Peterson made her feature film directorial debut with the critically acclaimed feature Heathens & Thieves, starring Don Swayze and Gwendoline Yeo, and is currently in development on her second feature. In her spare time, she has served as a juror for such prestigious festivals as the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Milledgeville Film Festival, Sundance Writing Labs, and the International Documentary Awards, and was a founding member of the United Nations Association Film Festival.
Having recently relocated to Scott Valley, Ms. Peterson continues to write and produce cable programming in addition to her work with the Scott Valley Film Coalition. She received her MFA from the University of Southern California under the mentorship of Robert Zemeckis, and is a graduate of Stanford University, magna cum laude.
Lisa Johnson Mandell is an award-winning multi-media journalist, author and relationship expert. She has been featured in The Wall St. Journal and The New York Times, as well as on Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, Bravo, Forbes, the CBS Early Show, NBC’s Today Show, ABC News Now, Fox News, CNN, Yahoo, AOL, The Huffington Post, Oprah.com and many other media outlets.
She has also been a popular speaker at seminars, meetings and conferences, and has appeared on radio and television shows all over the world. She is fluent in Spanish, and audiences in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the South Pacific have embraced her.
Lisa's education and experience have enabled her to extensively cover relationships, careers and entertainment. Whether you're looking for the ideal partner, job or movie, Lisa can help. Her first two books are still selling briskly: “How to Snare a Millionaire” (St. Martin’s Press) and “Become Your Own Matchmaker” (Atria) which she co-authored with Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker, Patti Stanger. Her latest is the much-requested sequel, "How to Snare a Millionaire NOW." Her previous book, "Career Comeback-Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want," (Hachette) is still helping women all over the US get those well-deserved jobs and promotions.
Lisa graduated cum laude with a degree in journalism, and currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband James and their Golden Doodle, “KC.” When she’s not helping people with their personal relationships and careers or raising funds for causes she’s passionate about, she’s probably interviewing celebrities or sitting in dark theaters, preparing film reviews for radio stations across America.
Christina Julian writes snarky rom-coms that celebrate the underdog and live to make people laugh. She adores dysfunctional leading ladies and the tangled twisty lives they lead. She adamantly believes there is nothing in life that can’t be conquered with a bodacious wine, strong cup of coffee, or a generously iced cupcake. When she is not tapping out her next novel or wrangling her 3-year-old twins, she can be found swilling and swirling in the name of research as a wine and food columnist in Napa Valley. She strives always to live her life to the extreme.
Her debut novel, THE DATING BENDER, is a hysterical dramedy about a woman unhinged and at a crossroad. The book explores dysfunctional family relationships, women who love the wrong men, and one epic hunt for happiness.
Prior to fleeing to the Wine Country Christina worked in technology and publishing before, during and after the dot.com bubble burst, which was glamorous during the heyday but not so much once those days ended. That’s when wine came in handy. But there were a few more pit stops before the real dream took root. There were the days in Manhattan as a food and nightlife critic, followed by film development and slinging ads in Los Angeles, the latter, which came just a little too close to actualizing the “Mad Men” fantasy, minus one smoking hot Jon Hamm.
LA gridlock and the allure of a wineward way of life drove her up the coast to Napa Valley. After working and writing about a grape soaked season during harvest, her professional wine swilling career took root. As a columnist for NorthBay Biz magazine, the wine country her beat, Christina combs the valley in search of the never-ending scoop and the perfect glass of wine to go with it.
Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Wine Enthusiast, California Home + Design, 7×7, Napa Valley Register, Napa Valley Life, Bohemian, Weekly Calistogan and beyond.
Danny Zoucha, a.k.a. The Well-Ordered Husband, is just a guy who loves a girl and thinks the rest of the world should have a life as good as he does.
From growing up, literally, in the middle of a cornfield in a trailer home to living beachside in one of the most desirable places on Earth with the love of his life, and a child who adores him, Danny has developed a unique ability to carve out the life of many people's dreams. He originally thought his calling was in business. As a result, he attempted several and saw success, but ultimately found himself uninspired. He looked inside and discovered that what he's actually mastered as a result of his passion for it is being a husband to his wife, and a father to his son. Knowing what his true purpose in life is has allowed him to touch people all over the world, and inspire them to personal greatness in what he feels is the single most important part of life: family.
Matt Deller MW is the Chief Wine Officer for Wine Access, who are leading the online revolution in direct-to-consumer fine wine e-commerce. Backed by top-tier investor, Norwest Venture Partners, Wine Access with the help of Matt and his team is now bringing the wine worlds best kept secret to everyone in America.
Previously he was at Constellation Brands for five years, most recently as Director of Fine Wine Development for Constellation Brands, developing the sales strategy for Robert Mondavi Winery, The Prisoner Wine Company, Mount Veeder Winery and Ruffino Estates.
He judges international wine competitions such as Decanter World Wine Awards, TEXSOM International Wine Competition and the Sydney International Top 100 Wine Awards. He is an Instructor on the faculty of the Napa Valley Wine Academy, an expert panelist at several international wine events and writes for various wine publications.