by Eleni Skarveli, Director, GNTO UK & Ireland Office.
It is often when the mind is relaxed or placed in a different environment that truly inspirational ideas emerge. In my case, it took 4,000 miles travelling and sitting among 30 inspiring women at the Travel Weekly Inspiring Women Retreat to give me the distance to rethink my role, my life story, or my personal “brand,” as marketers might say.
For people outside the travel industry, it is challenging to explain that by participating to the second TW Inspiring Women Retreat, after its launch in Athens last year, was not holiday but an intense work and networking experience. The unique energy you gain by interacting with accomplished women, watching their determination to reach their goals, even when the day’s objective is simply to create a clay artefact, is hard to replicate in any boardroom.
In those moments of togetherness, you are invited to answer personal questions about your life or to compress years of experiences and skills into a few sentences. At the same time, carefree conversations about something as mundane as how many bags you can carry to feel comfortable on a red-eye flight become an unexpected source of person-to-person engagement.
These agenda-free networking occasions are not just about building closer connections with an influential group of people or creating bonds that may later be useful professionally. They offer something far more valuable: deep, thorough thinking time, a luxury in a world of back-to-back meetings and endless to-do lists pushing us to run like hamsters in vicious circles. Our minds need these moments to be inspired and to inspire, to focus on ourselves, to reconnect with our purpose, and to lower our guard so that creativity can flourish.
From this unforgettable experience, I keep two key leaderships lessons. The first came from meeting the first woman Prime Minister of Barbados, known to everyone simply as Mia, and seeing at close range how she combines a popular profile as a visionary advocate for sustainability in governance. The second came from Karen Barrett OBE, whose powerful tips went far beyond marketing. She advised us to know our own brand, remember where we come from, understand the trust equation, and recognise that good leaders build winning teams. Finding cheerleaders and sponsors who lift you higher is an important part of our career, but above all, she urged us to look after ourselves by embracing the Love of Missing Out (LOMO).
When we live in the fearful mindset of FOMO, saying “no” is never easy. Declining invitations or stepping away from obligations can feel like letting people down. Yet protecting our energy, not exhausting ourselves, and staying focused on our goals is essential. Karen’s tip no 6 resonated deeply with me, perhaps because I realised what I had been doing wrong in my own life. Thinking that family and work should be in harmony, but in reality both are rather interconnected parts of one cohesivewhole.
Her motivating and honest speech gave us food for thought over many dinner gatherings and a topic of discussion whether our women group was “mono-diverse”. At first glance, the diversity might not have seemed obvious, but there were women from different ethnicities, faiths, gender identities, and ages who did not fit into “one woman in charge” cliché and proved that judging only by the surface reveals just a fraction of the truth.
But how easy is to find your personal cheerleader. Luckily for me, Tolene van der Merwe, director of Visit Malta in the UK & Ireland defied any ethnic discrepancies and introduced my nomination for the AWTE Sustainability Award. In a competitive world often clouded by toxic and unfair judgments, this distinction reminded me how much I owe to the women mentors who taught me that hard work and staying true to your vision can conquer anything.
Mistakes, wrong decisions, and imperfections are part of what make us stronger, especially in a world where criticism waits around every corner. That mindset of constant judgment is incompatible with real progress and success. To stay focused, leaders cannot allow pettiness or unworthy comments to poison their energy.
Reflecting on why I received this award from the Association of Women Travel Executives (AWTE), the lesson feels simple but powerful: we thrive when we support each other. We reach our goals when we focus on the positive, surround ourselves with empowering voices, and leave unconstructive people behind. I have experienced women’s jealousy, but I have also been lifted, encouraged, and propelled forward by women. And, as I promised Jo Rzymowska MBE, I will start creating my “not-to-do list” alongside my endless to-do lists, a practical step towards LOMO.
