Media in Minutes

From Midwest Roots to Global Adventures: Rachel Rudwall's Journey in Travel Storytelling

• Angela Tuell • Season 4 • Episode 23

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Rachel Rudwall, a prolific travel producer and writer, takes us on a journey from her Midwest roots to the bustling world of media production in Los Angeles. Her story begins with a deep fascination for international studies and foreign languages, which led her to explore media as a powerful tool for connecting people and demystifying the unknown. Rachel's adventurous spirit propelled her to Los Angeles, where she navigated the media landscape and climbed the ranks to produce docu-series for major networks like Discovery Channel and Nat Geo, eventually transitioning to an on-camera presence through her YouTube series and a TV travel show.

Throughout the episode, Rachel shares exhilarating tales from her travels to awe-inspiring destinations like Machu Picchu, Antarctica and Bhutan. Her stories are not just about the breathtaking landscapes but also about the profound connections she felt with these environments and the lessons they taught her about the interconnectedness of our world. Balancing her dynamic career with family life, Rachel reflects on her journey from Ohio to Los Angeles, emphasizing the invaluable support of her partner in managing both her professional and personal aspirations.

Learn more about Rachel at http://www.rachelroams.com/. 

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Angela Tuell:

Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host, angela Tuell. This podcast features in-depth interviews with those who report on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world from our studio here at Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes.

Angela Tuell:

If you want to know what it's like to climb Kilimanjaro, paraglide with a hawk, ice climb while also acting as a director of photography on an Emmy-nominated TV show, or scuba dive cage-free with bull sharks, Rachel's the woman to ask. She has had countless global adventures, ranging from TV hosting for Travel Channel's Epic Lists and ABC's Fab Life to digital hosting for Time and Tastemade, to writing articles and shooting photography for magazines like Afar and Forbes. Hi, rachel, hello, hello. I am so excited to talk with you today. Thanks for having me. Yes, I have to say say you are the real deal. You know one of those prolific travel producers and writers that all the PR professionals in the travel industry want to work with, and I've been lucky enough to work with you on visits to Peru and Tahiti, which I'm sure we'll talk about. But I wanted to first find out how did you get into this career, you know what led you here.

Rachel Rudwall:

That's a great question. So for me it was kind of a circuitous path. I'll start at the beginning and say I'm from the Midwest.

Rachel Rudwall:

And when I learned there was a world. I thought that sounds interesting, I want to go there. Like anything sort of beyond the small town seemed really fascinating. So I went to college for international studies in foreign languages, thinking that to explore you had to either maybe go sort of the NGO route, the non-governmental organization, or become a government employee as a foreign service officer. Story short, I learned that there was another pathway and that was media production, and that you could essentially kind of become an everyday diplomat as a storyteller, connecting people to the world and to each other in ways that made them more excited and maybe less afraid of the things that they didn't know. And I was like I want to do that.

Rachel Rudwall:

And so I ended up moving to Los Angeles after college trying to line up informational interviews with people who worked in media production, because I hadn't studied anything related and was like how do I do this? Like, what is the scoop? What does an editor do? What does a producer do? What does a host do?

Rachel Rudwall:

And I in the end had an opportunity to, as you do, work my way up the ladder as a, eventually a producer of docu-series for TV networks like Discovery Channel, nat Geo, history Channel, and I also simultaneously began producing, shooting, hosting and editing my own YouTube series. I was the host of the travel series with a co-producer and co-host that landed us our first TV show. So by sort of doing the the hustle of building my own brand. In addition to producing these other docu-series, then I was able to transition to on-camera work, and the storytelling path both in front of and behind the camera evolved into being able to write articles for some of my favorite publications, like Afar, shoot photography for brands and publications and so on, and eventually social media content creation or influencer work became a natural pathway too. So it's all under this umbrella of storytelling you know, long story long.

Angela Tuell:

Wait, so where were you from in the Midwest? I'm from Ohio, ohio. Okay, I'm in Indianapolis. I don't know if I've mentioned that to you.

Rachel Rudwall:

So not too far there, and so you went to school in Ohio as well. I did, I went to.

Angela Tuell:

Miami.

Rachel Rudwall:

University in the Southwest state. Not to be confused with Miami and Florida, People are like oh, she escaped Ohio to the palm trees and the water. No, there's a different Miami. That one's in Ohio.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, so that took a lot to go out to LA.

Rachel Rudwall:

It did, and at the same time, I was very much the type of person who felt cooped up. Anyway, I was kind of ready for change, and so moving to a place that had sunshine and opportunity was exciting. Even if I didn't really feel like LA as a, as a culture as I understood it would be very aligned. I was like you know, this is where the work happens, and so I made the move and ended up being the perfect place for me to begin developing my skills and really learn from the people who are the best at storytelling.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, you know it often happens that way when we take I don't know if you want to call it a risk or just something that doesn't feel as comfortable that usually we have where we have the biggest rewards.

Rachel Rudwall:

A hundred percent, and I'm of the mindset that if something makes you nervous, it's usually a sign that it matters, right. So fear, a little bit of fear, can be a really good reminder that hey, this matters and I want to honor this opportunity. And it feels big and it's okay for things to feel scary in a good way. Yeah.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, I love that. So in doing research to prepare for our interview today, I wasn't sure where to even start. With the amount of experience and the various roles you hold and have held over the years, how do you describe to others who aren't familiar about what you do?

Rachel Rudwall:

I tend to just say I'm a storyteller. So there are so many different ways that we can be storytellers and we all are in our day to day lives when we're telling stories to our friends, our parents, our kids. And you know, we all have this innate ability that, as humans, we are born with. And for me, I do that professionally, I do that in media production, I do that in writing for media outlets, shooting photography, public speaking, hosting, you name it. It all falls under that umbrella of storytelling.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, definitely so much of your work. As you've mentioned, there's print and digital outlets, there's video, there's producing photography. Tell us a little bit more about what your day-to-day looks like, although I know it's very different day-to-day, I'm sure.

Rachel Rudwall:

It is. It's different day-to-day. So today, for example, I'm based in Portland, oregon, so I'm sitting in my home office in rainy Portland. But a couple of weeks ago I was road tripping through the Balkans and Greece, so I was traveling. For a few weeks I was producing media assets. Now that I'm back, I'm working remotely on a number of producing projects for clients, both in the travel and the tech space, and those will take me into the new year. There will be some travels, some onsite work, but it really varies. I mean, as you know, because we have had the chance to work together. Some weeks I'm on a canoe expedition in the Peruvian Amazon, thanks to partnering with you. Some weeks, I'm on a yacht in Tahiti, thanks to partnering with you.

Angela Tuell:

I just wish I could have went with you on both of those. You know they were amazing adventures.

Rachel Rudwall:

But then, you know, sometimes I'm at home, like like everybody else who has worked from home, especially over the last several years, and I'm answering emails and kind of tying up loose ends or pre producing whatever that next project is. How often are you traveling? I travel frequently, but here's what I'll say there were times in my career where I'd be gone for three and a half months at a time, up in places like the Alaskan Arctic. Now that is not the case because I have a three-year-old and so I try to keep my trips shorter, and so what that means is I might travel fairly frequently, but usually trips max out around 10 days, because whether I'm going to Tahiti or Peru or Mongolia, I can usually get there, participate in whatever the experience is that I'm covering and get was a few weeks long. But with a little one at home I don't travel for as long, both because I really like being around, for how much changes and how every day is different with a little one, and also because it's a lot to ask of a partner, you know.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yes, I was going to say you know, I don't want to ask him to do those three month stretches that I used to do.

Angela Tuell:

Right, yes, you are lucky you're still able to do that, for even to do any of any of the trouble, yeah.

Rachel Rudwall:

Anybody who's whose partner or spouse supports them in chasing the dream and doing what fills their cup, especially if it involves being away from home, it's pretty heroic.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, oh, that's wonderful. I'm pretty sure it would be impossible, or is impossible, to answer the question of your favorite destinations type thing. But how about which ones have surprised you or made the biggest impact, or even which ones would you visit again?

Rachel Rudwall:

There are so many that I would visit again, and I think that that's a sign not only of how I have enjoyed a place, but also of getting older. The older I get, the more I'm aware that I'm not going to see it all, and that's okay.

Rachel Rudwall:

And so I struggle with that, every single place it's okay to return. That come to mind that have really surprised me. One is Peru, where I have wanted to travel to Peru for as long as I can remember and it just hadn't worked out yet. And so, when there was the opportunity to partner with you do this expedition in these 660 pound wooden canoe, paddling through the Amazon rainforest, it gave me a mix of deep excitement, right, also anxiety. Yes, I'm not somebody who, like adventure is is my bag. I'm so stoked. If you're like, do you want to go hike in the Himalayas for a multi-day track, I'm like, yeah, how many?

Rachel Rudwall:

pairs of socks. Do I need to not be cold at night? Great, I'm in. But for this one it was such an unfamiliar environment, from the climate to the wildlife, to the paddling itself. I'm an active person, but I've never done a big sort of paddle trip, anything like that, and so it gave me the mix of anxiety and thrill that really helped me to home in on.

Rachel Rudwall:

Okay, I want to honor this opportunity. I want to make sure I'm amply prepared, that I've done my research, that I know about the wildlife and things like I mean we were talking about where the nearest anti-venom is, in case you get bitten by a viper. That kind of thing is not a part of my daily life in Portland, oregon, nor was it growing up in Ohio, so, no matter how much I've traveled, that was something that was different than my typical experiences, and so when I got there there, what really surprised me was how familiar it felt, and I can't really explain it as clearly as I'd like, except to say it felt like as an environment. It made sense to me as an animal, where I was like yes, this is the lungs of our planet, this place, this juicy life filled place with these warm people and these warm, sunny days. It made sense in my bones and I felt so, not only excited at that point, but peaceful.

Rachel Rudwall:

I was connected to exactly where I'm supposed to be flowing with the river, with these wonderful people who who were at the helm, um, on that particular trip and, frankly, I'd love to go back yes, that's how I felt, and I didn't do the canoe one, but I did a river cruise there.

Angela Tuell:

It's a little bit different. I feel like that's how I felt in that area as well. It's beautiful and the Peruvian people really are some of the kindest, best people I've met.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah, and then I tacked on. I booked myself a trip to Machu Picchu. I just had one day that I was able to add on in Cusco for myself. At the end, I booked this trip to Machu Picchu and was, like you know, I've wanted to do this multi-day hike, the Inca Trail, to get there for again as long as I can remember. And I didn't have the time and I was like you know, is it kind of silly to go all the way to Machu Picchu from Cusco for just one day. It was, like you know, many hours of transit to and from and when I got there, for me personally it exceeded expectations. And that is really something when you've heard so many wonderful things over so many years about a place. When you finally get there, sometimes you go like, oh, it's crowded or it's different than I thought.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, absolutely.

Rachel Rudwall:

I got there and was like this is the stuff dreams are made of.

Angela Tuell:

There's no way to describe it when you're up above the mountains in Machu.

Rachel Rudwall:

Picchu and sort of the context of like I've seen the pictures of the people in the colorful tunics and maybe the alpacas walking through and the terraced city. But to stand there not only to sort of feel the fresh air and see the view, but to turn 360 degrees and see all of the mountains around you, it feels like you're in the clouds.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, yes, it's incredible. Oh, you make me want to go back right now. Okay, I'm ready.

Rachel Rudwall:

Let's do it.

Angela Tuell:

So what are some of the other?

Rachel Rudwall:

we mentioned a few in our intro, but some of the other, um, you know, most exciting experiences you've had while traveling I have loved other places that are typically far flung, the most often because, for me, I everyone listening in feels like they're a nature person or an outdoor person. At the end of the day, what I think is really meaningful for us as human beings, as animals who just happen to have complex thought and conversation, and things like that, we need moments that make us feel small but connected. Yeah, and you can have that in different ways. It could be through attending a wedding and experiencing love and hope and community, or it can be taking a hike and and looking out across mountains and being like man, I'm tiny and I'm lucky to be here, and so Antarctica, for me, that's a place that inspires those feelings of awe and humility and connectedness. It is, yes, vast, which I expected before I went. It is impressive. I expected that it's cold, I expected that, but actually it's teeming with life and I didn't expect that. I thought I'd be going to this place that was just sort of cold and stark and never ending and maybe some shades of white and gray, and that I would love it. I thought I'd love it, but when I got there, I was amazed at the life everywhere, and so, whether it was penguin colonies or whales or seabirds. It was just teeming with life and that astounded me.

Rachel Rudwall:

Um, I tend to have those sort of revelatory moments of, oh, I'm so fortunate to live on this planet when I'm in expanses of space like that the Himalaya, doing some trekking in Bhutan, which is a beautiful as a uh an anniversary destination in the U S specifically. Um, a lot of people might not know much about it or, if they do, it's based on a tumultuous um history in the Balkans. Um, but road tripping through the Balkans with my husband for the first portion of this trip that I took several weeks ago was incredible because there were so many moments of natural beauty, from the coastline of Croatia to the Dinarik Alps in Kosovo, and and we did what I thought was going to be a nine mile hike, um, up to 8,000, some feet, to one of the tallest peaks in Kosovo, and from this peak you can see Albania and Montenegro, like you can see multiple countries, but it ended up being a 14 mile hike. I'm so sorry. Loving husband, are you having a fun anniversary too? You know, it was amazing how, how far you could see how impressive this system of mountains was. The fall colors were some of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. Um, I also love Japan, man, japan.

Rachel Rudwall:

I've been multiple times, done something different every time, and, um, and, and the experiences that I've had there show me a number of things. One, they they connect to my sense of natural beauty. But two, there's this long-standing tradition of respect and kind of caring for others, and and there's orderliness. That means that anytime you are confused or lost or don't know where the bus stop is or whatever, people tend to step out from behind the counter where they're working to help you. And so existing in a place that that honors other people in that way continues to remind me how connected we are and that we can always do better. Right To see each other look out for each other.

Angela Tuell:

I wish the whole world was like that all the time.

Rachel Rudwall:

Right, right right, I mean, and in the US we were founded on the notion of individual freedoms and that sort of theoretical. That foundation of our nation is very much at the forefront of modern conversation too, obviously. And I benefit from having had the luxury of choice. I chose to move to LA, I chose to work in the field that I'm in, I chose to get married, I chose to work to start a family, all these things. So I benefit from that individual choice and I also have had the experience of seeing other cultures and the way that they do it, in the way that they do orient themselves toward community in a way that that really respects the, the, the broader group, and I admire it so much.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, that's one of the really important things about traveling. Yep, you sound like me with the mountains part too, on our. We went to St Lucia for our honeymoon many, many years ago and I made my husband do the adventure adventure lovers package for our, for our resort, which was climbing the mountain on our honeymoon.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah, and I've seen the photos. I mean, I haven't been to St Lucia, but I've seen the photos. I can imagine that it'd be hot and it'd be humid, but the views would be amazing.

Angela Tuell:

It was. It was. You know something else. As we all know, traveling is not always perfect. I mean, it just sounds so amazing, as you're describing it, in the places you go, but oftentimes things can go wrong or or or maybe not wrong. But you know things that you have to be flexible with what have? When have you had to do this or when have you had an experience like that?

Rachel Rudwall:

I feel like I have an experience like that every single trip, every time. Okay, yeah, every trip I mean. Because if you hold really tightly to expectations and something's bound to be different whether it's uh, you think it's worse or it's better, it's like if you have an expectation then there's a high likelihood that something will go differently, at least to a degree. Most recently, when we were flying to the Balkans, we were flying to Dubrovnik. When I tell you that our anniversary trip did not start off as planned, I really mean that and feel that in my bones, because we were slated to fly out mid-afternoon from Portland Airport straight to Amsterdam. We had a fairly short connection in Amsterdam and then we were going on to Dubrovnik. Okay, we my mom had flown in the night before and was very generously going to watch our son for the first portion of this trip, where both my husband and I were gone together because it was our 10 year anniversary. She was self-sacrificing to spend time, you know, with her grandkid, and let us have that time. So this was our plan Fly out mid-afternoon to Amsterdam, connect there, get to Dubrovnik. It was like a maybe 16 hour flight itinerary.

Rachel Rudwall:

Okay, we wake up at four or 5 AM that morning because we're trying to sort of adjust the time zone change and we see we have an email from the airline saying that our afternoon flight has been delayed by an hour and a half, which means we're going to miss our connecting flight. Right. So we call the airline, spend an hour on the phone, they rebook us, they say, okay, we can get you to Seattle, but you have to leave like four and a half hours earlier, which was a couple hours away by now, and so we'd have to mobilize. They say we can fly you to Seattle, to Amsterdam, to Dubrovnik. Okay. So we mobilize, we say goodbye to our son early, we get on that flight to Seattle, we take it and as soon as we land in Seattle we see that our Seattle to Amsterdam flight has been delayed by two and a half hours, which means we'll miss our flight to Dubrovnik. At that point we're just like what do we do? And we got back on the phone with the airline after trying to talk to reps in the airport who couldn't do much, and being familiar with passenger rights is really helpful. So anybody listening in there are certain rights that you have to, things like compensation or meal vouchers or hotels if you are delayed a certain amount of time and it is the fault of the airline. So it's not acts of God like weather events and things, but if it's mechanical, for example, you have certain recourse.

Rachel Rudwall:

So we knew that if we were going to be landing super, super late compared to the original itinerary that Delta this is the airline that I have status with, that we were flying with we were like they could put us on another airline. Um so, long story long again, angela, they put us on a flight on Turkish air. We had a six hour layover in in Seattle, then we had to fly to Istanbul and then back to Dubrovnik. It took I don't know 30 hours instead of 16, but we got there and it was like the whole process was sort of and it was like the whole process was sort of jaw on the floor, dumbfounding, going well.

Rachel Rudwall:

I guess we have to problem solve again. One of the most important things that I would say to everyone listening is the people that you are interacting with, whether they be at the airline or the hotel that you're staying at or that you're sitting next to on the flight. Everybody's doing their best. Yeah, everybody just wants things to work out OK. So problem solving should also include kindness, humility, self-awareness. You should never be in a point where frustration means you're raising your voice, you're taking it out on the people that you're talking to, because the people on the other end of the telephone line, they weren't the reason that these flights had changed. There were mechanical issues. They all did what they could to help and, at the end of the day, frankly, I probably need to email the airline and ask for some bonus points, some bonus air miles on the account. That's something they can do as well on the airline.

Angela Tuell:

Definitely, definitely. Is that one of the rules that they have to book you on another airline? Is it after a certain number of hours?

Rachel Rudwall:

They don't have to always, but there are situations in which um like if you're going to be more than I forget how many hours delayed and um into your end destination as the result of, say, a mechanical change or mechanical failure, then you can and should ask is there another airline that you could put me on to get me there around the time that I was scheduled to arrive? We still arrived eight and a half or nine hours later than planned, but if we stayed on Delta.

Rachel Rudwall:

It would have been a day later and we were already in Seattle, and so we didn't want to be stranded in Seattle or have to fly home and start the next day. And so so there were cost implications as well as time implications, and they they weren't even partnered with Turkish Air, but they were still able to buy those seats for us using the funds that we had, you know, used to originally purchase Delta flight.

Angela Tuell:

Okay, Cause we've never had luck asking. We booked on another airline, so that's great to know you did and and hopefully can push for that in the future?

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah it's. I've only done it a couple of times and each of those times it was a um sort of major travel snafu that was the result of a change in airplane size or like a mechanical issue where they had to go back to the gate, things like that, and in those instances it takes some pushing because it's not the preferred way for the airline to do things. But if you say, you know, here's what we're realistically looking at. This many hours later, this many days late, what? What can we do? Yeah, then people will do their best and they'll tell you what's possible and what's not, and so it's worth asking.

Angela Tuell:

Yes, and it's always helpful when you are kind and nice to that person that's trying to help you.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah, we heard somebody run up to a gate at Seattle, start yelling. I'm recording these people didn't let me get on my plane and I can see it right there. And I'm here and I can see the plane and all of the airline reps is at Seattle. They're like yes, sir, the, the the door closed. Like the, the door has to close 10 minutes before departure. Right, yelled and yelled and he's like I'm streaming this live on the internet so that everyone can see. You didn't let me on the flight. That's right there. And I thought a how weirdly self-absorbed that you think you matter enough to hold up the plane, but b how confusing that you think the way you're treating people is more likely to make them let you on. What a weird sense of disconnect. Like what? Where? Where do you think that this is fine in your brain?

Angela Tuell:

yeah, yeah, I would.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yes, I do see that a lot yeah it's like you're, you're the exception to the rule. If you can't get here on time, then you don't get on the flight right. Like Like you're, you're not you, everybody else got on on time, yeah, so if you're going to figure it out right, Then get on the next flight. I think that's the way it works, right.

Angela Tuell:

Exactly yes, yes. Something else I wanted to talk about was I know it's a great honor that you were named an Explorers Club fellow. For those who are not familiar, could you tell us what that means?

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah, the Explorers Club is a group of maybe 3,500 people around the world who are recognized for their contributions to furthering knowledge and exploration. What that means in practice is some of the famous Explorers Club members of history include the first people to the North Pole, the first people to the South Pole, the first people to summit Everest, the first people to get to the deepest point on Earth, which is theiana trench in the ocean, and the first people to make it to the surface of the moon. Like all the apollo astronauts amazing club jane goodall's in the club. Uh, there are a lot of really prolific explorers, educators, um mountaineers, um scientists who have been members of the club and I always thought it was this sort of cool, weird super secret society of traditionally men. And and then one day somebody found my work online, a member of the club, and he said and this is a paleontologist who's discovered all these dinosaur bones, right, he's like I found your work. Have you heard of the club? I think you'd be a shoe in. And I was like, do you what?

Rachel Rudwall:

you know sort of fully imposter syndrome like are you, yes, are you misinformed? Um, and and in the end, uh, he and a buddy of mine who is a director for National Geographic, whom I, I know through our work professionally, but also, funnily enough, because he and my husband were kayak guides together in Alaska years ago. Yeah, so there's there's overlap in that Venn diagram of of our worlds. But, um, we, uh, yeah, we put together my application and I dragged my feet on it Cause I was like there's no way it's going to be approved, as you know, a storyteller alone, I, I haven't, yeah, I don't have any famous bursts, so I'm not the first person to climb anything.

Rachel Rudwall:

So in the end, um, I was approved and have been a fellow in the club since 2019 and actually the the call that I just got off of, right before we chatted, was with the explorers club.

Angela Tuell:

Club. That's amazing. Oh, wow, yeah. So talking a little bit more about travel how do you choose your next destination and what do you look for in a hosted trip?

Rachel Rudwall:

I choose my next destination based on a couple of things, and it sort of depends on if it's professional or personal, but there's a lot of overlap in what I look for in both. There's always a running short list I'm sure this is true of you and your mind and anybody who's listening in a running short list of places that I'd be really, really excited to go, whether it's a new place that I haven't been to or it's a place that I want to return to. So some of those places like Peru was on my list for so long and I would love to return as well. So it's still on the list.

Rachel Rudwall:

Greenland all of these places sort of float around in my brain and sometimes I start a concerted effort to create an opportunity there. Like a friend who's a travel writer for a lot of major publications, she and I are chatting with some folks in Greenland about potentially putting a trip together and doing some storytelling in that partnership. That is something that we would be initiating the conversations on and we'll see where it goes. But sometimes an opportunity comes to me where maybe I do receive an email from someone who works in PR like you saying hey, you know, dream Yacht Worldwide has these charter yachts all over the world and I say, wow, that sounds pretty dreamy. And then you and I end up chatting and I learned that there's an organized trip that's going to Tahiti with that particular client.

Rachel Rudwall:

So my next destinations are a combination of opportunities that land in my inbox and things that I seek out because I'm really excited about the possibility. When it comes to hosted trips, it depends on what type of work and storytelling I'll be doing. I don't traditionally accept a ton of press trips, because press trips are, in the end, pretty difficult for writers or creators to actually make any money. And when you consider, yeah, the not only travel time and time on site, but also the fact that there are many, many weeks of creating pitches, sending pitches and then the time writing articles, and the fact that that money for writing has gone down, unlike every other cost or fee in the world, which continues going up, writers continue to get paid less.

Rachel Rudwall:

So you might get writers who are like working to organize this trip with you and they're on location for 10 days and they've been spending all this time pitching. And then they write the article and it has multiple rounds of revisions and they get $250 for the whole thing. I don't know if that's something that people listening in know.

Rachel Rudwall:

I don't think everyone does know, you're looking at many weeks of work for what is probably like one cent per hour, and for most people that's not sustainable and unless you're a staff writer at a publication, it's really hard to make a press trip work, even if the press trip is dreamy because it's a place you really wanted to go and it's with a brand or a property you're excited about.

Rachel Rudwall:

So when I'm working with destinations, oftentimes over the last almost 10 years there's also a component of content creation that lives on my social channels. I have an audience of about 250,000 people on my social platforms Um, at Rachel Rome's is what I go by on social and so sometimes brands or or hosted trips with destinations and properties, they'll reach out and say we want to have you create multimedia assets that would be on your channels as well as ours, and it's a sponsored trip. And here's our budget. Yeah, that is easier to make work. I know it's not something that every PR client has available. Not everybody has additional budget on top of, say, hosted trip, press trip, fees for lodging and stuff and airfare. But that's something that is an easier sell for me because then I can guarantee that you know I can get home and pay the bills.

Rachel Rudwall:

So, I say great. I'm excited to create X, Y or Z deliverables, depending on what the client wants and needs, and then those are licensed to that brand. They have photography, they have video assets, and then we might also pitch out an article and hopefully get additional coverage, but there's guaranteed coverage that lives on my channels. There's a budget for content creation that is custom to that brand, that is evergreen for them to live in their library of multimedia assets.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, it's definitely a win-win on all sides with that kind of situation.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah, if a brand has the budget, it can be a really incredible way to reach new eyeballs and build up your content library.

Angela Tuell:

Yeah, definitely, and I know that. I know a lot of brands are looking for that constantly. That's what it's all about now, right? Content, videos, photography.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah, it is, and and it does it costs money to create.

Rachel Rudwall:

I mean, if you think about the people that you might be hiring for these trips, they're.

Rachel Rudwall:

They're not only blocking out time on their calendars and doing the work, but they are bringing all their camera equipment, their licensing, photo and video editing software.

Rachel Rudwall:

They're pushing out to sometimes hundreds of thousands of people that they've spent years building and cultivating that audience. So it's a really layered process where a lot goes into it and there are costs and there's overhead and that's how you know you're typically getting somebody who is properly equipped, who's been doing it for a while and whether or not the budget is aligned. If you're reaching out to somebody who, whose voice you respect, that aligns with your brand, who does things professionally in a way that engages you just knowing that that might be a part of the conversation. Having fees associated with content creation, you know that's something to expect. That could be a part of that conversation and it isn't probably a surprise to people listening nowadays that that's a part of a lot of these conversations. But it's not because people are being greedy and going like I want to have a great trip and come home rich Like I want to be able to pay the bills.

Rachel Rudwall:

Make sure that I have the right gear rental. Sometimes I'll rent new camera lenses that I don't have in my own kit. Yeah, bring with me, like this assignment that I had in Mongolia, where I was going to be photographing the golden Eagle festival, and it's these I saw that, loved it, loved it.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yes, winning photography awards for these images, which is really exciting as well, because to be able to to document a culture and a subculture that's that's so elegant and fascinating and far removed is really fun. But yeah, I, I, there's a cost that goes into renting the right lenses if you don't have them in your kit and that sort of thing. So, yeah, that's sort of a long answer to your question of what I look for, but those are some of the things that that play a part in the conversations.

Angela Tuell:

That's great insight, and you mentioned PR professionals, which a lot of our listeners are. What is the best way for them to get ideas in front of you, and do you have any pet peeves when it comes to PR professionals? Great question.

Rachel Rudwall:

So getting ideas in front of me. I have a website which is rachelromescom. That's my social handle too at Rachel Romes. On all the platforms I'm on LinkedIn but as Rachel Rudwall, and so so folks can reach out there. Things to keep in mind pet peeves when, when you say hi and then it says insert name, don't do no. Sometimes there are people who just don't do the due diligence of of checking that they have added the writer or creator's name in and that's an immediate archive or delete, like not answering if you can't take the time to copy and paste and then see who you're emailing. But also reach out if something is aligned, as opposed to just reaching out about anything and everything. I get a lot of emails, a lot of emails from PR professionals, and sometimes they have nothing to do with what I do. I have people reach out and say we'd like a paid placement on your page where you're doing eight Instagram stories a month for collagen supplements.

Rachel Rudwall:

And I'm like at what point? Have you ever seen me do anything related to supplements on my page, like I'll partner with nutrition brands and things like that If it's like. This is a bar, a snack bar that I eat all the time, or whatever.

Rachel Rudwall:

Sure, and while you're traveling right, it's like a travel snack a remote track and there's a particular snack and it feels like it's aligned. Sure, but at no point have I referenced supplements or collagen or whatever. So that's just an example of like, do your research and see if this is in fact aligned. And, um, I know I've mentioned outdoor adventure and things like that, but certainly, like a luxury bent trip can be a fit for me too and for my audience. When you look at my Instagram right now, you'll see that I'm putting out content about Portugal and Portugal. Lisbon, Portugal, it's a city and there's food and drink and you're dressing nicely as compared to if you were trekking in the Alps in Kosovo, right, Like different style of trip. That is absolutely of interest too. So there are a lot of things that are aligned and and folks can check that out. But if you're specifically trying to get a college and supplement partnership, there might be someone who's a better fit for you.

Angela Tuell:

Find someone else, right? So before we go I have to ask what projects or trips are on the horizon for you.

Rachel Rudwall:

I have numerous projects that I'm excited about gearing up in the new year. One is that I am both emceeing and show producing a big event in Las Vegas called TGA show. So the Travel Goods Association has put on a show for I think it's 40 some years and it returned last year for the first time since, I think, pre-pandemic and is really working to do something different. So historically it's been retailers and um and brands. Where they go meet, they strike up conversations and deals about distribution of luggage, for example, or eye masks.

Rachel Rudwall:

But, as of last year, tga show involved content creators and brought in some really big name speakers and things and I had the pleasure of being one of the speakers they brought in, alongside Samantha Brown and Chris Picard and some really big names in the travel industry, and I was really impressed at what they're working to build to bridge this gap between creators who have big audiences who also are just.

Rachel Rudwall:

They did a great job of bringing nice people who act with integrity, like no diva energy right. That's awesome. Yeah, it was amazing. I was so impressed. So they're melding worlds between creators and the brands and the distributors. So that's something that people listening in would probably benefit from at least looking into because there might be a way for them to get involved with TGA show that's in March in Las Vegas, end of March, and so I'm emceeing this year and helping to build out the stable of speakers and the schedule and I'm really excited about that. I'm also producing some content and some event work for Google and then I have some big trips on the horizon that are still sort of formulating and and I don't want to jinx them by talking about them too soon but they're in the works.

Angela Tuell:

Great. Well, we will keep watching and listening.

Rachel Rudwall:

Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to share. Tune in, say hi. You can find me at Rachel Roams and you'll be seeing content from everywhere from the Balkans to Portugal to Peru. I've been putting out Peru content from our trip to you know that you arranged down to Peru, so if folks want to know what it's like to canoe the Amazon rainforest, they can check that out.

Angela Tuell:

We'll put links in our show notes as well. Thank you so much, Rachel. Thank you for having me. That's all for this episode of Media in Minutes, a podcast by Communications Redefined. Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to our show. We'd love to hear what you think. You find more at communications redefinecom podcast. I'm your host, angela tool. Talk to you next time.