Unearth Women | Where Feminism Meets Travel

$505

pledged of$10,000 goal

0Days Left

Campaign Closed

Project Description

In Spring 2018, Unearth Women was born as a media company dedicated to championing female content creators and addressing the needs of female travelers today.

Since our inception in early 2018, Unearth Women has strived to combine women's travel content with in-depth reporting shining light on women's stories around the world. Today, Unearth Women is comprised of:

Today, Unearth Women is launching an iFund Women campaign in an effort to raise money to help us:

Every. single. penny raised will go towards paying our contributors and developing the Unearth Women brand.

NIKKI VARGAS

Nikki is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of Unearth Women. Previously, Nikki worked as Places Editor of Atlas Obscura, Travel Editor of Culture Trip, Digital Marketing Manager of FOOD & WINE magazine, and as a freelance journalist. Nikki has spoken at various travel conferences including the Women’s Travel Fest, Women in Travel Summit, New York Times Travel Show, New York Travel Fest and as a guest commentator on Cheddar News TV and NPR Weekend Edition. Nikki has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vogue Spain, and more. Her bylines have appeared on HuffPost, VICE, Roads & Kingdoms, and more.

KELLY LEWIS

Kelly Lewis is the Co-Founder of Unearth Women and was part of the initial ideation of the magazine. As a respected entrepreneur in the travel space, Kelly is also the Founder of Go! Girl Guides, the founder of the annual Women’s Travel Fest—a sold-out consumer travel event for women who love to travel—and Damesly, a tour company for professional and creative women.

ELISE FITZSIMMONS

Elise Fitzsimmons is Publisher and Co-Founder of Unearth Women. As Publisher, Elise is tasked with overseeing business development of the company, the production of the print magazine, and managing the finances of the company. Formerly, Elise worked as the Membership Director for a public radio station in Aspen, Colorado where she was responsible for the acquisition of over one million dollars in individual contributions, donor relations and membership maintenance, marketing, and event planning.

Updates

The Campaign FAQs

What makes you and your co-founders qualified to do this?

Our co-founders are made up of Elise Fitzsimmons, Kelly Lewis, and Nikki Vargas. Elise Fitzsimmons is our Publisher and comes to us from NPR where she has years of experience in working in broadcast journalism and raising money to support the Aspen Public Radio station in Colorado. Elise brings those skills to Unearth Women to help develop the forthcoming podcast.

Kelly Lewis is an entrepreneur who founded the Women's Travel Fest, Damesly Tours, and Go Girl Guides. Kelly brings her wealth of connections, experience, and knowledge of the travel industry to this company.

Nikki Vargas is our Editor-in-Chief who has a decade of editorial and journalism experience in New York City. Nikki has spoken at various travel conferences—including the NYT Travel Show and Women in Travel Summit—as well as has written for HuffPost, FOOD & WINE, VICE, and more. Nikki brings her editorial expertise and helps shape the voice of Unearth Women's magazine and digital site.

How are you sustaining Unearth Women magazine?

It goes without saying that it is a difficult time for the print industry. We made a bold choice in introducing a new magazine. We felt a magazine was necessary to both establish ourselves as a brand as well as make a dent in the male-dominated travel space. After a year of Unearth Women magazine, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to discontinue printing our magazine. As a self-funded start-up, it is very difficult to sustain the cost of printing and magazine production. Our fourth issue—the Inclusivity Issue—will likely be our last issue of Unearth Women magazine. That said, we will continue to grow as a digital media platform with a podcast, online articles, videos, trips, and a forthcoming book.

How will you use the money from this campaign?

Every penny raised from this campaign will go towards the company and helping us to grow as a digital media brand while also paying our female content creators fairly. Specifically, we are looking to raise money to grow our digital freelance base, create original videos, and finish production on our podcast.

Why is it important to you to pay female content creators?

As a journalist and editor with almost a decade of experience in the industry, it is so important to support our fellow content creators. It is a difficult time for journalists and editors across the industry. Many talented writers are being laid off and thrown into the job market where they are hunting for bylines and being severely underpaid for their work. We have a situation here where there is a saturation of talent looking for work and few opportunities available. The result is that many writers and editors are being taken advantage of and being forced to accept pay rates well below what they deserve. It is so personally important to me to support content creators today, especially women.

Erika Sheehan

10/25/2019

The Unearth Women Swag Bag

$100

Sheryl Nance-Nash

10/06/2019

Exclusive for Early Contributors!

$20

Kathi Kamleitner

10/04/2019

Exclusive for Early Contributors!

$20

Megan Roy

10/02/2019

Unearth Women Digital Package

$50

Maren Bertelsen

09/30/2019

The Unearth Women Swag Bag

$100

Kelley

09/30/2019

Exclusive for Early Contributors!

$20

Marlive

09/27/2019

The Unearth Women Swag Bag

$100

Nikki

09/25/2019

Unearth Women Digital Package

$50

Miranda

09/25/2019

Exclusive for Early Contributors!

$35

Anonymous

09/13/2019

Monetary Contribution

Featured reward

20.00 USD

Exclusive for Early Contributors!

This exclusive price is only available for the first 25 contributors!

A digital copy of Unearth Women’s upcoming issue.
The “Sounds of Inclusivity” Unearth Women Spotify Playlist featuring curated music inspired by the stories in our fourth issue.
A personalized handwritten thank you letter from Unearth Women’s Co-Founder and Publisher.
(1) custom designed “Where feminism meets travel” sticker
(1) custom designed “Well traveled feminist” phone wallpaper

21 Left

4 Supporters

Project Description

NIKKI VARGAS

KELLY LEWIS

ELISE FITZSIMMONS

Updates

The Campaign FAQs

About the Entrepreneur

Rewards