An indie series about travel for transformation.
ABOUT GOING SOLO
We’re acing the career game, rocking our wardrobes and “leaning in”, but is something missing? Where is the wonder? Our curiosity and courage? Our inner explorer? We want to experience all that the world has to offer—and take some of it home. We want a path that leads to better selves. We want more than vacation: we want transformation.
A relatable friend and modern muse, Trina’s quest for self-realization frames a series and seamlessly blends wild adventures and warm encounters; local legends and everyday people; personal reflections and everyday experiences. Lighthearted, funny, and sharply edited, GOING SOLO brings a fresh perspective on the power of travel to energize our lives, revive our dreams, and see ourselves with new eyes.
WHY I JUST HAD TO DO IT
By Trina Bardusco
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How many people dream about leaving it all behind to pursue something they really love in a distant land? I know I had!
Maybe it’s something that we don’t even know much about, but it pulls us, promising to ignite our spirit and transform us.
That is the heart of the Going Solo series---travel for transformation. That impulse to travel to experience life in a new and deeper way, through what I like to call, spirited exploration.
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And that's where I step in ...
... a single, fortysomething, independent woman who has achieved everything except what she most desires—an everyday life in which passion, not work, is front and center.
I’m that relatable city girl turned global adventurer willing to go solo into the world because I want to be inspired…and so I take the plunge.
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In Going Solo, I find the passion and excitement I’m looking for in each country’s unique form of cultural expression. I embrace these female archetypes that the world has to offer me and make them my own. I explore the spirit behind what it means to be a Flamenca in Spain, a Yogini in India, a Tanguera in Argentina, Cowgirl in the U.S. and the list goes on.
And through my own transformation, I speak to others…others who yearn to connect with their authentic selves to go on a journey of self-discovery. I am that mirror that everyday women can use to see themselves with fresh eyes: to enchant and empower.
And, in so many ways we already are empowered, like never before! Even if we don’t always see it. That’s why aspirational content like Going Solo will strike a chord with ALL women who are actively seeking ways to express that power. They’re yearning to unleash their own sense of spirited exploration in creative, adventurous ways. Many platforms and brands can easily align with this encouraging message: that it is possible to go solo. That female empowerment can be fun, playful, and spontaneous.
The marketing opportunity of Going Solo is HUGE with single women, moms, entrepreneurial women, wanderlusters, spirit junkies, health conscious yoga-pant-wearing women (and the men that love them) everyday women who are hungry for content that speaks intimately to their desire for well being.
In 2017 they conducted a study that I know to be true in my bones as a member of what marketers are calling the “forgotten generation” Generation X. And I am a Gen X-er—we are women between the ages of 34 and 48.
Here’s what the study is bringing to light:
They spend just as much time on social media as millenials. 84% Gen X’ers use at least two devices during Prime Time.
"This is a stressed-out generation. They’re working hard, raising kids, and caring for aging parents. They need a break! So it’s no surprise that 69% said that ads that are funny, playful, indulge escapist fantasies, and offer practical advice are among their favorite ads. More than a third of this forgotten generation say they would be more likely to purchase a product from a brand whose ad is targeted specifically at them. And 70% of the generation Xers said if they won the lottery they would go on their dream vacation." Women's Marketing
And I believe they can feed their dream and indulge their escapist fantasies by going on wild adventures with me.
And for marketers, the spirited exploration of Going Solo can be exploring this massive audience: that drives 85 % of consumer spending, an audience that’s expected to spend more than $125 billion this year in the travel sector. This massive, passion seeking audience that is for the taking.
AND there are roughly 58 million single women in the US alone that value freedom and have disposable incomes, how are we being catered to?
My favorite stat is from American Express: the average adventure traveler isn’t a 28 year old male, it’s a 47 year old woman and she wears a size 12!
WHY ME?
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I am the daughter of a hippie Mom from San Francisco, California and my father, was born in Venice, Italy but we lived in Caracas, Venezuela. While pregnant with me, they spent time in a remote fishing village that was founded as a cacao plantation in the 1500s. There, you couldn’t escape the sounds of the Afro-Latino drumming. There, the music caused me to kick so hard to the rhythm, that my young Mom had to leave the scene. This is where it all started: my first spirited exploration within my mother’s womb.
I sang, acted and modeled in Venezuela. But being the daughter of hippies, I was mainly a cultural explorer, taking the bus back to that same village many times even after moving to NY when I was 20.
Thanks to those experiences, I’ve always felt comfortable wherever I go. Plus, I have three languages and three continents in my DNA, so I already feel like a modern day gypsy at heart.
Finding Duende...
The first time I saw real flamenco was in a SOHO basement at 4am. It was at a photographer’s studio who had documented flamenco artists for years. On that night, the flamencos were drinking and jamming after their gig at Carnegie Hall. Both the music and the photos blew my mind, so I did research, and eventually, was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to Spain in ethnomusicology for my project “Flamenco’s Duende and Deep Song.”
If you’ve never heard about duende.
It’s the fiery spirit that drives flamenco, its soul.
Once in Seville on my Fulbright scholarship, I soon traded the library for one of the first, readily available DV digital cameras, and started following legendary flamenco singer, Luis Agujeta. This lead to my documentary debut, I’m the Tourist, where I first began experimenting as a filmmaker by immersing myself in a way of life markedly different from my own.
I then co-pioneered HBO Latino’s award winning documentary series, Habla, that for over a decade, has given a voice to Latinos living in the U.S. It’s been my mission as a storyteller, as a global citizen, to build bridges of understanding between cultures.
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I also worked at Yahoo, creating over 400 brand-sponsored videos for women. It was my job to figure out what made women tick, so I became an expert in what was trending. And I loved my job, but consumed by my daily routine, I was spiritually disconnected. I noticed that the women around me felt the same way—that there was no time for passion—and these same concerns were being echoed by women everywhere on the web.
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The "aha" moment...
I started telling my girlfriends that I was going to leave it all behind to become a Flamenca in Spain—that I was on a mission to get my duende back.
And that’s when my yogini friend confessed she constantly fantasized of dropping everything to pursue her bliss in India, another to ride horses in Texas at a ranch to roam free as a Cowgirl, and another friend to experience romance through tango in Argentina.
Turns out that every country, every culture has it’s own duende.
So the idea for Going Solo hit me— I would explore what it means to be all these things: a Flamenca, Yogini, Cowgirl… And I’d return refreshed, accomplished and empowered.
