Living Beyond Expectations with travel storyteller Lola Akinmade Åkerström

Today’s guest on the Genius Womxn Podcast is Lola Akinmade Åkerström, an award-winning storyteller, travel photographer, writer, creator, TED speaker, and author. Lola was born in Nigeria and lived in the United States before making Sweden her home. She is a full force creator who is warm, kind, and truly inspiring. As a business owner and entrepreneur, Lola runs the Stockholm-based travel consultancy, Geotraveler Media, co-founded the travel influencer marketing collective, NordicTB, and recently co-founded Local Purse, which supports travel guides and local artisans through live video shopping. As a mentor, she runs the online academy, Geotraveler Media Academy, dedicated to visual storytelling and helping the next generation of travel storytellers put their heart back into the craft. In today's conversation, Lola shares how the manuscript for her novel was rejected 70 times (that’s right, seven-zero!) before being picked up and how the book is now out with four different publishers. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, from pitching, rejections, and being prepared when National Geographic comes knocking on your door to how you can stop putting yourself in a box and live beyond other people's expectations of you too. Tune in for an uplifting conversation with creative powerhouse, Lola Akinmade Åkerström!