Adventure Travel with Staci Steele - SA Expeditions

Area/Topic
Worldwide, Latin America, Tourism Business

Staci Steele
Commercial Manager
SA Expeditions

Staci has dedicated a significant part of her life to globetrotting, especially across South America. She's embraced exploration not just as a hobby but as a disciplined endeavor to understand and facilitate connections between the English-speaking world and countless communities in South America.

Her journeys, which began with just a backpack and a sense of wanderlust, have evolved into a professional capacity for executing experiences that are as refined and remarkable as anyone else in her industry niche. Staci has been with SA Expeditions since 2012, and her journey has been one of growth and evolution, starting as a Destination Expert, advancing to Sales Manager, and now Commercial Manager overseeing global partnerships and destination development.

The economic impact of the travel services purchased for her clients reaches into the millions across the developing economies of Latin America and now expands worldwide. Countless guides, drivers, muleteers, rural communities, hotels, and national economies (to name just a few) have benefited from her daily and meticulous efforts.

https://www.saexpeditions.com/

Summary
In this episode, Jason Elkins interviews Staci Steele, the commercial manager of SA Expeditions. They discuss Staci's role as a commercial manager and her responsibilities in managing relationships with partners and overseeing the sales team. They also talk about the expansion of SA Expeditions worldwide and the meaning behind the company's name. Staci shares her travel inspirations and how she developed a passion for learning languages, particularly Spanish. They discuss the importance of language in understanding different cultures and connecting with people on a deeper level. Staci also shares her experience of living in the US and the decision to move back to Latin America. In this conversation, Staci Steele, Commercial Manager at SA Expeditions, discusses the importance of building relationships with local communities and guides in the travel industry. She emphasizes the value of personal connections and the impact they have on the overall travel experience. Staci also highlights the company's commitment to responsible tourism and supporting local communities. She shares insights into the hiring process at SA Expeditions and the qualities they look for in destination experts. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the challenges and pressures faced by travel professionals and the satisfaction that comes from creating memorable experiences for clients.

Takeaways

• The role of a commercial manager involves managing relationships with partners and overseeing the sales team.
• SA Expeditions has expanded worldwide and is not limited to South America, despite the name.
• Learning a language, such as Spanish, allows for a deeper understanding of different cultures and better connections with people.
• Living in different countries can provide unique experiences and perspectives.
• Moving back to Latin America allowed Staci and her family to be closer to their roots and experience a different lifestyle. Building relationships with local communities and guides is crucial in the travel industry
• Personal connections enhance the overall travel experience
• SA Expeditions is committed to responsible tourism and supporting local communities
• The hiring process at SA Expeditions focuses on travel experience, sales background, and language skills

Learn more about the Big World Made Small Podcast and join our private community to get episode updates, special access to our guests, and exclusive adventure travel offers at bigworldmadesmall.com.

Transcript

Jason Elkins (00:01.256)
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the big world made small podcast for the adventure traveler. So I've I'm in Columbia today and I've got Staci Steele. She is just down the road in Ecuador. So it's a we're, but we're meeting on bit. What's that you're in Peru, right? Absolutely. Okay. Well, now I have the it's early in the conversation. I could stop the conversation restart, but we're not going to do that because we kind of like unscripted here. So I don't know where I had Ecuador in my head, but.

Staci Steele (00:15.022)
Peru. I'm in Peru.

Staci Steele (00:25.934)
Okay.

Jason Elkins (00:31.24)
Staci Steele, so happy to have you here. You're the commercial manager. You know who you are, but you're the commercial manager with SA Expeditions. So welcome to the show. Happy to have you here.

Staci Steele (00:41.39)
Thanks, no it's great to be here.

Jason Elkins (00:44.104)
Hey, real quick before we get started, this is not the most important thing we're gonna discuss, but maybe someone listening to this is commercial manager. What does a commercial manager do for a tour operation company? So I figured let's get that out of the way. What does a commercial manager do?

Staci Steele (00:58.478)
Yeah, I mean a lot of what I do currently is manage the relationships that we have as well as help oversee our sales team. We also have recently expanded worldwide and so...

Currently, and I say a lot of what I'm doing right now, currently a lot of what I'm doing is helping to refine these new destinations and helping to build them out. So we're trying to bring in a lot more client interest and demand to the new regions we've gone worldwide. So that's kind of the bulk of my world right now as a commercial.

Jason Elkins (01:32.872)
Got it. So, so when you say the relationships we have, is that, are you working primarily with kind of outbound tour operators, travel agents, business to business on that end, or is it more with your DMCs and your partners on the ground or both?

Staci Steele (01:48.43)
Exactly. No, I mean both, I guess. Yeah, because it's sales. I live in the sales world, so it could go both ways. But as far as managing the partner relationships, it's more like with our DMC's, our on the ground partners, the product that we're selling, how well we're operating in country, the reps that work with our sales team, everything that.

has to do with the actual relationship in any country that we operate.

Jason Elkins (02:18.792)
So it's almost literally all the relationships on some level. You touch them all, don't you?

Staci Steele (02:21.158)
Yeah, yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot, especially because we've gone worldwide, but you know, I'm not solo. I've got, you know, my, my, you know.

the other managers in the company also kind of join in. And because we've expanded so much recently and gone worldwide in just a few years, you know, it wasn't just me alone. It was Riva, our COO, Nick, our CEO. They were very heavily involved too. So, but yes, maintaining those relationships, ensuring that they're operating as smoothly as possible and that our sales team's happy with the support that they're getting on the ground from our partners in each country as well.

Jason Elkins (03:00.584)
Very cool. Well, I'm, I'm happy that you gave some shout outs and some kudos to other people on the team and didn't just make it sound like you're doing it all yourself because I'm hoping you'll share this episode with them and they may hear it someday. So, so that's, that's important. And on the, you mentioned going worldwide and expanding your operations. So that leads me to the question SA Expeditions where it's, what's the name mean?

Staci Steele (03:10.734)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (03:27.944)
Where did that come from and are there any plans to modify that at all?

Staci Steele (03:32.302)
No, it's a good question. You know, I think I'm not the one who created the name. I did come on board with us, you know, in the early years, but I didn't create the name. But I think the goal was actually always to become a world, you know, tour company. And so.

SA was intentional in that it wasn't South America, which is where we started. So it wasn't intentional that it was only South America. I mean, it could expand across to South Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia. So there's a lot of cross -

Jason Elkins (03:53.576)
Okay.

Jason Elkins (04:00.808)
Hahaha!

That's true. That does leave you a lot of options that you could still cover and just brand it as, yeah, this is South Asia, Africa.

Staci Steele (04:10.894)
But yeah, I don't know. Who knows, maybe one day we'll...

Jason Elkins (04:14.792)
But it was originally, it was SA did stand for South America, right? Or do you know?

Staci Steele (04:19.342)
I mean, that was the intention, but I think also the intention was that it could be flexible as we grew. So South America was initially what we did sell, and that's where we started. And it's still a big chunk of what we sell currently. But I do think that SA, yes, it does stand for South America, but it's not only South American that was the intention there.

Jason Elkins (04:42.984)
Well, it could become super adventures, Expeditions, or I'm sure. So I appreciate you sharing a little bit of the business part of it, just jumping in right in. But, and I think it's more important. I would love to hear a little bit about your story, kind of how you got from wherever you were to where you are now. And we can go back as far as you think is relevant. So what's the story? How?

Staci Steele (04:46.542)
I mean, some clients like to make up names for us, so yeah.

Staci Steele (05:07.342)
Yeah, I was going to say, do you want the long -winded or do you want the...

Jason Elkins (05:11.336)
Well, we got an hour. We got about an hour. So, you know, start wherever you want. Sometimes we start out with very, very young, you know, my guests were on, you know, in a backpack and their parents were carrying up, up the side of mountains and, and that's how they got started. So whatever you think is relevant.

Staci Steele (05:15.854)
Thanks for watching.

Staci Steele (05:25.326)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess the initial inspirations potentially we could look at travel inspirations. I mean, my mom, so for example, my mom, she actually, she didn't even have a passport until I moved international. And so it definitely didn't stem from her. We did move a lot as a child because, you know, we just didn't stay in one home for long. So I think that I enjoyed and I enjoyed that movement.

But I think the inspiration, you know, I got the inspiration for travel from others close to me. So like my aunt, for example, she was a big traveler. I have this memory of getting a postcard from her from a trip that she went to Turkey. She was in Turkey for an eclipse that happened there. And it was just like this mystical photo on this postcard that she sent me from there or on her return home, I believe it was. But I remember looking at that and being like, wow.

There's some really neat things out there in the world. And then my stepdad, when I was a little older, he worked in construction. So he was often, there's a stint there where he traveled throughout the US and he was in Miami, Florida at one point, sending me photos hanging off the side of the building with like the beautiful blue backdrop.

behind him and then he was in Alaska for a while there for a few months, sending me photos of like moose behind him and like, you know, talking about the 24 hour daylight. And so I was just intrigued, I think at a young age. And I never really, I never went international until, well, I did, I went to Mexico. I know that's international when you're looking at it. It's technically international, but I'm from Texas, so.

Jason Elkins (07:02.6)
It is.

so it's kind of not. I lived in Arizona for a while. I get it. Yeah, it's close.

Staci Steele (07:09.134)
It's really cool. It's really cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm from Austin, Texas, or the area. And so my grandparents were actually missionaries. And so they would actually cross the border quite a bit. And so they would come with their big old RV and pick up me and my brother. And we'd drive all the way across the border and go into some mountainous community in Mexico that they were building some church school in, whatever it may be, and stay the summer months with them. And so.

And so that pushed me kind of in the direction of language, so Spanish. And so I started picking up on Spanish. I studied it for many years, had this kind of desire that was building in within because of just the few bits of inspiration I mentioned. And so when I finally hit college years, I think that's really when it catapulted. And I studied abroad and went on some big trips there following, which I'm glad to go into. But yeah, that was kind of...

The first time I really went on an international flight was in college at a study abroad program that I did through my university. So yeah, I went to Tasmania for the first time as far as I could possibly go. Well, I initially, you know, Spanish was a big thing. I studied, I studied in university, I studied marine biology, nothing to do with what I'm doing right now. Love to scoop it out, but.

Jason Elkins (08:15.048)
wow. Yeah.

Staci Steele (08:31.886)
not what I'm doing on the day in day out, but I was minoring in Spanish. And so when I was looking at study abroad opportunities, because my university offered this really great program where you could go and study abroad, but, you know, pay the same tuition you're paying back home. And so there was just no additional fees or anything. And it was super accessible to whoever wanted to take advantage of that. And so I started exploring all the programs and my mind is just like everywhere. I was so excited. I was like, what am I going to do? And I was really considering somewhere, Central America. I thought, you know,

Spanish, I've got to go somewhere and really kind of improve my Spanish. I've got to live somewhere for a while. And I essentially decided, you know what, it's not going to be enough to do just like a study abroad to become fluent. And that was my goal. And so I thought, you know what, I'm going to focus on my major and go somewhere that's more marine biology linked. And so I found Tasmanian and I thought this sounded so cool. It was so far away. And so I took the leap and boarded.

what, like a 20 hour flight or something insane. Plus I forget, I even forget the route. It was the first one so long ago, but it was a long first flight. But yeah, so I went into the study front end in Tasmania, Australia for the first.

Jason Elkins (09:34.824)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (09:44.68)
That's, it's very cool and definitely not Spanish related, but I hear what you're saying. I'm curious, like when you, okay, I'm, you already kind of had started on the Spanish. I can appreciate that you were intrigued by trips to Mexico and then marine biology. What did you envision yourself doing when you were 18, 19 years old?

Staci Steele (09:50.062)
Thank you.

Staci Steele (10:06.382)
You know, I really thinking back what I think my like, you know, 18 year old self was thinking at the moment was hey, you know, I really need to get like a bachelor's degree of sorts under my belt if I'm going to just do anything that's even higher level, but I'm probably going to have to go back and get like.

a master's if I'm going to specialize in something. So why not study something that I really enjoy, even if I don't know if that's really the route I'm going to go. And so I really wasn't sure. I went into school thinking, OK, you know what? I'm going to study for four years. I love science. I'm good at math. I love to scuba dive. Let's make it fun. And then Spanish, I really want to become fluent. And I'd taken 1 ,000 years, and I still wasn't fluent. So I was like, I'll try to mine earn it, too. And then after that, we'll see. I figured I'd take some time off, explore the world, and see what I really wanted to do. And thank you.

and that essentially led to travels that took me to South America. Go ahead.

Jason Elkins (11:01.896)
Do you remember thinking, I'm just curious if you were thinking like the obvious place I'm thinking of is like the Galapagos, right? Marine biologist with Spanish minor. Was that on the radar screen was ever or not?

Staci Steele (11:16.334)
It wasn't, you know why? Because I know it sounds crazy. I did marine biology, but I never really actually thought I'd end up in a career with marine biology. I did it because I literally thought I would enjoy it and get a bachelor's. I just didn't see myself working in a lab for, which I know there's other jobs and other things you can do, but I just thought maybe I wouldn't necessarily go there. I was like, I'll just scuba dive everywhere and I'll understand what I'm looking at while I'm underwater. So that was kind of...

push in that direction. But yeah, the Galapagos wasn't initially on my radar, to be honest, until I traveled to South America. And I honestly didn't even know a whole lot about the Galapagos until I was in South America. But yeah, I think that was it. I studied abroad, had a great time in Tasmania for six months, or it was five months or something of that nature. Met tons of international people from around the world. And it

that was just kind of the beginning of so much traveling that I did following. And so, because even when I was in Tasmania, I hopped up to the mainland up north, saw a little bit of Australia, and then hopped over to Fiji. I was like, I'm here, why not? So I took advantage of the traveling around there. But yeah, and so then I finished up my degree and decided at that time, I wasn't quite ready to settle in and look for.

Jason Elkins (12:23.688)
Yeah.

Staci Steele (12:39.022)
you know, a full time gig at that moment when I graduated, I thought I really want to kind of get out and explore the world more. So, you know, all throughout college I was waitressing and I had a little stint at Greenpeace, which was fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was just one of those, you know, I was always into sales. I really...

Jason Elkins (12:54.184)
yeah, interesting. Actually, I'd like to learn more about that. Tell me more about that.

Staci Steele (13:06.03)
had that personality, I think, being a waitress. And I was really on this kick of, you know, I want to save the world, you know, but in a minor, not so extreme passion. But I did want to get out there. I wanted to explore what opportunities there were in kind of the more nonprofit kind of gig and started canvassing initially with Greenpeace and realized, wow.

This is no joke. This is a really difficult, interesting new world. And so I explored it for a few months, but realized at that time I really wanted to get out and more kind of explore the Latin Spanish speaking world. And...

live somewhere that I could really become more fluent in Spanish. And so that's where that transition happened. It was around the time where I was doing Greenpeace just after graduating college from university and just deciding that I wanted to move somewhere that was Spanish speaking.

Jason Elkins (14:01.8)
If you were to have a conversation with someone that's never learned another language has maybe not even any interest in it. And to try and explain to them what it is that, why would you want to learn Spanish or another language? What, what's, what's the draw to that other than having gone across the border with, you know, with your grandparents? what's the draw, what gets you excited about learning a different language?

Staci Steele (14:27.758)
It's the culture. It's really getting to know someone that grew up in a completely different place, a different country.

Jason Elkins (14:29.415)
now.

Staci Steele (14:37.294)
with different just like customs and different like, you know, experiences than I had. And so just being able to fully connect with them, I know a lot of people speak English, but when you actually travel to these countries, Spanish speaking countries, you can really connect on a different level when you can speak their language fluently. And it's just...

I don't know, it's been super intriguing. I want to be able to understand more of the world in general too. Like, you know, songs or just shows that I know some people have talked about or whatever it may be. I just want to be able to explore and understand a different kind of part of the world. And I think the cultural aspect was really a big push to get to know people more in depth that, you know, don't speak English or maybe can't express themselves so closely or so so well in English. And so.

Jason Elkins (15:25.704)
Yeah. Yeah. I get that completely. And as in my journey of learning Spanish, I started to see the importance between language and culture. It's not just that I'm able to communicate with them. Their culture is, I believe their culture is literally as different because of the language. it's, it's almost inseparable. It's like, you know, I'm trying to think of a good example, but just in the way that people express themselves in Spanish, you can see it in their culture.

Staci Steele (15:53.07)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jason Elkins (15:55.336)
as well, like the word adios. If you don't really know the connections, it's like, okay, that means goodbye. But what does it really mean? It's gracias adios, it's thanks to God. Or it's the way they express me encantas, te quiero, te amo, the different ways they say I love you and the different levels of what each one means. And as you learn the language, you start to kind of understand why the culture wake up.

Staci Steele (16:01.902)
Yeah.

Staci Steele (16:06.254)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (16:24.424)
works the way it does. and I, I guess my point is like, let's say you take a comp, country like Columbia and let's just say they just speak English for some reason. The cultures in theory, this is all just, you know, okay, the culture is the same, but they speak English. I don't think it's possible. Number one. number two, okay, I could come here. I wouldn't have to learn Spanish and put.

It's just, it's, you can't separate the two, right? I don't even know where I'm going with this other than, and you don't get it until you start to learn a language. And, and especially if you live in that culture, because even learning a language back in the U S it's really hard to make those connections, but it's when you get in a cab or on the bus and you're trying to find your way somewhere and five or six people on the bus are all, all speaking to you at the same time, trying to help you. And you kind of figure out, the language, the culture.

Staci Steele (17:01.326)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (17:21.992)
It's really, I get it, I get it.

Staci Steele (17:25.934)
I wish I could remember what it was. I was just having a conversation with my husband. So he's from Lima, Peru, my husband. We speak English and Spanish. He speaks it pretty fluently too, because we were living in the US for a while too. And we came back to Peru. And we were talking the other day, but there was this one thing I was trying to express.

Jason Elkins (17:31.952)
Mm -hmm.

Staci Steele (17:45.102)
in Spanish or trying to translate it in English. I was like, how do you say this? And it was just, there was no translation because it was just like expressive in its own in the way of you say it, you know, it's in Spanish. It was just, it meant its own thing. I wish I could remember what it was. But yeah, I mean, it's really fascinating. I mean, also, I really love, like, I just love the culture. I love how bright, you know.

Jason Elkins (17:54.28)
Mm -hmm.

Staci Steele (18:12.174)
the Latin world is. And so I grew up a lot with it too, like in Texas, some of my best friends, their parents or their grandparents were from Mexico. And so it was just like the food or just hearing the language or just their personalities. It was just, there's so much flavor to it, you know? And it was just something I was super intrigued in. And, you know, I also always worked in restaurants. Like I said, I was a waitress and so.

you would often find me, you know, in the kitchen speaking with the staff and trying to practice my Spanish and laughing and just, you know, just the conversation that would ensue. It was just, I don't know, I just was always drawn to like the Latin world and dance. Love, love, love, love to dance and...

Before I haven't talked about the story yet, but before I came to South America, I went and actually lived with my aunt for a few months who is in California as just a means of ramping up on some cash flow before I could, you know, travel for a few months with a friend of mine and backpack her on South America.

And my aunt, she dances salsa. And she's really great at it. And so it was just me and my aunt. And she would take me out to these nightclubs. And I would just go dance salsa with her. And I remember just sitting there watching her. I'd be sitting next to her. And a guy would come up to her and ask her to dance. I was like, where's? I was just raising my hand trying to get someone to dance with me. But it was so fun. You would go to dance classes and it would open up to this free dance area. And so I really, that was huge because it really kind of put me in the mental

Jason Elkins (19:35.24)
the

Staci Steele (19:46.16)
headspace I think before I went on this big backpacking trip to South America and I learned how to dance salsa and you know California's a great spot to eat really you know some great foreign you know foods and whatnot so but yeah it's good preparation before I head itself to South America.

Jason Elkins (20:03.72)
It's cool for those that are listening to us that are not able to see your face on the screen. I can see the animation and it resonates. I'm looking at you, Stacey. I'm like, okay, she's in my tribe. Everything you're saying is exactly the way I feel. And I have friends and family back home that just don't understand it. My mom denies that we had this conversation, but I remember it quite clearly. Two and a half years ago when I had traveled quite a bit.

Staci Steele (20:11.126)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (20:31.88)
but I didn't know any Spanish and I sold all my stuff and bought a one -way ticket to Columbia with thinking I'd stay here a month and then work my way down the coast and just keep going. I fell in love with the place. But I remember before I left, my mom said, can't you just like move to Seattle? And I was like, I don't think she gets like, when I say I want to change a scenery.

Staci Steele (20:49.686)
A wish.

Staci Steele (20:57.23)
Okay.

Jason Elkins (20:57.32)
I don't think she quite understands the drive and the desire to just really go someplace completely new. My son asked me the other day, why did you pick Columbia? And I remember I was already, I was working in the travel business, running Orvis travel. And somebody from Columbia came through and invited me to come down and see the Canyon de Cristales or Canyon Cristales.

which is a beautiful place, but it's kind of off the beaten path. And at the time there were security issues and my boss was like, well, I just don't think we can sell Columbia. I don't think it makes sense for the company to, you know, whatever. And my wife at the time was no way you're not going to Columbia. It's too dangerous, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And so when I, you know, after I went through my divorce and I finally got up the gumption to sell all my stuff and start traveling, Columbia was like the place that I'd been told twice that I couldn't go. So it's like, I had to go to Columbia.

Staci Steele (21:54.242)
The reverse I call it.

Jason Elkins (21:54.6)
Nobody had ever told me I couldn't go to Seattle. So I think there was part of that was, you know, seeking some independence as well. And then, yeah. And you know, my dad was concerned. My dad's was the most adventurous person I'd ever, I thought he was the most adventurous person in the world. And when I said I'm going to Columbia, he'd, he'd copied and pasted if he's listening to this dad, I love you. I'm happy that you care for me so much, but he copied and pasted the entire state department warning into a text message.

And sent it and sent it to me. Yeah. And, and I got to Columbia knowing no Spanish at all. And I remember when I started to, like, I could walk into a tienda and they would notice that I wasn't from here and they would chat with me and I would chat with them. And I was like, wow, I kind of understand the context of this conversation.

Staci Steele (22:25.166)
get that a lot on this day.

Jason Elkins (22:48.84)
and I can actually continue the conversation. And I'm a single guy, so maybe I go on a date with somebody that doesn't speak English. That was a mind blower. First time I went on a date with somebody that didn't speak English. And it was like three hours at the restaurant conversing, the phone in my pocket. It was amazing. I felt, my gosh, I'm home. You know, it's just this, like, I can communicate with somebody that has a different experience in life than I do. And...

They've got so much that they can share with me. And I was just like, it was like a sponge. And I still feel that way. I mean, you know, I don't understand everything everybody says to me. It's more apparent with my son since he's traveling with me, cause someone will come up and start a con say something and they walk away and Jackson's like, what did they say? Like, I have no idea. And I was trying to explain to him that I, I sometimes it takes a little bit of work to try and focus. And sometimes I just shut it off.

Staci Steele (23:21.934)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (23:46.216)
If they are, if I have a preconceived idea that they're asking me for something that I'm not able to provide, I tend to just kind of shut it off. But when things are important, I can get through it. So anyway, that's a lot.

Staci Steele (24:01.71)
I was exhausted the first year I lived in Peru. I didn't remember that. I was just exhausted. And I came in with a really solid base in Spanish. So I can only imagine how you feel on the daily.

Jason Elkins (24:14.792)
Well, and as the relationships progress, you know, I've noticed that I get to the point where I'm like, can we just please not talk? And I don't know if it's like, if it's an avoidant attachment style, or if I just literally physically, mentally just drained, I cannot try and get through one more conversation today where I only understand about 80 % of what you say. And I'm pretty sure that the other 20 % is important.

Staci Steele (24:24.27)
Thank you.

Staci Steele (24:30.254)
Okay.

Jason Elkins (24:44.392)
But and then there's also that you just know how many times can I say, okay, otra vez un poco más despacio, you know, again, a little slower. I mean, how many times can you say that with somebody before you're just embarrassed? You're like, you know, yeah, yeah. So anyway, so when you met your husband was, did he speak English when you met?

Staci Steele (24:58.414)
and my friends as well.

Staci Steele (25:06.958)
he spoke a little bit of English. it wasn't that solid though. Our relationship was really kind of based on Spanish. it wasn't until, well, actually he started, yeah, he would practice with me, but mostly it was music is how he started getting into English. So he would speak little bits and pieces there.

Jason Elkins (25:15.784)
Mm -hmm.

Jason Elkins (25:26.152)
Did he have incentive to learn English other than just your relationship with you? Was there something else motivating him?

Staci Steele (25:32.366)
Yeah, so he's quite a motivated personality in general. So I think just in general, like you say, hey, you got to learn English because if you want to talk to my mom, you got to do it. Because my mom doesn't speak Spanish. Right? His motivation on it, in his case, he was motivated, I think. But he also had always...

Jason Elkins (25:45.32)
there you go. Well, some guys might see that as an excuse not to learn.

Staci Steele (25:59.118)
there is always plans for him to go to the US at some point because he has some family out there and he was gonna, he's a chef by profession and so he was gonna go help out some family with some of their businesses in the US and whatnot. And so he had kind of goals of learning English. So I think he was already kind of learning it when we met but it wasn't until we met that really pushed him into the language more.

Jason Elkins (26:21.352)
I'm curious when you, and this doesn't need to all be about him, but he's a, he's a good example, cause you're with him a lot, but I'm curious if like, when you travel with him to the U S or maybe other, Spanish, you know, other Latinos, Latinos, when you experience their, you know, if they traveled to the US with you or if you're whatever, did they seem to have the same, like kind of open eyes, like, Holy cow, this is so cool. Like you and I seem to have when we talk about Latin America.

Staci Steele (26:25.138)
I'm sorry.

Staci Steele (26:49.582)
Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I do think so. I think at first it is, it's a different thing. It's new. It's they're taking it all in, you know, it's different.

but you know, fun fact, we moved to the U S, after I was in, so I came to Peru in 2010 initially, was here for about five years. And then we were, we moved to the U S for eight years and actually just came back a year ago. And then back in Lima, but as of just a year ago. so we were in the U S so I got to see him kind of like, wow, this is different. This is new. You know, we, we moved, we lived in Colorado. We were in Boulder, Colorado for a few years at that time. which was so cool because we loved to hike and do nature based stuff.

Jason Elkins (27:12.52)
okay.

Staci Steele (27:29.808)
And so we were just like in our element. And I think that was just a wow, like national parks. It's something that you're just not used to seeing in Peru really. It's like, yes, you have the Andes, but it's just a different layout, different scenery. But after a few years of living in the US, and especially because we had our child there, and so I have a four -year -old daughter.

Jason Elkins (27:52.104)
Mm -hmm.

Staci Steele (27:54.062)
I think that lifestyle is different. And so we ended up moving back to Austin, which is closer to some of our family, but not super close. Everything's kind of spread out. You find that in the US people don't live so close knit. I'm generalizing because I realize there are some people that do this, but it's not as close knit. And so I think that once we had a kid, there was this much greater appreciation for being in South America around family and just like, it's no longer free for all. You know, and in the

Jason Elkins (28:08.072)
Now.

Jason Elkins (28:17.928)
Yeah.

Staci Steele (28:24.016)
the US were very kind of heavily work oriented. And so, you know, he was out all day, he was a chef. And so he was just, you know, gone crazy hours of the day. Zoe, our daughter was in daycare for crazy hours of day. And so it was just wasn't sustainable. We didn't we didn't enjoy the lifestyle that it was becoming. And so we decided we'd move back to Latin America, which has just been an amazing experience since we've been back. We're super stoked. And, and our daughter is just able to finally immerse herself in the culture of her father to do. And I think that's

really important so she can learn both worlds.

Jason Elkins (28:56.648)
Yeah. Cause there's, there's definitely some differences and yeah, I'm proud of the fact and feel very fortunate of the fact that I was born in the U S and you know, I served in the military. I'm pretty patriotic guy. And so I'm saying all that. So then the next thing you can say is, man, the States feels awful boring to me. You know, when it comes to the social stuff, I mean, yeah, there's places like people go out and do things. There's bars and restaurants and stuff in the U S but.

Staci Steele (29:15.758)
Yeah.

Staci Steele (29:25.774)
Sorry.

Jason Elkins (29:27.24)
put in in Colombia and much of Latin America, Mexico as well. And, and, you know, Guatemala, it's people don't like, it's not like we got to get all dressed up and go out to a bar to socialize. I mean, they're sitting in front of the tienda, you know, which is a little market for anybody that's not familiar with the word. It's, it's a little mini Mart, but not really. I mean, they, they sell the very basic essentials, which includes beer and rum.

And then they've got tables out front and they've got the TV going with the soccer game. And it's like, they don't need an excuse to socialize. It's just on the way home from work. You know, they'll sit down, have a beer, smoke a cigarette on the street and just chat with their buddies and their friends. And, and me not being from the culture, I can go sit down there and they'll strike up a conversation with me and, or just, you know, it can be some of the roughest looking neighborhoods that, you know,

Maybe some folks would look at, wow, that neighborhood does not look like a good neighborhood to raise your kid. And I'm sure you could make some cases that maybe some of them would rather not raise their kids there, but there's a park of some sort or an intersection on a street, a dead end street that's real quiet. And all the kids are out playing together and throwing the balls and they've got the dogs and they're, they're just socially so connected where many of the suburbs back in the U S like people.

get off their school bus, they go in the house and they don't leave the house all day. And I feel like the lot, you know, the people I'm around would just think that's crazy. Like, my gosh, how can you sit in the house all day? You know, you didn't go to coffee in the morning and have your croissant and your, you know, your tent though. And they just, they, they wouldn't get it. And I love that. I love, I love seeing that here. It's so, there's always something to look at and watch.

Staci Steele (31:19.086)
Yeah, and we're in Texas too, which, you know, half the year is just like super hot. And so it's just not inviting either. Yeah. Yeah. So we had to make that change, but I was stoked to get back to Latin America or South America, I have to prove I love Peru. I wasn't exactly the one who pushed us to go back to the U .S. initially. I mean, I was open to it and I was open to exploring and living in a new place. But, but yes, I was really excited to come back. it was his idea again. He suggested it.

Jason Elkins (31:24.904)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (31:42.76)
Was he excited as well to come back?

He's like, okay, let's go.

Staci Steele (31:48.078)
So let's do it. So yeah. Yeah.

Jason Elkins (31:50.632)
And I guess that ties into the family stuff. Does he have family close to where you are now? Because it's so important. I could see he's like, my mom wants to see our grand, you know, her granddaughter or whatever. Yeah, I can.

Staci Steele (32:02.21)
Yeah, he's one of four boys and so and the one brother lives so far but he's actually moving back now too. So yeah, we're gonna his mom's quite happy to have all her children back in town.

Jason Elkins (32:16.328)
Yep. And I won't ask you how that works with you. We'll continue on. So anyway, yeah. Yeah.

Staci Steele (32:20.558)
I love her. Are we talking about Mother -in -law? no, I'm super quiet, honestly, not just because I'm being recorded and you know, she doesn't speak English anyways, so it's not like I'm not going to be proud of this, but no, I hit the jackpot with Mother -in -law, so she's fantastic.

Jason Elkins (32:32.776)
huh.

Staci Steele (32:41.55)
actually really stoked to be back. And my mom in the US, she actually lives in California, so she wasn't near us when we were in Texas. And so, you know, either way, poor mom, if you hear this, I'm sorry. Either way, you lost out on me being near you. So it didn't make a difference in our move playbook, you know.

Jason Elkins (32:55.08)
Yep. Was, was there, obviously I'm really fascinated by the Latin culture and that's why I'm asking so many questions like this, but was there, was there some resistance, with his family when you guys first started seeing each other was.

Staci Steele (33:04.43)
Yeah.

Staci Steele (33:12.142)
No, so my husband, his actual, and when you asked about the language bit, his ex -girlfriend, just going into his old history, it was actually French. And so she, you know, his mom was already, and she's, they're a very open -minded family. And I think they're just like love whoever you want to love, which is great. But so he'd already kind of introduced the foreign world.

Jason Elkins (33:34.216)
broken the ice with that. And that, and that can be a challenging thing. And I get it. If you're the typical Latina mother with, you know, your four boys and maybe a couple of girls and you want to be close to the family and then somebody from outside comes in, there's the, I think there's that fear that you're going to take them away. You know, you're going to take them to the U S and they're never going to see them again. And, and, and I get that. And then there's also just everybody in the world has fears and concerns about people they don't understand.

Staci Steele (33:51.406)
Yeah.

Staci Steele (33:55.438)
Right. Right.

Jason Elkins (34:04.2)
You know, and living in, you know, Medellin, Colombia is a good thing. There's plenty of people in Medellin that do not understand why there's a middle aged, you know, gringo hanging out in Medellin. They've got all kinds of stories for why I'm there. And it's hard for them to, you know, I get in the taxi and like, why are you here? What do you love about it? And I'm like, the climate, the culture, the mountains, the trees. And every single time they're like, and the chicas.

Staci Steele (34:32.814)
I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

Jason Elkins (34:32.968)
You know, they just assume that's the only reason I'm there and they just cannot, they just don't believe me. They just think I'm full of it when I, but after a while of me, you know, speaking Spanish with them, I think they kind of start to get it because, you know, somebody come in here for other reasons, doesn't need to, you know, really immerse themselves in the culture. So, but yeah, so.

Staci Steele (34:35.694)
And I'll see you next time.

Staci Steele (34:52.046)
Yeah. Well, I don't think my mother -in -law was really even worried about me even taking her child away because I was so bought into the Peru world at that stage that she was like, good, you'll keep him here. I think that was her mindset, but then he took me elsewhere. So it was on him.

Jason Elkins (35:11.176)
Yeah, if I meet, if I meet people and they're like, yeah, trying to think of an example, but maybe I meet somebody and they're like, do you want to move back to where do you live in the US? I don't live in the US. I live here. Like, and if, if there's any inkling that they, you know, if, if I'm dating and, and they're like, if I get any inkling that they want to actually be with an American guy so they can go back to the US, I'll just tell them, I'm not going back. You're barking up the wrong tree. Cause.

Staci Steele (35:22.766)
Thank you.

Jason Elkins (35:39.752)
This is, I, you know, I'll go back and visit, you know, my mom's there, my dad's there, my son's there, there's reasons, but yeah, it's, I'm just so happy here every day. So, and you're, are you in Lima? Where in Peru are you?

Staci Steele (35:54.702)
Yeah, I'm in Lima, Peru. Yeah, this is where I'm at. It just seems to make, I mean, there's always been conversation around maybe the Cusco Sacred Valley, which is another great place. But I think Lima is just, it's more metropolitan. You know, it's easier for travel with the international airport here and just tons of restaurants and like the lifestyle I think is just a little bit in line with what I am most comfortable with. But yeah, Lima, Peru.

Jason Elkins (36:18.792)
Right. So with the expansion of SA Expeditions into South Africa, Southeast Asia, all those places, is that putting more demands on you as far as traveling? Are you out and about more often now? Cause that's challenged when you've got a four year old.

Staci Steele (36:33.902)
So not, yeah, no, for sure. But not so much this year. I think this year's a really big year of growth for us, really kind of establishing those destinations. I did, I went to India last year as part of kind of our, you know, growth and development.

But yeah, I think it's more, there will be more opportunity to travel here in the future. We've got, you know, a company summit on the horizon, but it's not as part of like the actual growth of the company. I think it's more, you know, I travel maybe a few times a year. It's, it's not all that crazy and often it's a little bit more local. So in South America kind of area, local in that sense. But you know, the travel is actually made easier for me now that we're living back in Peru.

Jason Elkins (37:16.04)
Right, yeah.

Staci Steele (37:22.158)
because of the support, it's just more feasible financially as well. Because in the US to have support like that isn't as easy. And so yeah, that was also a big push for us to return into Peru, is it could help me expand my travel opportunity as we go worldwide. So there was an opportunity potentially to go to South Africa this year. It didn't pan out. But yeah, there's always opportunity with our company, especially as we are growing and expanding, as you said.

Jason Elkins (37:49.768)
We should, we should touch on growing and expanding. Cause obviously that's, that's come up quite a few times in the conversation. and I, I have this gut that tells me that people, maybe some of the people listen to this podcast or people that are looking to get into the industry. they're in the industry, but they, they want to hear conversations with people like yourself. Maybe they're trying to figure out where they want to go, what they want to do, who they want to work with. So maybe share a little bit about essays as they expand.

Staci Steele (37:54.926)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (38:19.368)
Looking for new people. What should listeners that like what I just described, what should they know about either SA Expeditions or just your general insights and feedback into how to get a job in this business or how to make sure you're aligning with the right people.

Staci Steele (38:34.606)
Yeah, yeah, so I mean, for us personally right now, it is a year of growth, like I mentioned, but by that, I mean, we're bringing on more destination experts to support us with the destination growth that we're doing. You know, I think.

For one, you can also direct you to our careers page. But you can look at on our careers page, we have more detail as far as like what we're looking for in a destination expert. But generally speaking in the gig itself, getting firsthand travel experience under your belt is really important because our sales team, they can really speak to the experience firsthand, having been to certain regions. But we also encourage our team to travel a lot more. So we as a company provide like travel opportunity as much as we can.

possible for our team to get on the ground and see things firsthand. But also not even just that, just like sales background in general. If you've worked in the tourism industry, that's an extra perk. But if you haven't, having any kind of sales background is helpful just because of how you interact and engage with a client is key for being in the sales front. Obviously, you can be in marketing. There's a lot of other aspects of the job. But for speaking to what I know,

is our sales world. And so I think sales experience, travel experience, and just, you know, it's really key, obviously, that you're your native English or at least just like high level English because our

At least in our case, our primary client is North American, so being able to communicate. Our team is entirely remote, so location doesn't really matter to us. In fact, it allows that kind of level of flexibility for our team to really, it helps us because our team is so knowledgeable for the destinations because they are remote and they can actually go anywhere in the world and see things firsthand without it really impacting their sales ability.

Jason Elkins (40:05.48)
Mm -mm.

Jason Elkins (40:29.944)
So would you say that to the level of, let's say you needed a destination specialist for Brazil and you've got somebody that communicates well in English and seems like a good fit and they live in Brazil, that would be a perk, right?

Staci Steele (40:31.47)
So yeah.

Staci Steele (40:46.318)
Yeah, potentially. I mean, so right now we specialize by region and so.

Really, it's all of South America. And so you don't have to live in the region. We do encourage getting there and exploring it. But you don't actually have to live there. If you can just speak to it and understand the product, I mean, that'll do wonders because it's all about setting expectation and be able to work with the client to build and curate their perfect trip. Because at Say Expeditions, what we do is we do private custom. So it's all tailor -made travel. And we really kind of handle everything from when the clients get to South America or whatever destination that is.

Jason Elkins (40:53.992)
Okay.

Staci Steele (41:21.888)
that they're traveling to until they return home. And so it's the destination expert, what we call our sales specialists, they work with that client from start to finish to really kind of curate that perfect trip. And so being able to speak to the destination, being able to actually sell the client on the destination, I guess, not even like a hard sale or anything, but being able to speak to them passionately about it and understand the ins and outs of the region is going to just increase your likelihood of sales.

Jason Elkins (41:40.648)
Mm -hmm.

Jason Elkins (41:49.096)
Right, right. You'd mentioned that you worked as a server, and it reminded me of a conversation I just spoke with Monica Sundum from Adventure Life recently.

And she specifically, I think the conversation came up about like, who do you hire? You know, who do you hire as a guide or to lead group trips? And, and she said, servers, you know, most of the people on my team that have been the best have, you know, have some sort of background working in restaurants because they're able to handle a lot of things all at once and still keep the face and still, you know, engage with people. They come from, you know, a nature of wanting to serve people.

I would think maybe some school teachers might be good as well, you know, in the sense that if they like to kind of educate and help people through the process and help them create an experience. Are there any other careers that like, if you see on a resume, you're like, yeah, that's that, that, that kind of fits the, what do you call it? The avatar for our best sales agents. Are there any other jobs or backgrounds that just seem to keep coming up?

Staci Steele (42:54.638)
Hmm, I was trying to think if there's anything that I see repeated on repetition. Not necessarily, you know, interestingly enough, we get a lot of candidates that come that have already been established in there. In fact, these some these tend to be some of the better candidates that already have, you know, established careers in it's in a different realm. So maybe they were, I don't know, a lawyer, maybe they were, you know.

whatever it may be, in tech or whatever it may be. But because they've had kind of career experience that kind of end working in an industry where maybe they might have interacted or engaged with our certain client base. So we tend to get our client and so yeah, that tends to kind of give you a leg up. But yeah, like you said, I think.

Jason Elkins (43:33.704)
Yeah, same type. Yeah.

Staci Steele (43:42.094)
we always will interview and have a one -on -one with people. And you can tell just when you meet someone, their personality, I think, whether or not, how they engage with you too, I think says a lot about someone. And so, by asking maybe certain questions or trying to understand if they are good at multitasking, like you said, being a server, that's huge. And just being able to work well under pressure or, you know.

I mean, there's not a whole lot of pressure. It depends on the pressure you put on yourself because our sales team is, they're quite independent by nature. And so like the gig itself. And so really kind of the level of work that they take on themselves is up to them.

Jason Elkins (44:12.584)
yeah.

Jason Elkins (44:24.712)
What is that in that type of role? What do you think is the thing that produces or potentially could produce the most sense of pressure? Cause I know what my answer would be having worked in the business for quite a while, but I'm curious, like, what is the thing that maybe keeps them up at night? Who are they afraid to let down or what, where does that pressure come from?

Staci Steele (44:43.598)
Yeah, there's probably a ton of things. Slight tangent on that question though. It's interesting because you wonder like whenever you have these pressures in a work world role or whatever it is, like I remember when I was waitressing, you would just constantly could not get to that table. You just could not get to that table in your dreams. You know, you're having these nightmares. It's like the pressure.

Jason Elkins (45:02.504)
Mm -hmm. yeah.

Staci Steele (45:06.798)
And it stems from like whatever pressures you're dealing with on the daily. And so I've asked our sales team before, like, what is it that you're, what are you dreaming of at night? And I think it's more like mistransfers or just like a flight was canceled or whatever it is. I think those really kind of are, that's, that's probably more of the pressure. I mean, there's definitely those, the more, you know, complicated client personalities too that.

Jason Elkins (45:15.496)
What keeps you awake at night? Yeah, yeah.

Yes.

Staci Steele (45:35.342)
Maybe make you run in circles before you can like land on the most ideal itinerary But in terms of like just pressure and stress probably if there were anything that were to go wrong during their trip and and you know You put so much time and energy in your heart and soul and building out that trip and then you know, and then it doesn't go off Your hands, you know, and it's just yeah

Jason Elkins (45:52.744)
You convince them this is the right trip. We're the right company to do it for you. We'll make sure that everything, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Staci Steele (46:02.862)
That would probably, I think, be the stem of most of the pressure.

Jason Elkins (46:06.536)
And, and I think that's interesting because I, I've been fortunate to do a lot of kind of inspection trips, fam trips, whatever, whatever. And I've been to some places that were amazing and I've had some experiences that are like, my gosh, this would be horrible if this happened to one of my clients. And so I'm super, super aware of it. And sometimes when I've worked with people a little bit newer, they don't understand how important things like a transfer.

You know, and it's not whether the transfer comes, it could be as simple as where did they park? What was on the sign? Cause if it doesn't match what you told them, it was going to be, it can create so much anxiety. We discussed traveling outside of the country, you know, going to places where you're not comfortable. You don't speak the language. And maybe that's that first transfer. Like I think is the most important one. You know, when they get off the plane the first time, because that sets the stage for everything. If it's a.

Staci Steele (47:00.462)
President.

Jason Elkins (47:02.056)
10 minute late transfer at the end of the trip. It's a totally different deal than 10 minutes late at the beginning of the trip. And yeah, that was what would keep me awake at night was are my clients going to enjoy this as much as I think they will? You know, are the people that are halfway around the world that I don't see every day, are they going to show up on time and do what they're supposed to do? And I was always...

At the back end, when it was a great trip, it was like, it was amazing. It was like a drug almost. It was if I led a group trip, but you know, I was, I was pretty intense the whole time in my head, just making sure everything's going well. And then as soon as we get to the airport, give the hugs goodbye, they walked towards their gate. I walked towards mine. That's the first time I'd relax after a week and a half with my clients. It was like, okay, everything, there's nothing more I can do to make sure that they had a great trip.

Staci Steele (47:50.766)
Yeah, it's stressful. Yeah.

Staci Steele (47:56.334)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (47:56.392)
And then also, but on the flip side, when something went wrong, it was, you know, cause I always looked at it like people have limited time or family, you know, it's their last trip with their teenage son or something to go somewhere and something happens and you can't take that back. You can't just, your washing machine broke before the warranty ran out. Don't worry. We'll give you a new one. You just can't replace that stuff. So.

Staci Steele (48:03.95)
Exactly. That's good.

Yeah.

Staci Steele (48:21.71)
No, I agree. I mean, a lot of our clients too coming from North America.

They're busy professionals and they might have like two weeks off and this is their one, two, you know, time to vacation throughout the year. And so often it's jam packed, you know, they want to get everything in and so there's not room for error. And so, I mean, thankfully we're actually not to like to our horn, but we are, I think we've got a lot of really well established partnerships in place. Having worked in South America since 2010, you know, we're really well established, especially in South America. And so that's what we're doing.

as we're implementing that worldwide.

But I will say that it's not very often that we have errors. We're not perfect. It happens. But I think it's how you handle the errors, which really kind of makes all the difference. And so we do our really best. We're honest humans. We make mistakes. But when we make mistakes, we recognize that. We do our best to fix it. And so I think a lot of our sales team, they don't really stress so much for errors necessarily, because they know we're going to handle it well themselves as being part of our team. It's just that.

Jason Elkins (49:07.016)
Yes.

Staci Steele (49:28.048)
personal pride that's kind of hit I think whenever...

Jason Elkins (49:31.016)
Well, and you get attached to people, right? You get attached to people in there because they're telling you, you're asking them, why is this trip important to you? And they, they tell you, I haven't, my mom has never had a passport and she finally got a passport for this trip because I've been telling her she needed to go to Chile and see, you know, something down there. And yes, you get attached to them. And then it's like, you just really, you know, you, I don't know. I know I did. And I suspect most of the really good sales people.

Staci Steele (49:50.062)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jason Elkins (49:59.88)
I don't even like the word sales, salespeople, trip planners, whatever you want to call them, destination specialists. You know, they, they do care. And it's the same person that if they drop a plate of food on somebody in a restaurant, they feel bad, you know, as opposed to, well, it's not my fault. You know, the chef heated the plate too much, you know, whatever. So, all right, cool. So we covered, covered a lot of stuff there.

Staci Steele (50:03.118)
That's good.

Staci Steele (50:11.694)
Absolutely. Thanks, all. Yeah.

Staci Steele (50:22.126)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (50:28.424)
Why I have so many questions, probably just keep going forever. And, and you've got a four year old and a job. Tell me Stacey, what, what should we have touched on that I missed? What, what should have asked you? one of, I mean, I wrote down a couple of things. Actually, I do want to touch on this real quick is, is, cause I know it's important to you. I believe it's, you know, important to the brand SA Expeditions, but the communities, you know, giving back to the communities and.

Staci Steele (50:36.494)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (50:58.184)
What, cause we've, we've talked a little bit about what we do for our clients, you know, and they've got limited time and resources, whatever. And we worry about them, but then we also have the people on the other side that are super, super important. Like, like critical. I don't know how I don't even know the word to say, because if the people in the destination. Aren't happy, aren't able to engage with and welcome our guests, then sending our guests there isn't going to help. So what are your thoughts on that?

Staci Steele (51:28.302)
Yeah, I mean, as far as like the people on the ground, our guides, our drivers, the local destinations that we send our clients to, I mean, I think the biggest thing is we look at ourselves more as like a network. So, you know, our guides aren't necessarily like our guide per se. They work for a company that then works with us, but they are an extension of ourselves. So that's to say that we...

We do our best to...

You know, to really kind of vet the services that we work with first, we try to work in the best, most kind of conscious way possible, like with the local communities we interact with. You know, we try not to...

There's like this Disneyland kind of experience. You can see whenever you go to like the Andes of Peru or whatnot. So we try to make it something that's a little bit more closer and dear to our heart. Communities that we know we treat well, they get paid well for the visits. Our intentions are well intended. So for example, like in Peru.

Jason Elkins (52:20.904)
Yeah.

Staci Steele (52:38.734)
one of the communities we actually work with closely has close ties to the CEO of our company. And he lived in the Valley for a while and he met the families out there. And so currently what we do is we have clients go and visit this community in person and they'll meet the goddaughter of our CEO and get to interact with the family and just explore.

the local customs and culture, the local culture there through their guide who's with them, who's able to translate the case. Maybe they don't speak Spanish because, you know, Quechua is the native language of the Andes. And so we're quite, I think, conscious of those kinds of, you know, local experiences that we might provide in a given given destination. But also on the flip side, we're, you know,

We, how do I say it? It's just like, we care about our client experience, but also very much so the guide. So we have guides feedback to us as much as the clients provide feedback about the guides. It goes both ways. So we hear what clients say as well as what our guides say on the ground to understand what's working and what's not working. And also try to select the best kind of quality hotels that are gonna...

Jason Elkins (53:50.92)
Mm -hmm.

Staci Steele (54:03.95)
provide the best experience for our clients, but also not a negative impact to the local community. If we hear that maybe there's not some great practices happening on the ground through certain properties, we actually take that very seriously and try to restructure the specific services that we might be offering our clients. Or like the biggest thing too, not to focus so much on Peru, but as I live in Peru in the moment, the way there's been lots of...

lots of changes in policy around the way people operate like the traditional Inca trail and the porter rights and how much porters are earning. And there are some companies that bypass those rules and might still pay lower wages under the table. So we do our best.

to abide by those local laws in place. We ensure that our team is paid fairly. That's really important, or more so in some cases. And so I think just being attuned to how you're impacting local communities and ensuring that you're not underselling the experience at your own benefit is really important. So we just try to stay attuned to what's happening local and see how we can improve our practices in line with that.

Jason Elkins (55:07.208)
Mm -hmm.

Jason Elkins (55:16.488)
That's very cool. Cause yeah, the people on the ground are so incredibly important. I mean, Machu Pichu, okay, Machu Pichu is cool. Like, you know, I haven't been, but I've heard one of the few that haven't. yeah, I'm sure it's absolutely incredible. And if you said to me, Jason, we're going to drop you at the bottom of the trail, whatever by yourself and point you in the right direction. You're going to walk up to the top. You're going to have this. You're going to see everything there is to see in Machu Pichu by yourself.

Staci Steele (55:26.83)
Yeah. What do you think? Yeah.

Staci Steele (55:45.87)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jason Elkins (55:46.12)
Like that sucks. That sounds horrible. You know, and everything, Machu Picchu is still there, but it's the connection with the guides or maybe the porters. I don't know that much about the trip. Potentially other guests, you know, that you might run into along the way. Maybe you're not a backpacker, but you run into a group of backpackers on the trail somewhere and you're able to connect. And it's really the big world made small is all about that, bringing people together. And without the people involved, I just...

Yeah, I mean, Tom.

Staci Steele (56:17.454)
Well, we also, so like our guides, depending on the destination, depending on how much demand we have in a new destination, but we do have, you know, guides that they might not work for us, but they are exclusive to our brand. And so, you know, I mentioned we have our company summit, being a remote company, that's kind of one of the things that we do to bring our community together. And this year it's going to be in Medellin. I think I mentioned that to you.

Jason Elkins (56:44.104)
I'm going to make sure we connect when you're there if I'm still there.

Staci Steele (56:46.542)
That'll be fun. But in the past, and this year it's going to be a little bit more of our core network that we're bringing together. But in the past, we've actually had our company summits where we brought extended network. And so some of that was some of our key guides in destinations. And so we would bring them. They would come to our summits. And.

And our destination experts would be sharing beers with our guide who serviced their client, was their main go -to. So it's just, we have close ties. We try to keep connected and linked into the community as much as possible. But.

Jason Elkins (57:28.488)
And you kind of imagine what a great thing that is for the clients, the guides, you. So let's say, you know, Stacey, back when you were, you know, more in the destination specialist, you know, planner role, and you know, the guide that's going to be hiking the trail with them, you've had a beer with them somewhere, you maybe hike the trail with them and your client shows up and they, yeah, Stacey told us this and that and this and yeah, Stacey's great. Da da da da.

And you know guides, you know these guides. They'll pull out their phone and show the client a picture of them having a beer with you in Medellin or whatever, because that's how guides are, right? They're just like.

Staci Steele (58:03.086)
It does work. Yeah. And not even you at the, but the guide with another guide who the clients are going to link up with in Buenos Aires after they leave Peru or in Chile, the guides know each other, you know, because they met.

Jason Elkins (58:15.176)
Yeah. Say hi, say hi to him when he gets, you know, show him this here, make sure you show him this picture of, you know, fishing guides are the same way, you know, make sure you show the next guide who I know him. He's great, but make sure you show him the picture of the big fishery card or whatever. And, and it's fun and you don't. Some of the bigger co I don't want to say bigger companies and like, as in SSA is not big, but I think, you know what I mean? Some of the maybe less personal companies, you just, you don't have that.

Staci Steele (58:30.83)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (58:44.424)
person that's dealing with the client on the phone is has an itinerary and little blocks they can move things around and this is the trip this is what I sell and and the question doesn't even come up have you been there where yeah it's a totally different experience when you step to that level and when you've got those relationships with people on the ground it's it's super cool I love it so

Staci Steele (59:06.094)
Yeah, and even if it's not the company summit, you know, we try to encourage our team providing stipends and whatnot to get them on the ground and travel our destinations. And so they'll, you know, visit, see the dogs. He's a lab pit bull mix. But yeah, so we'll get our destination experts on the ground and they'll meet the guides and the different destinations when they travel there as well. So even if it's not through the summit, yeah, there's a lot of...

Jason Elkins (59:13.896)
Yeah.

Jason Elkins (59:18.184)
I do. I see your dog for those of you that are just listening. Beautiful. Looks like a black lab, is it?

Okay.

Staci Steele (59:34.99)
We encourage it. There's just so many benefits, not only being able to speak to it, but yeah, clients too. They meet these guides and the guides being able to say that they knew their destination expert is fun.

Jason Elkins (59:46.792)
And it's also good for your destination experts because if they're like me, they enjoy that. I mean, yes, it's work. I know that when they're gone for two weeks and they go home and their family's like, you were off messing around in South America, whatever, whatever. Yeah, I know. And then you've got the days of writing reports to share with the team or yeah, it's not always quite as glamorous, but we're all doing it for a reason. I'm sure most of the people that do well in the...

Staci Steele (59:52.334)
Exactly.

Staci Steele (59:59.502)
Thank you.

Jason Elkins (01:00:15.528)
adventure travel space have the skills and ability to probably make more money doing something else. I'm just going to say that. I think that's probably the case. but there's, but you don't get the satisfaction. I love reading reviews, you know, when, when people were writing reviews about my business or, or bus travel, and it was just, I was, I just loved it. It just like, I would, it's kind of boring or weird. Maybe it says something about me, but I'd sit on the couch sometimes on.

Friday night, didn't have anything else to do. I'd sit there and scroll through my trip advisor reviews and just like bring back memories and just reconnect with the people. And, you know, cause they'll mention personal things. it was our anniversary or I got, you know, my, my boyfriend proposed to me, my now husband proposed to me and Jason's balloon, whatever, whatever. And it's, you know, I had a hotter balloon ride businesses specifically what I'm talking about. But anyway, all right, Stacy, anything, anything else we need to make sure we impart on our listeners before we wrap up?

Staci Steele (01:00:44.686)
and stop re -warning.

Staci Steele (01:01:10.67)
I don't know. Yeah. Well, there's so much more to talk about. I don't know specifically.

Jason Elkins (01:01:15.016)
All right, we'll come back for another episode if you think of that. I know there's more, I know there's more stuff, but it's hard to take years and years of experience in this business and condense it into a one hour conversation. But I. Yeah.

Staci Steele (01:01:25.102)
For sure, I know it's been a fun ride. We've been around since 2010 and I've been here with them for about 12 years now. So it's been a fun ride.

Jason Elkins (01:01:35.368)
And you either really still enjoy it, because I'm looking at your face, I've been looking at your face for an hour. You either really still enjoy it or you're really good at pretending. Because I see the energy.

Staci Steele (01:01:39.79)
Thank you.

No, you know, I mean, the thing is, I did come in, I mean, everyone pretty much in the management role and just, I think, in a lot of different roles within our company.

Just about everyone's been a destination expert, been in the sales gig, quote unquote, and have moved up. And so I've been fortunate enough to be able to explore different sides and realms of the business and have grown. I was the sales manager after that, and now I'm the commercial manager. But beyond that, I really do.

fully enjoy working with my peers. And so we've got a really well -rounded group of people on our team. And the other three, Dave, Nick, who co -founded the company, and then Reva, who's the COO. They've been obviously since the beginning, and Reva's been on since the very beginning pretty much too. And so it's been fun working alongside them. And I've learned so much. And I continue to learn so much, especially as we grow as a company. And so yeah, it's kept me intrigued.

and you know I'm still really enjoying it.

Jason Elkins (01:02:51.272)
Very cool. Well, I can see it on your face and I think the listeners hear it in your voice. And I suspect there's some people listening to this that are pretty turned on to the SA Expeditions at this point and probably be visiting your career. I'll probably be on your career bridge here later. It sounds like a pretty good thing to do. So anyway, Stacey, thank you so much for joining us.

Staci Steele (01:03:01.614)
Thank you.

Staci Steele (01:03:05.474)
Yeah. No, it's been my pleasure. Thank you. Bye.