Jalisa Whitley is reshaping the travel landscape as Founder and CEO of BOOKED Trips. She's created an ecosystem where stories come alive in physical spaces around the world, generating positive impact for destinations, driving revenue for local artists and entrepreneurs, and enabling people to connect, be entertained, and inspired.

BOOKED Trips specializes in curated, book-inspired small group travel experiences that seamlessly weave together literature, history, culture, and exploration. Since launching in 2022, the company has welcomed 120 travelers from across the U.S., Canada, Kenya, Mexico, India, Germany, Trinidad and Tobago, Reunion Island, and South Africa. Jalisa champions storytelling as a powerful tool for navigating our collective future, believing it can be both dangerous and disruptive in the best possible way by transforming perspectives and fostering connection.

A native of Geneva, New York and a current resident of the world, Jalisa received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Sociology and Public Policy from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and a Masters of Public Policy in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park.