Meet Nancy Novogrod
LOCAL FOREIGNER’S TEAM OF INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS
This post is part of our series celebrating our Independent Contractors and Hosting Program. The Local Foreigner's Hosting Program provides a platform of systems and support for independent travel advisors.
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A FAMILIAR NAME IN TRAVEL
If the name Nancy Novogrod sounds familiar, you probably recognize her byline from the “Letter from the Editor” section of Travel + Leisure. From 1993–2014, Nancy served as Editor-in-Chief, spearheading the magazine’s transition to the digital age and instituting brand hallmarks like the annual World’s Best Awards. But Nancy’s enterprising spirit reaches beyond her 21-year tenure with Travel + Leisure. Her latest venture, Culturati Travel Design, is a culturally-focused travel planning service, where Nancy uses her years of experience, unmatched industry connections, and passion for art, architecture, food, and style to plan one-of-a-kind trips for clients.
Whether it’s the Ming Chinese chairs she stumbled upon in a London antiques market or the chili crab she ate at a locals-only Singapore eatery, her collection of travel experiences spans the globe.
CATCHING THE BUG
A native New Yorker, Nancy caught the travel bug at an early age, when she tagged along with her mother — a celebrated “career woman” — on business trips and family vacations. After graduating from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Art History, she pursued a career in publishing, which brought her from the fiction department of The New Yorker to the editor’s desk of House & Garden, before finally landing her at Travel + Leisure.
With T+L, she traveled from Australia and New Zealand, to China, Brazil, the Maldives, and everywhere in between. She estimates her country count is somewhere in the high 90s and can’t quite recall the number of passports she’s burned through in the last 30 years. Instead she prefers to focus on the art, food, and people she’s encountered along the way. Whether it’s the Ming Chinese chairs she stumbled upon in a London antiques market or the chili crab she ate at a locals-only Singapore eatery, her collection of travel experiences spans the globe — and she’s only just getting started!
Nancy joined the Local Foreigner eager to be a part of a reciprocal team, where knowledge is shared and each member is focused on a common goal.
EVER THE INNOVATOR
Nancy came to the Local Foreigner in the fall of 2019, hoping to expand her already successful business. Ever the innovator, Nancy was looking for a fresh approach to travel planning and wanted to establish herself with a team whose work ethic aligned with her own. She joined the Local Foreigner eager to be a part of a reciprocal team, where knowledge is shared and each member is focused on a common goal. During the first few weeks of her onboarding and training, it was clear that Nancy was a natural fit within the Local Foreigner fold. We quickly got her up to speed, teaching her how to use our customized CRM, introducing her to our industry contacts, and offering a few Instagram tips and tricks. Naturally, we’ll be putting her talents to good use when we launch her dedicated blog column — Notes from Nancy — later this year.
“Local Foreigner is young, iconoclastic, and has reinvented the approach to travel planning.”
THE NEXT CHAPTER
Dressed to impress and perfectly coiffed, Nancy fills the room with an air of sophistication every time she walks into the office. So we were particularly chuffed when she called our SoHo headquarters “increasingly stylish” after a recent renovation. But beyond the office’s good looks, Nancy describes TLF as “a very special circle of intelligent and modern innovators with enormous access to the latest and best information.” She’s particularly impressed by the team’s “tireless dedication to uncovering the best resources and information, passion for learning and sharing, and adherence to maintaining a system of support.”