Meet Tracy Stromberg
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.
Learn more about joining our team +
West Coast transplant
Tracy Stromberg is a ray of California sunshine in the middle of New York. Having grown up in Southern California and graduated from University of California at Santa Barbara, she moved east after college graduation, wooed by the excitement of Manhattan – and the promise of not having to have a car. Footloose and fancy free (or at least sans car payment), Tracy launched herself into the heady world of mid-aughts New York celebrity culture. “I started out working for a very high-touch concierge company in its early stages and became a talent broker in the age of prime US Weekly. It was such an exciting time to be in the city as the public’s relationship with celebrities changed and they became more accessible. I was in my early twenties, going to events every night and running interference with all these big names. It was a huge time for nightlife and the New York restaurant scene, and I met so many interesting people, many of whom are still in the city and in the hospitality industry all these years later.”
When the 2008 recession hit, much of the fizz went out of the party scene, and Tracy transitioned to music, reporting to the CEO of Epic Records. “It was an incredibly fun job, but more than that, the role turned me into a service provider. I love doing things for people, creating a great experience or memory for them, and working in those celebrity spaces gave me the ability to work with personalities all over the map; it taught me to anticipate people’s needs in advance.”
“I love doing things for people, creating a great experience or memory for them, and working in those celebrity spaces gave me the ability to work with personalities all over the map; it taught me to anticipate people’s needs in advance.”
-Tracy Stromberg
a true local foreigner
While her early career trajectory took her into some pretty rarified spaces, Tracy’s passion for travel preceded her move to New York. “When I was 14, my parents sent me on a summer program to live with families in Switzerland, Spain, France, and Germany, and that was the experience that hooked me. I actually got in trouble – they called my mom and said I was spending too much time with local kids and not enough time with the rest of the kids in the program – oops.” She hurried back to Europe a few years later, to study abroad during college. “I spent more than a semester in Salamanca when I was a junior in college, and I had the best time. They probably still remember me there,” she laughs. “I don’t take myself too seriously, and I tend to make a new best friend on every trip. I also have a lot of quirky talents - I am pretty good rapper and a mimic; I can do Nicki Minaj, the Beastie Boys, Iggy Azalea. I actually rapped my wedding vows as a surprise - we were at the chuppah, and my husband did his vows, and then I cleared my throat and stepped up to the mic…”
puttin on the ritz
After taking a few years away from the office when her daughters were young, one of Tracy’s best friends encouraged her to combine her flexibility and comfort working with diverse personalities with her love for travel, and showed her the ropes of the business. “When I started in travel, I thought it was going to be a side project, which I think happens a lot – people think it’s glamorous and that they can do it on the weekends for a few hours. But you learn quickly that if you have a passion for the industry and if you want to build something great, it can’t be a side project – it’s more than full time. After being a mom, being a travel advisor is my biggest life role.”
Tracy is a shopper, and she never shows up anywhere looking less than 100%. “Look, I am not a light packer. I try on all my outfits beforehand and take photos of each one. Although, to be fair, my husband is the same way – he brought three dinner jackets to Marbella.” She’s also good at packing a lot into a given trip – “If I can get a mix of culture, food, and adventure into an itinerary, that’s a perfect trip. That’s my ultimate trifecta.” And she has passed her good taste along to her daughters. “I took my seven-year-old daughter to Paris recently, and it’s one of my favorite travel memories. Everything is in comparison to the Ritz Paris now. She stalks their website in her free time.”
“You learn quickly that if you have a passion for the industry and if you want to build something great, it can’t be a side project – it’s more than full time. After being a mom, being a travel advisor is my biggest life role.”
Family Matters
And it’s not just her daughters and husband that Tracy shares a love of travel with – one of her favorite aspects of the job is working with her sister, Whitney. “Whitney and I work together every day, and I think it’s my favorite part of the career. It’s something we have together in our adult lives, and we’ve never been closer, and I think that’s a beautiful example of what travel can do – it brings people closer through shared experience.”
Sharing that experience of special family travel is what drives Tracy’s business. “I love working with families – growing with them over the years, as they transition from the resorts with kids’ clubs to the more intrepid destinations that are a bit more out of the box. We’re a small company and we know each client, and most importantly, we have an emotional stake in each trip – this job is emotional for us, and we want each trip to go really, really well. That’s what makes me excited to turn on my computer each morning.”