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About Dominican Abroad
Dominican Abroad is a digital media platform and provider of cultural heritage trips and wellness retreats abroad.
On the digital side, that’s blog posts/articles, videos, and photography, related to travel, culture, and lifestyle. The articles include how-to travel guides, cultural insights, and sustainable/wellness lifestyle tips through the lens of a multicultural New Yorker.
Our trips and experiences take place in New York City, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, including the popular Heritage Tour to the Dominican Republic which has been featured in the New York Times and Oprah Magazine.
Mission
Digital Content & Travel Services
Gerry Isabelle is a Dominican-American published travel writer and photographer based in NYC with degrees in Global Political Economics and International Business.
In 2017, after working in law/finance, she went full time with her passion projects in travel, culture, community, and lifestyle by creating this digital platform to :
- Encourage diversity in travel
- Inspire culturally immersive travel
- Support cultural heritage preservation
- Empower others to embrace a more holistic lifestyle
Today, Gerry also runs social good/community initiatives, wellness retreats and cultural heritage tours in collaboration with local small businesses and community leaders. Gerry also curates educational trips to Cuba (in support of the Cuban people).
Publications and features include: The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes Magazine, Havana Times, Bustle, Hip Latina, Huffington Post and much more.
HOW THE BLOG BEGAN
Del Bronx Pal’ Mundo
Perhaps it was growing up in the 90’s Bronx that drove me to want to uninhibitedly explore the world. Or maybe it was because I was born and raised in a unique Dominican diaspora community within an especially diverse American city that cultivated a special appreciation for global culture and world travel.
While studying in Spain as a teenager, I realized how multicultural travelers, often tend to have a more nuanced and multi-layered way of processing cross-cultural interactions and adapting to diverse environments.
Further realizing this unique contrast as well as the lack of diverse representation in travel, as I went on to travel to over 45 different countries, I decided to share my multicultural perspective on unique places and experiences around the world through my writing and photography while highlighting my beloved Dominican heritage as an American traveler.
Today, I am base in beautiful Brooklyn, New York.
Team members
Our team is comprised of a passionate and diverse group of individuals from around the world with a shared love for travel, culture, history, and wellness.
MELITA SMOLIC
TRIP COORDINATOR & CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Melita is fluent in Spanish, English and Croatian. She’s lived in 4 different countries and the Dominican Republic is her favorite place in the world. She has a degree in Politics and Economics and joined the Dominican Abroad team after having gone on the Dominican Heritage Tour!
Team members
Our team is comprised of a passionate and diverse group of individuals from around the world with a shared love for travel, culture, history, and wellness.
FLORaNNY LORENZO
ASSISTANT TOUR GUIDE & GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Floranny is a Dominican artist who lives in San Cristobal, Santo Domingo and graduated in Graphic Design and Biology. She helps facilitate our art workshops in the rural farm towns of Monte Plata, DR. On her free time she loves hiking, travel and painting.
Team members
Our team is comprised of a passionate and diverse group of individuals from around the world with a shared love for travel, culture, history, and wellness.
TIA RAMONA
VILLAGE CHEF & INSTRUCTOR
Tia Ramona is a renown chef in Monte Plata, Dominican Republic for some of the hardest dishes to make. Her mother was a curandera (rural healer) and thus has passed down to her the Afro-Taino medicinal wisdom of generations. She provides cooking lessons in the rural farm village of Chirino, Monte Plata to travelers interested in a culturally immersive/gastronomy experience using locally sourced farm-to-table ingredients.
Team members
Our team is comprised of a passionate and diverse group of individuals from around the world with a shared love for travel, culture, history, and wellness.
PABLO FELIZ
MARINE BIOLOGY RESEARCHER + Professor
Pablo specializes in marine biology and ecology of the southwest Dominican Republic. He is passionate about sustainability, wildlife, and ethical eco-tourism. He co-leads our tours in the Southwest Dominican Republic.