Kita the Explorer

June 18, 2017
Tonight our guest is Marquita, the person behind Kita the Explorer, living in the Atlanta, GA area. She is an accountant by day but her passion is Kita the Explorer initiative. We have conducted an interview with Marquita.


Why do you want to run your initiative and having the focus about "Vlogging, Planning, and the Environment”?

I originally started this initiative as vlog to document my adventures and stories while traveling the world based on encouragement from friends as I had amazing pictures, tips, stories, and had been to several places (14 countries and counting). Vlogging allows for my viewers to see what they can do in a country while learning my personality while providing them tips on how to make their travels better. I quickly realized I enjoy planning and preparing for upcoming trips whether that is putting an itinerary together or creating a travel budget. So I took that joy to help my viewers or fellow Explorers save time and plan their next trip.

I get concerned when I see Earth structures easily collapsing. I always feel bad catching flights when planes contribute to poor air quality. I know climate change is real and we as human beings are not taking care of planet Earth, our home. My first step of adding this into Kita the Explorer is taking an environmental tour in Costa Rica later this year. I will get to learn about the rainforest, animals, and complete some community service. This will be just the beginning of what is to come for this piece of Kita the Explorer! So stay tuned!

When did you launch it and why did you choose this time?

I launched Kita the Explorer in July 2016 during my first international solo trip! It allowed for family and friends to see I was safe and enjoying life in Belize!


How long did you take to conceptualise "Kita the Explorer”?

It took me about a month after I first started vlogging to know I want to do more for the environment while traveling as well as help others plan their trips. It took about six months to put all of my visualizations into a format that everyone can see.

 

What has been the most challenging aspects of running this initiative?

For me, there have been two challenges I have run into while running and getting this initiative started.
One challenge was trying to determine how to fit all of my passions and concerns into one mold and determine how they are all connected. This took a lot of thinking, reorganizing, and jotting down notes to see how all my passions fit into one.

My second challenge is determining which platform is best for finding fellow Explorers. Where are they located?!?! Where can I find them? How do I get them to join this community? I currently have it narrowed down to Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube but I still utilize other sites to reach others. I also network in my community to explain my initiative in person. This is all part of my continuous growth and progress to make something better for all Explorers!

Who did you meet along your journey? Which are some of the interesting people, what did you learn from them?

I haven’t met this person yet (I hope to meet her one day) but I’m a part of her travel tribe aka the urban travel movement. Her name is Evita Robinson and she has inspired me to really take off and get involved in my travel and environmental passions. Her tribe started with just one person and now there are over 15,000 people in the tribe. I’m amazed by her drive which has gotten her just one person to now being featured in magazines and just completing a Ted talk.

The other person, Tanika Mason, is someone I already knew but I was introduced to her coaching side. She has taught me about business plans, platforms to get tools such as a logo, and creativity software to help me design my website. I continue to learn tips and tricks for starting my own journey through her on a daily basis.

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