Megan Grant is evolving Cherish beyond curated group trips into a more expansive, personalized travel platform — driven directly by the needs of her growing community. With the introduction of private tours and a refreshed digital presence, she’s empowering women leaders to create intentional, connection-focused experiences without the burden of logistics. At the heart of her approach is a redefinition of travel itself: shifting from transactional tourism to deeply relational journeys that prioritize local partnerships, cultural immersion, and lasting impact. Whether through initiatives like funding education in Tanzania or amplifying women-owned businesses globally, Megan’s vision for “meaningful travel” centers on connection, contribution, and transformation — both for travelers and the communities they engage with.
Megan, Cherish is expanding with a new website and private tour offerings. What inspired you to introduce this more personalized travel experience?
Honestly, the private tours came directly from our community asking for them. As Cherish grew, I had women reaching out saying, “I would love to travel with Cherish but with my own group, is that something that you can help me with?”
I realized there were so many women leaders out there with the vision and the desire to create intentional travel experiences for their communities, but they didn’t have the time or bandwidth to manage all the logistics. That’s where we come in.
What’s beautiful is that our audience has matured right alongside the business. We’re hosting women of all ages, women from different backgrounds, and everyone brings this depth and intentionality to their travel experience. Our travelers are not looking for a cookie cutter experience; they want to feel like they belong, to reconnect with themselves, to be taken care of, and to make an actual impact. Whether that’s with a group of new friends or their existing community, that core desire is the same.
Private tours let us extend that philosophy even further. We get to support women leaders in creating the spaces they envision for in-person connection, while reaching more travelers and deepening our impact in the destinations we visit.
The website refresh is really about reflecting where Cherish is now with this expansion. Getting the opportunity to show that there are two meaningful ways to travel with us, and that we’re here for both the solo traveler and the group looking for something real.
You’re organizing a trip to Tanzania in partnership with a nonprofit. How does meaningful travel differ from traditional tourism in your approach?
Traditional tourism is transactional. You go somewhere beautiful, you experience it, you take photos, and you leave. The local people and communities are often just a backdrop to your experience, rather than having direct relationships and building connections with real humans with real lives and real needs.
Our approach flips that entirely. We start by asking: How can our presence here create lasting change for the people who live here? Then we build the entire trip around that answer, not the other way around.
That means we’re intentional about every dollar we spend. We partner with local women-owned businesses, restaurants, and tour guides. We work with organizations already doing meaningful work in the communities we visit, so there’s trust and relationships built in. The itinerary isn’t designed just for what looks good on Instagram; it’s designed around authentic connection and real impact.
With our Tanzania safaris, for example, we partner with Unite the World with Africa Foundation to directly fund scholarships for local women to attend secondary school. When you book that trip, you’re not just getting an incredible experience, but you’re directly funding education that changes lives. Since launching our first safari experience, we’ve supported two women through secondary school and into their careers.
The difference is that in traditional tourism, you’re a visitor passing through. With Cherish, you’re part of a relationship between communities, creating meaningful connections with your fellow travelers AND the people you meet within the destination you’re visiting.
Public speaking is becoming a bigger part of your work. What core message do you hope audiences take away when you talk about travel?
I’ve learned that while our trips create incredible impact, the real transformation happens when I can share this message with others and have them resonate with it enough to want to do the same, either in their personal travels or in their businesses. One meaningful trip reaches maybe twelve women. But if I can inspire hundreds or thousands of people to shift how they travel and how they do business, that’s when the ripple effect becomes exponential.
That’s why public speaking has become so important to me. It’s how I multiply impact beyond what Cherish trips alone can do.
For travelers, I hope the message they take away is that with simple shifts in how you book your travel, you can directly support local communities. For professionals in the travel industry, I hope to inspire them to serve guests in a similar way that Cherish does. Guests are asking for meaningful experiences and we’re the driving force behind how travel shifts in the future. The question is whether we lead that change or get left behind.
Ultimately, I’m speaking because I believe that if more of us choose intentionality, we can fundamentally change how the world travels and create positive ripple effects from tourism.
Collaboration seems to play a key role in your growth. How have partnerships shaped the direction of Cherish?
Partnerships are the foundation of why Cherish can exist at all. Without the local hotels, guides, excursion providers, transportation companies, and women-owned businesses we work with, we couldn’t offer the trips we do.
We approach partnerships in two ways. When we’re sourcing a new destination, we travel there and spend time discovering exceptional local providers. The people on the ground who share our values and vision for how travel should feel. But we’re also always strategically looking for remarkable women-owned businesses around the world that align with our mission. I spend a lot of time on the phone or in person getting to know other women in the tourism industry.
Collaboration has to be at the center of our business. Every destination, every experience, every impact we make is because of the partnerships we’ve built with local communities and businesses who welcome our travelers and us with open arms.
As you continue to evolve your brand, what does “meaningful travel” look like for you in the long term?
Meaningful travel, for me, is fundamentally relational. It’s about walking away impacted by someone you met on your vacation.
I want to scale that model. Growing from 80-100 travelers a year to 200+, with private tours becoming 50% of our business. That means we can serve more people in the ways they want to travel with their destinations and dates in mind. But more importantly, I hope that as we continue, every traveler who comes on a Cherish trip goes home transformed and starts making intentional choices in their own travel.
The bigger vision is that this becomes the standard, not the exception. I’d love to see cruise lines and all-inclusive resorts incorporate local economy and culture into their offerings because guests are demanding it. Right now, our impact is through the trips we host. But through speaking and growing our reach, I believe we can influence the industry itself.
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