Female Disruptors: Niki Smirni Of Travelgems On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Vanessa Morcom
Emotional intelligence matters in every step of our way: When we have clear and ethical reasons why, our heart leads us. This is the only way we choose our retreat leaders and the alignment we have from both sides.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, we had the pleasure of interviewing Niki Smirni.
Niki Smirni is a global explorer who has traveled to more than 50 countries. She is also an entrepreneur, mentor, and mother of twin boys, as well as the creator of Travelgems. Additionally, she serves as an ambassador for the Global Wellness Institute. With over 20 years of international exposure in the service and FMCG industries, Niki holds two master’s degrees, with her latest being an Inner MBA from NYU, LinkedIn & Sounds True focusing on Transformational Leadership and how we can leave a positive impact on the world we live in.
Niki has a long track record of successful marketing stories and innovative projects in the development of major brands globally. She earned the European Award of CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) at a young age. She takes pride in ARGOODAKI, a multi-awarded social responsibility project that has assisted more than 4,500 kids and their families over an 8-year period. Niki is a frequent speaker at many Greek and international conventions, covering topics such as well-being, strategic tourism development, women’s empowerment, and entrepreneurship. Niki’s motto is “Think with your heart, do with your mind now.”
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Everything in life is synchronicities. This path was led by them. I’ve been involved in many roles and different career paths which have finally led me to creating a company that is totally aligned with my personal purpose. Let me explain. My first and proudest role is being a single mom of two young twin men aged 20. At the same time, I have traveled to more than 50 countries and consider myself a global explorer. At work, I spent years as a corporate executive, head of strategy and CMO for multinational companies, responsible for 50 countries. I never thought to create my own business, but when the 2017 economic crisis hit Greece and our reputation was also affected, I decided to leave the corporate world and devote myself to a higher cause: to show that Greeks are worthy, hardworking, good, and genuine people. I invested much of my time and money on an app that would showcase hidden gems around the country, helping curate the perfect and most authentic adventure in Greece. But, by the time I was ready to launch the app I realized that I was not able to cover the promotion costs! Imagine being a well-known marketeer realizing that there’s no marketing budget left to spend.
I felt frustration and anxiety as I couldn’t easily accept that my idea couldn’t actually work. That was when a very good friend of mine gave me Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now, a book that changed my life at just the right time. That was when I started building a life based on the present moment. I started studying Greek philosophy again, Plato and Aristotle, but now with a completely different mindset. I discovered my biggest teacher Dr. Deepak Chopra, from whom I learned about the synchronicity I mentioned earlier, and I slowly came to realize my personal purpose to fostering human connection and building a world filled with authentic human smiles.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
At Travelgems, we are more than a wellbeing retreat company. We are entirely committed to spreading the message of wellbeing, far and wide. We do that through our core business of course, which is retreats with established leaders in different wellness dimensions such as physical, emotional, social and spiritual. But what differentiates us from any other retreat company is the fact that we create the innovative retreat concept, then we find the right retreat leader for this wellness concept and finally we embrace it in a holistic approach that addresses body, mind and soul. The reason it sounds so complicated (but actually isn’t), is that we are committed to our three core pillars that are essential to all of our retreats: EDUCATION: The true essence of learning as defined by Socrates; EVOLUTION: The gradual development of a person; INTEGRATION: The action or process of incorporating what we learn into our everyday life. We want all of our retreats to reflect that.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I remember when I was at the start of my career, around 20 years old, still studying in the university, I worked for an amazing woman at a PR agency and was heavily involved with a very big client. She gave me many opportunities and I was entrusted to lead a presentation during a meeting with this huge client. As I was presenting, in typical Greek style, very passioned using my arms and body language to convey my message, I accidentally slapped the CEO of the client company! It might sound completely crazy but, if you can believe it, I thought that I made a mistake but I didn’t realize that it was such a big one. The client told my boss that she didn’t want to see me again at a presentation. My beloved boss didn’t mention it to me until a year later, and she supported me and only focused on my strengths and talents. The most incredible thing was this support which was an ‘aha’ moment for me and the inspiration to commit myself to supporting young females through guidance, support and mentorship, which I still do now and I take so much joy out of it.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I appreciate my teachers very much. During my Inner MBA, Jeremy Hunter was an amazing teacher, from whom I learned so much about transformational leadership. Also, my wise psychology teachers deserve to be mentioned. In the business world, my forever-mentor was the CEO of the company where I spent my years on top of the corporate ladder. He was with me throughout that journey and was there to support me along every step of the way after I had left my corporate life behind. Now, he is the president of the industrial association in Greece and he’s still a very close friend and someone I admire and follow consistently. At the same time, I am a member of his holding company’s board and I feel grateful for whatever I learned from him and all the other teachers in my life. Having said that, I also like to think of everyone I cross paths with as some type of mentor as there’s always something that we can learn from one another and help each other grow.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
I think that you are very right! In fact, I believe that, as with most of the things in life, (apart from values) there’s two sides of the same coin. I’m a big believer that we have the responsibility as humans to create good in this world. In order to do this, we have to create a good chain in our work. I think that being ‘positively disruptive’ you need to find the perfect balance between care and respect and equate that with what is the best way forward for your company. For example, at Travelgems, we always ask before we proceed with any project, what will be its footprint in the world? What is the change we can create? This is one of the reasons we choose our partners very carefully, be it a leader or a hotel. More specifically, our array of collaborators is always a driving force for positive change and ethical business practices.
For example, our partner Minos Beach Art Hotel in Crete, member of Design Hotels. Minos was the first luxury resort to open in Crete back in the 1960s and, since then, it has been staying fresh and relevant to the needs of the times. There, the ingenuity and taste of Cretan cuisine is celebrated, showcasing unrivalled local products, blending tastes and flavors of the finest Greek and Cretan ingredients, resulting in food that is simple, fresh and healthy. Which is why we are committed to working with them every chance we get and again with our upcoming Eat Well, Live Well: A Mediterranean Food Journey retreat entirely focused on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and how one can lead a healthier lifestyle based on that.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?
1. The universe has our back: Remembering how it all started, with the company’s identity and purpose as something completely different, now leading up to being the leading retreat company in Europe… I’m convinced the universe has my back.
2. Manifestation works: Actually, I manifested a retreat with Deepak Chopra and just by following his 7 spiritual laws of success, it happened.
3. Emotional intelligence matters in every step of our way: When we have clear and ethical reasons why, our heart leads us. This is the only way we choose our retreat leaders and the alignment we have from both sides.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We are preparing a lot of things at the moment, not just with retreats but with well-being offerings in general. We’ll continue to grow our retreat business with more names, locations, hotel partners and innovative concepts, that’s for sure. But we are also working on other offerings such as the School of Well-Being and products and services that enhance wellbeing at home.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
Personally, I think that where there is a will, there is a way and if the way doesn’t include you then is not the right way. You build your way on your own. Therefore, I consider such challenges as ‘opportunities’ instead. What I mean by this is that, in my experience, women, by listening to their heart, can lead this world to better results with care and attention and harness it to their work as they would do with their children. A woman’s power is smooth but more effective.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
The book that has had a deep impact on my thinking is the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Dr. Deepak Chopra and my ultimate go-to podcast is Oprah’s Super Soul. I’m inspired by anything that has to do with enhancing self-awareness and evolving oneself.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Did you know that Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, was also a known mentor? She abandoned her divided nature and transformed into Mentor, cleverly using the guise to effectively guide young Telemachus on his life-changing journey! I believe that through the right mentorship, you can help anyone clearly see the tipping point and eventually move forward to the next best step. When we take care of ourselves, we can better help others, which ultimately benefits our cosmos and the whole community. I’m a mentor to women entrepreneurs and young girls; can you imagine how different and easier things would be in your life? My suggestion is a big mentorship movement where everybody will enjoy, mentors and mentees, as there is exchange of joy and personal development.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
My favorite life lesson that not only helps me but also those whom I mentor, is to always be quick to recognize what you do not like as that is what will shed light on what you actually do like. We tend to always question ourselves “what is it that I like to do” when, in reality, the answer lies in what you don’t like doing! And, in the process, the confidence you gain in declaring to yourself and to the world what you do not like (and this can be an action, a quality, a habit) you gain an incredible amount of confidence that drives you forward and towards what you’re meant to be doing.
How can our readers follow you online?
I’m mostly active on Instagram @nikismirni and LinkedIn: Niki Smirni but I’m on every social media platform and if someone would like to talk with me, feel free to send me an email to info@travelgems.com and ask for Niki.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
About The Interviewer: Vanessa Morcom is a millennial mom of three and founder of Morcom Media, a performance PR shop for thought leaders. She earned her degree in journalism and worked for Canada’s largest social enterprise. She can be reached at vanessa@morcom.media.
