PL ANNER PROFILE
By Sarah Suydam
EUGENIA CHINSMAN
Connecting Travelers with Their Roots
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W it h a backg rou nd a nd educat ion i n i nter nat iona l
a f fa i r s a nd world c u lt u re, Eugen ia C h i n sma n i s no stranger to travel. Chinsman’s husband’s prev ious work w it h t he Un ited Nat ions kept t hem t raversi ng much of A f r ica a nd Eu rope for 25 yea rs. However, upon h is ret i rement, Ch i nsma n was con f ronted w it h what she wanted to do nex t. A friend suggested sharing her love for travel w ith others, and the rest is histor y. Chinsman got to work, learning ever y t hing she could about ow ning a home-based travel business. She joined what was k now n at t he t ime as NACTA (now k now n as the ASTA Small Business Net work) and became chapter director for New York and Connect icut. She’s at tained almost ever y professional certification one could imagine, including ASTA’s Verified Travel Adv isor certification. Now 16 years into her industr y tenure, Chinsman has received many major awards from a w ide cross-section of social and business communities. She is president of both ASTA Small Business Net work’s Connecticut chapter and Ma nst ravel, LLC, t h roug h wh ich she fou nd her n iche: Selling safaris and roots and cultural travel to Africa. “In 16 yea rs, I’ve been able to con nec t a l most 50 0 African Americans w ith their roots in Africa,” Chinsman sa id, not i ng t he evolut ion a nd g row i ng popu la r it y of
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GROUPS TODAY Nov e mber/ D ec em ber 2 02 3