Hey everybody! Welcome to Conversations with Doc Martin, where we talk to extraordinary people doing extraordinary things!
In today’s interview, we talk to Randle Roper!
Randle is one of the co-founders and CEO of VACAYA, the newest player in the LGBT+ travel landscape.
We start out by getting to know Randle a little bit as he tells us his backstory on where he came from, what his ambitions were as a young adult fresh out of college, and how he eventually got into the travel and vacation industry.
Randle started out by wanting to be an actor. He had plans to move to New York City with his sights set on Broadway, but life had other plans for him. He ended up coming across an extremely affordable apartment opportunity in the North Hollywood part of Los Angeles, so in a spontaneous act decided to try out west coast living instead.
Once he was in L.A., he started a job working as a tour guide for Universal Studios and he absolutely loved it! He says how once he was in the job, he went to his mentor and essentially said “Hey, I want to be you one day. How can I make that happen?” — this question set him off onto a 17-year career path working in the studio industry of Hollywood.
He learned a valuable lesson from asking that initial question, and that lesson was simply: ask. Randle says that simply asking for what you want in life is such a powerful tool, and sometimes that’s all you need to do, is ask for the things you want. He says how this lesson, which he was lucky enough to learn early on, has been a pillar of his success now for 30+ years.
We continue on and Randle tells us a little bit about his now company Vacaya, and how it’s the world’s first and only large-scale vacation company that caters to the entire LGBTQIA+ community. He goes on to tell us a bit about how and where they started, their history, and finally to where they’re at today with staggering statistics about Gen Z and how the world of self-identity has evolved and continues to grow.
After Randle gives us little bit of backstory on how his company came to be, we dive into what it’s been like navigating the pandemic as a CEO of a vacation company that was only a little under two years old by the time the pandemic started. He goes into what problems they’ve faced, what issues they’ve successfully overcome, and how they’re planning for the future.
We talk about all of this, and so much more! Please join us over on the Conversations with Doc Martin YouTube channel for the full interview!
Click here to see the full interview on Conversations with Doc Martin!
In Gratitude,
Doc Martin
Find More of Randle’s Work Here:
Website: https://www.myvacaya.com/
Facebook: @MyVacaya
Instagram: @MyVacaya
YouTube: Vacaya
LinkedIn: Randle Roper
