Contingent Workers: Melissa
Melissa is CEO of Charitable Travel – a social enterprise that donates to charity whenever someone books a holiday, having worked in travel and tourism for over 30 years – your holiday is in safe hands. Charitable Travel launched in April 2020 and just eight months later have been nominated for a national award – the Annual Travel Trade Gazette Top 50. Attitude Magazine has also announced their 101 list including Melissa as one of the trailblazers changing the world today and into 2021.
At A Glance:
On the Web: https://charitable.travel/
What bought you to Bromley: It’s near where I grew up. Its where I first got into the travel industry.
Sounds: I am an insane country music fan – I adore Brad Paisley.
Reading: To be honest, I don’t read and to say I don’t read means I don’t read fiction. I haven’t got time
I can’t work without: Broadband, and Contingent Works has amazing broadband
Contingent Works: When did you find out you had been shortlisted for the award?
Melissa Tilling: I found out in December and it was a complete surprise – an amazing pre-Christmas surprise. We are a social enterprise, to be shortlisted with four really established travel agencies so young into our life was incredibly rewarding. The nomination suggests we are recognised, our footprint is already significant and there is an appreciation for what we have achieved.
CW: How would you describe your business?
MT: We are a social enterprise travel company
CW: How did your business come about?
MT: I have a long career in the travel and tourism industry, and I took a redundancy option in 2019 because I had been thinking for some time that although travel has always been a force for good, I felt that through social enterprise that travel could do good. Travel is a commodity, and we enable donation value to be created for charities whenever anyone buys a holiday.
CW: How has COVID affected your business?
MT: COVID has paused a lot of what we were going to do. We launched after the start of the pandemic – we got to a point that felt there was nothing to stop us – but it has meant that we couldn’t put as much resource into grasping the market and capitalising on our idea. It’s put up barriers from the standpoint of travel bans – both the government and the pandemic have created uncertainty in our market. It’s limited what we can do but we are getting ready to really go for it this year.
CW: What are the benefits of running your business from a co-work?
MT: I think that as a social enterprise we have a responsibility to our social purpose – which is to do good for community and society, in our case through fundraising for charity. Coworking gives us the ability to be agile and it enables us to keep our costs responsible. I like the sense of community that coworking brings – we are a small team, but we are part of a bigger community. It means I don’t have to work at home which has certainly helped my mental health.
