Where are you based?

ShermansTravel/Smart Luxury has an office in the Soho neighborhood of Manhattan, but I often work from home in a small Connecticut town along the Sound.

What topics and places do you cover?

Smart Luxury is a new digital publication that inspires affluent travelers with amazing journeys around the world and focuses more on intrinsic value and quality than price. Our stories offer insider trip ideas and advice on destinations, things to do, cruises, and accommodations that resonate with what luxury travelers want today (authenticity and personalized service, all with a strong sense of place). See us as the epitome of "quiet luxury." Opulence for opulence's sake is not us.

ShermansTravel provides travelers with practical information — and a dose of inspiration — to help them make the most of their vacations. Our stories appeal to travelers at various price points and aim to save them time and money, all while helping them decide where to go, where to stay, and what to do.

Both sites cover destinations all over the world, but Smart Luxury is more globally minded and features more destinations that are farther flung. Cruise is big for both sites.

What you don't you publish.

Airlines and hard news — plus any topic that is too general or that doesn't have a "why now" angle. We also don't publish stories on single hotel and restaurant openings, especially from chains, as well as annual or one-off festivals.

The best PR pitches include ...

A strong subject line and a short, concise message with bullets (you only have me for about 2-3 seconds before I move on to the next email). Also, it's most helpful to call out important dates and any calls to action, and to keep images and logos to a minimum.

Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?

In house.

What is your approach to press trips?

ShermansTravel and Smart Luxury allow stories that result from press trips, but we prefer that contributors go on individual trips that focus specifically on the story they are writing. We will consider stories from group press trips on a case-by-case basis.

What are your professional pet peeves?

Follow-ups to pitches, emails, and PR emails sent to my official work email address. Please only send press releases to editorbanas@gmail.com. I can't handle the volume of releases at my official work address and things will inevitably get lost. I check that box every day, I promise, but need to keep the correspondence separate from my normal workflow, or else I can't do my job. Sending things to my official work address won't get you more seen; instead, messages are more likely to get archived and never looked at again.

In your past professional life, you were …

For nearly a decade, I was the Editor of BBC Travel, BBC.com's award-winning travel vertical, where I ran the website and founded and launched a new global food vertical called BBC World's Table. I have also contributed to editing print editions for AFAR and was the Executive Editor and face of SmarterTravel when it was owned by Trip Advisor.

Where would you like to return to?

France, always. I was once told that my heart line (according to astrocartography) runs right through the center of Paris, and that makes total sense to me. It feels like home on another level.

What's on your bucket list?

The Faroe Islands are high on my must-see list. I'd also love to go to the Hebrides, Greenland, Seychelles, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Bali, the Canaries, the Maldives, and so on. I love archipelagos and islands — the more remote the better.

Where do you travel for fun?

Food-focused destinations. In addition to being a travel and food writer, I'm also a professionally trained pastry chef. Travel is my love; food is my passion.

What advice would you give your younger professional self?

Think about how you travel. Even at a very young age, I cared deeply about the environment (I was once called a "bunny-hugger" — which I loved — by a woman from Mozambique who I met in Portugal). However, I didn't grasp just how much my travel for work, which was constant, was having a negative impact. Now, I make a concerted effort to be more of the solution than the problem, often by traveling less frequently but making it count, seeking out sound providers and regenerative experiences, and taking the slow road whenever time allows.

I realize that it's never going to be perfect, but I believe we all must try our best so that we can continue to explore and appreciate this amazing planet.

How best should people contact you?

Visit my TravMedia profile here.