Where are you based?
I am based in New Jersey and often in New York City.
What topics and places do you cover?
My work covers a range of personal narrative to service-oriented stories – I find the most joy in writing about adventure travel, remote destinations, expeditions, multigenerational travel, road trips, and quirky places.
While my newsletter is mainly different POVs of travel, I also cover "shower thoughts" which are punchy think pieces.
What outlets do you usually pitch (and write for)?
I typically write for various Hearst publications, InsideHook, HuffPost, Travel+Leisure, and more. I write weekly for my free Jimmy Rox newsletter, where I've grown my readership to over 11,000+ subscribers with over 150 editions.
Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?
I am freelance and have a weekly newsletter.
What is your approach to press trips?
I love traveling on both group and individual press trips as they both have something different to offer. Group trips are great for those bigger, international trips where I'd often get to meet more writers in the industry as well as local tourism guides. For individual trips, I can discuss everything that I want to do which leads to more stories. I also feel more like an actual traveler where if I want to stop in the local grocery store in Hawaii for poke, I can.
I typically do group trips internationally and individual trips in the United States and the Caribbean. It also comes down to timing–sometimes I get an amazing group trip invite but I'm not free on those dates. I get the flexibility with individual trips.
What are your professional pet peeves?
- PR professionals believe that confirmed coverage is a thing. If you're looking for confirmed coverage in the current landscape, opt for a paid partnership.
- Getting an itinerary less than 24 hours before the trip. Getting it late (typically with changes that weren't discussed) doesn't allow me to properly research the area and see where else I'd like to go to strengthen a story. It also doesn't give me time to properly put feelers out for potential stories.
- Getting ghosted. There's no excuse for this. I don't care if you get back to me two months later, but I had numerous people from IMM who sent me a follow-up email and then have ghosted me since January. Those appointments that I was excited about and had great conversations with became a waste of an appointment that I could have had with someone else.
In your past professional life, you were …
I worked as an Art Director at an experiential advertising agency in New York City before going full-time into journalism and content creation. I still carry my design chops with me through my newsletter and my social media. I treat my photography and imagery just as important as the words on the page.
Where would you like to return to?
So many places! I'd love to return to Hawaii and focus more on voluntourism. I'd also love to return to Thailand to go scuba diving because I didn't get to when I was there.
What's on your bucket list?
Australia, Japan, and Greece. My heritage is of Greek descent and I have never been even though I grew up Greek Orthodox. I am planning to go within the next couple of months in hopes of finding the village that my grandmother was from. I'd love to visit Japan and Australia, but not on a rushed trip because going all that way there's so much to do.
Where do you travel for fun?
Last year I traveled to Switzerland with my friend for Taylor Swift's Eras tour. Then I took the train to Paris to see all of the Olympic festivities. It's great to weave in personal travel throughout the year.
Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is …
I traveled to the Four Seasons Bora Bora to get an advanced certification in mermaiding. Let me tell you…that training in the beginning was tough. We'd spend hours in the lagoon learning how to duck dive, swim the length of an Olympic-sized pool in the tail in one breath, and more. I held my breath for nearly two and a half minutes on that trip. Most people might laugh about it when I say I'm a PADI-certified merman, but I'm proud of myself for that.
What advice would you give your younger professional self?
Stay consistent, and take outside opinions with a grain of salt.
What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on?
My stories have led me to greater opportunities. In 2022, I was invited to Bonaire to get my PADI Open Water Scuba Certification, and this year I was announced as one of PADI's AmbassaDivers globally. I continue to become more of a hybrid with my work whether it's a brand partnership on my newsletter, social media, speaking engagements, and more.
Also last year I completed traveling to every continent. I love to run when I'm not traveling, having completed the New York City Marathon in 2021 and 2023 with 2026 on the horizon.
How best should people contact you?
Find me on my TravMedia profile here.
