Introducing AUTHENTICA
A JourneyWoman Company focused on building more purpose-driven businesses
What will your legacy be as a travel business? As a leader? As a changemaker and influencer?
AUTHENTICA helps travel businesses and female leaders find their purpose, lead with intention, and create a meaningful legacy in an industry that is rampant with challenges, including gender equity, diversity, greenwashing, overtourism and accessibility.
As a women-owned business, our focus is to support and empower women travel leaders in the tourism industry, as the next generation of leaders steps into positions of influence and power. Our goal is to support and empower women travel leaders by bringing all of our collective skills to the forefront. We believe that we have both a responsibility and an accountability to role model the positive values we need so desperately in today’s world of misinformation, half-truths and hype.
Introducing Strategic Consulting Services for the Travel Industry
Drawing on decades of branding, communications and marketing expertise, AUTHENTICA is poised to help women travel leaders create a more equitable and responsible future. We are no strangers to sustainability, which counts among the major challenges faced by the travel industry.
We provide brand, communications and leadership consulting services to organizations in the travel and tourism sector that aspire to embrace a new reality and embrace authenticity as a core principle of their brand. Established in 2017, AUTHENTICA works with senior leadership teams to lead with intention and purpose, creating positive change and meaningful business outcomes.
Current projects include:
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Designing integrated and impactful communications and marketing campaigns to create long-term relationships with solo women and women over 50
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Helping travel businesses value and sell their business, extending your legacy and life’s work
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Coaching CEOs on their vision and story, building a unique and authentic personal leadership brand
- Working with tourism boards to create safe and inclusive travel experiences for women on the ground
- Differentiating travel businesses with a strategic approach to communications and training in areas such as sustainability, diversity and inclusion
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Reorganizing and optimizing brand portfolios to drive the most value for the business, addressing under-performing brands
What we believe
We believe that the world is moving too quickly to allow the past to dictate the future. Our perspective is measured in decades, and our ambition is to influence without hesitation. With our first-hand experience in the travel industry, we blend our deep experience in brand strategy and change with the legitimacy of scientific thinking to help leaders adapt, grow and prepare their businesses for what’s next. Our work begins and ends with our authenticity, and yours.
Our services include
Leadership Vision
In an industry that is often a sea of sameness, we help women leaders assess and define their personal vision and use this as a powerful differentiator to build the brand and the business.
Brand Strategy + Purpose
We work with you to define your organization's point of difference and purpose, while providing guidance on how this affects the structure of your business, including brand architecture/portfolio organization, new product and service development, naming, messaging, design and implementation.
Thought Leadership
We develop a thought leadership strategy to help leaders create reputational influence and impact, including research, internal communications, executive visibility, training, speaking engagements & events, social media and public relations, IP and publishing.
Training, Coaching and Storytelling
We work with female leaders to develop their storytelling skills with employees, the industry and your clients. A core strength is coaching women on how to speak with confidence about their values, persuasively and authoritatively.
Research + Surveys
We design and implement engaging and meaningful surveys and research to achieve your objectives. Having valued brands as assets for decades, we understand the business metrics that drive performance and success.
Ongoing Coaching
We collaborate with your leadership, communications, sales and marketing teams to ensure that your purpose manifests inside first, and develop new ways to create meaning in your business.
Valuing Your Business
Your business — and your brand — is worth more than you might think. We can help you put a financial value on your life's work.
Selling your business?
We can help you understand the value of your business and brand and work with you to find a buyer who shares your values and continue your legacy, as we've done with JourneyWoman.
Buying a business?
With deep experience in mergers and acquisitions, we can share our expertise to help you manage the process smoothly.
We believe:
- That clients deserve unbiased counsel, void of bullshit.
- That accountability is a two-way street, where both of us share equal measures of responsibility and investment.
- That ideas are the currency for change, and that legitimate insights are borne by the marriage of art and science.
- In a flexible, adaptive approach to consulting, one that avoids jargon filled tomes, which soil pristine truth, and rigid constructs that impede organizations to adapt, thrive and grow.
An invitation to build and grow your influence and extend your legacy
If you have a challenge or question that we can help with, please reach out to us through phone, or email. There’s nothing we enjoy more than healthy dialogue. We are always up for a coffee, tea or cold beverage.
Please reach out to Carolyn Ray at [email protected] or Tom Zara at [email protected] to learn more.
About us
Carolyn Ray, Partner + CEO, JourneyWoman
Carolyn founded AUTHENTICA after almost 10 years at Interbrand, most recently as the CEO of its Canadian business. With 30 years of experience working across the disciplines of branding, communications and marketing, she is known as a change agent and unconventional thinker. In 2019, Carolyn deepened her commitment to empower women with the acquisition of JourneyWoman, and purchased a second company in 2021 to provide women-owned businesses with a platform to connect with women travellers. Trained as a CTI Co-active Coach, she actively mentors emerging leaders and supports female entrepreneurs. In 2013, she was ranked as one of Canada’s top 100 female entrepreneurs on the PROFIT/ Chatelaine W100 list.
“2023’s Most Influential Women in Travel”, TravelPulse, featuring Carolyn Ray, CEO, JourneyWoman, 2023
“Celebrating the 150 brands that make us authentically Canadian”, The Globe and Mail, featuring Carolyn Ray, 2017
“BEworks’ scientific approach to marketing challenges”, Marketing Magazine, featuring Carolyn Ray, 2018
“Growth in ‘brand value’ of Canadian firms slowing”, The Globe and Mail, featuring Carolyn Ray, 2014
Tom Zara, Partner + COO/Strategic Partnerships, JourneyWoman
Tom has over 40 years of brand consulting experience with a deep and diverse insight of how brands influence cultures, customers and shape markets on a national and international scale. As the former President of brand consulting firm Interbrand New York, he established the Interbrand Foundation, the Corporate Citizenship discipline and its flagship Best Global Green Brands ranking in partnership with Deloitte in 2012. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions, serving as senior counsel to CEOs as they navigate the complexities of bring two organizations, cultures and priorities under a new leadership mandate and vision.
Keynote speaker, Tom Zara, The Yale Centre for Business and the Environment
“Corporate citizenship 2.0: Leading way to a skill-sharing economy”, The Korea Times, featuring Tom Zara, 2014
Keynote speaker, Tom Zara, Sustainable Brands London: “Sustainable Brand Perception vs Performance: Reducing the Gap”, 2012
Decades of experience building brands and empowering leaders
With decades of collective experience advising global brands and leadership teams on how to build influential, aligned reputations and socially responsible practices, AUTHENTICA’s team supports businesses that become the leaders in their categories.
Many consulting models leverage outdated, biased frameworks steeped in the irrelevancy of old models, violating originality.
Soul of Travel Podcast, presented by JourneyWoman
The award-winning podcast “Soul of Travel”, hosted by Christine Winebrenner Irick, joined the JourneyWoman family in 2023, creating a powerful forum for women to share their wisdom and inspire meaningful change in travel.
Created in 2020, Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of people making a positive impact in the tourism industry. Each episode features the stories of women who are industry professionals, seasoned travelers, entrepreneurs and community leaders. Now in its fifth season, Soul of Travel honors the passion and dedication of women making a positive impact in tourism. In each episode, you’ll hear the story of industry professionals, seasoned travelers, and community leaders who know travel is more than a vacation. It is an opportunity for personal awareness, and it is a vehicle for change. We are thought leaders, action-takers, and heart-centered change makers.
