by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 7:35 AM ET, Mon May 11, 2026
The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) has always been the biggest champion for travel advisors, yet those new to the industry might still struggle to find business development resources, support and a community designed just for them.
One grassroots coalition of women from ASTA's Young Professionals Society (YPS) is changing all that.
What Is ASTA's Young Professionals Society?
YPS's energizing new opportunities for newer and younger travel advisors are thanks to Alicia Onello, Director of Network Operations at Envoyage, Christina Vieira of Showcase the World, Brandi McBride, Founder and Lead Planner at New York City-based Tiger Stripe Travel & Events, Asia Lantz, Owner and Travel Advisor at Travel With Asia and Chelsey Keenan, owner of PACK - Planning Adventures with Chelsey Keenan.
All of these women were searching for community and support within the Young Professionals Society—and what they're making of it is something entirely new.
"For young advisors, there is a gap in early engagement, mentorship and support," said Alicia Onello. "One of the biggest shifts we're advocating for is meeting advisors earlier in their journey and evolving the type of value being offered. There's strong demand for education around building a real business — profitability, positioning, operations — not just product knowledge. There's also a need to create environments where young advisors feel like they belong, are welcomed warmly and can see a future for themselves within ASTA.
"To put it simply, YPS isn't about age — it's about building a pipeline of informed, connected, and professionally-minded advisors who will sustain this industry long-term," Onello continued. "…We see YPS as a bridge — connecting ASTA's strong legacy with the next generation of advisors who will carry it forward."
YPS In Action
Since coming together in recent years, the YPS crew has created grassroots initiatives to support younger and newer travel advisors. It is working to define and organize the Young Professionals Society to ensure its long-term growth and sustainability.
Beyond meeting regularly and sharing support through routine community, one of the biggest initiatives of the Young Professionals Society is its successful webinar series, which since June, 2025 has produced six webinars with focuses on work-life balance as a young professional in the travel industry, how analytics can help support business decision-making, succession planning and more.
Far from adding to the list of supplier-heavy webinars, the YPS webinars offer dedicated business and personal development resources and knowledge, with real-time discussions, panelist Q&As and much more.
"It has been incredibly rewarding for us to build this series and witness the engagement, so we decided to move to a (nearly) monthly cadence," said Brandi McBride. "We should produce 10 webinars in total in 2026. Many months ago, when we had our first webinar brainstorming session on what do YPS people want to know or learn, we came up with a list of 30+ topics that we have been tweaking and scheduling, based on the timeliness of that particular topic."
Beyond the webinar series, which is available to stream on demand on ASTATV, YPS is developing a more prominent, organized structure to ensure it survives and supports the next generations of advisors.
They've established national YPS Chair Collaborative meetings, developed guidelines and recruitment resources to build its presence nationwide, launched an active YPS Facebook community, secured ASTA's support to increase its presence on ASTA's website and at in-person events, and more.
"First, we're focused on identifying and connecting current ASTA members who already fall within the YPS demographic but may not yet be engaged," Christina Vieira explained. "There's a significant opportunity to better serve and retain those advisors. Second, we want to attract more young professionals who are already in the travel industry but not yet connected to ASTA—showing them the value of community, education, and long-term career development within the organization.
"Third, and most importantly for the future of the industry, we want to begin building a true pipeline: introducing travel as a career path to high school and college students through internships, career fairs, and partnerships with hospitality programs."
YPS is considering expanding educational opportunities as its organization grows, including offering YPS-specific FAM trips, networking and service-oriented events, advocacy involvement, including ASTA's Legislative Day, a YPS seat on the National Board of Directors, and more.
"At the core of all of it is trying to answer the question: how do we help advisors build sustainable, profitable businesses and careers and ensure the future of the industry we all love so much?" Said Asia Lantz. "There is a real generational gap, and instead of ignoring it, we're actively working to bridge it."
"Conversations like succession planning are a perfect example," Lantz continued. "What happens to a book of business when an advisor retires? How do we ensure those clients stay within the advisor community instead of turning to online booking platforms? Also, how do advisors looking to retire even know where to begin with that transition? If we don't create those connections and that pipeline, we risk losing both clients and future leaders."
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