Heather Greenwood Davis is a contributing editor/on-air storyteller for National Geographic, a feature writer/columnist for The Globe and Mail, the travel expert on CTV’s national talk program The Social and co-host of Get, Set, Go! on CHCH TV. She is the first and only Black woman to write travel columns for both national newspapers, and is a popular international speaker. Her work appears in national/international print, digital, television and radio outlets. Along with her husband and two sons, Heather is a 2012 National Geographic Traveler of the Year.
How did you get started traveling?
My parents took us on annual summer vacations as a kid. Most of the trips were to family or friends in the United States or Jamaica, but in my teens they started to make a point of showing us our country – Canada – and it started an appreciation that hasn’t waned.
How did you get started writing?
I am the proud former (and only, I believe) editor of Milliken Mills Public School News. I started the one sheet mimeographed newspaper in Grade 4. It failed to win any notable awards but it did start my lifelong love of publishing.
What do you consider your first “break” as a writer?
I’ve had a few. My first, though, was getting a one-year internship at The Toronto Star. I applied for the summer internship program out of university and was turned down. A few months later I was asked to come back in and interview for the one-year position. I got it, and spent a year learning everything I could about journalism, from the radio room of the country’s flagship paper.
As a traveler and fact/story gatherer, what is your biggest challenge on the road?
Right now it’s not being on the road. Canada’s pandemic travel advisory has me fairly grounded. Once I’m on the road challenges seem to melt away.
What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?
I’m an emotional writer. I need the lighting just right, the right amount of background noise…and a deadline. Oh, that makes me want to change my last answer. The hardest part of being away is that I’m terrible at writing on the road!
What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint?
Delegating. I’m getting better. I write for newspapers and magazines. I appear on television and radio shows. I speak at conferences. I host a podcast. And that’s just the professional stuff. I love doing and trying new things but with only two hands, I could stand to be better at asking for and hiring more help.
Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?
After that one year internship I went to law school. And when I graduated from that I practiced law for about seven years. It made ends meet (and then some!) but it made me miserable. I left and went full time freelance in 2007. I’ve never regretted it.
What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?
I don’t read a lot of travel books per se. I love people books. Memoirs are my favorite. I find a lot of lives well-lived have travel as a part of them. That’s how I live my life – with travel as a lifestyle – so it feels relatable. I recommend Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria), Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta (Toronto) and The White Tiger by Arvin Adiga (India). I’d add one I’m reading now: In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom deftly explores Sweden and has increased my desire to see Stockholm.
What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?
Don’t think of it as travel writing. Think of it as telling great stories that can impact people and telling those stories from a global perspective.
What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?
Nothing is routine. Every trip is an opportunity to try something new, meet someone interesting or learn something you didn’t know about yourself or the world. I miss that and can’t wait to be out there again.
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