JoAnna Haugen is a writer, speaker, solutions advocate, and founder of Rooted. Early in her travel writing career, she published hundreds of articles in more than 60 print and online commercial publications, worked in editorial roles for several B2B travel publications, and assisted dozens of travel brands with content marketing. Over the last several years, she has focused on developing Rooted, a platform at the intersection of sustainable tourism, social impact, and storytelling. She is also a returned Peace Corps volunteer, foreign exchange student host parent, international election observer, and serial expat always on the lookout for her next adventure.
How did you get started traveling?
My dad seeded a love for travel in me at a very early age. When I was an infant, I’d fly with him for free on business trips close to where my grandparents lived. As I got older, we traveled for a couple weeks each summer visiting national parks around the United States. He always encouraged my sense of curiosity, wonder, and awe, which have served me well as both a writer and a professional working in the tourism industry.
How did you get started writing?
Just as my dad seeded my love of travel, my mom encouraged my love of writing. She “published” my first book of poetry when I was in the first grade and bought me my first blank journal when I was in the third grade.
What do you consider your first “break” as a writer?
In 2009, I went to Burning Man on my own, where I met and learned from lots of people my age following their dreams. I was already in conflict with the inflexibility and baggage of holding down a job in Corporate America, so when I got back from Burning Man, I quit my job for good and threw everything into becoming a self-employed writer and entrepreneur. This is not a path I recommend for everybody: I already had several promising prospects for freelance work, so I wasn’t starting from scratch. And, importantly, I am very privileged to have a partner with a stable career path that has provided health insurance and financial security that can weather the volatility of self-employment.
As a traveler and fact/story gatherer, what is your biggest challenge on the road?
I am not an active commercial travel writer anymore, but when I was, I was often conflicted and concerned about the expectations and influence exerted by press trip sponsors and PR representatives. Travel writing doesn’t offer a financial cushion that allows many people to question suggested storylines or say “no” to things they aren’t comfortable with.
This is one of the reasons I got out of travel writing and founded Rooted. It is essential that more transparent and diverse stories surface through travel content creation. Not doing so reinforces inappropriate expectations on behalf of travelers, continues to uphold racist and oppressive narratives, and causes environmental harm. A big part of my job today is focused on helping travel writers be more responsible, mindful, and intentional in their work as well as helping destination representatives, tour guides, and other service professionals be more transparent and forthcoming in their storytelling, even if it causes discomfort or complicated conversations.
What is your biggest challenge in the research and writing process?
Many stories can be easily and comfortably told through the lens of the dominant narrative. It is important to ask hard questions and find the stories that have been silenced or are not often shared. These stories offer more context and complexity, but they are more difficult to uncover, research, and tell. Finding and sharing them often means having to uncover what you don’t know you don’t know. It requires facing and understanding personal perspectives and bias, and sometimes navigating unequal power dynamics.
Travel writing has often been treated as a fluffy “lifestyle” topic, which is reduced to listicles that turn destinations into two-dimensional backdrops, commodify people, and promote cultures as a source of entertainment. It’s promising to see more nuanced travel writing emerge that encompasses better research and more mindful decision making in the writing process.
What is your biggest challenge from a business standpoint?
I have so much content and so many resources I want to create, so many ideas I want to implement, and so many conversations I want to have, but I’ll never be able to see them all through. Having to prioritize all of these things is hard because I think they are all important.
Have you ever done other work to make ends meet?
Yes. I think it’s important to step away from my work and industry in order to explore ideas, have conversations, and learn from other people who spend time in other spaces. I do some client work in industries totally unrelated to tourism, but I have also led ESL conversation classes and taught yoga.
What travel authors or books might you recommend and/or have influenced you?
I am a voracious reader, but I actually prefer to read outside the travel genre. This encourages me to think about my work in the travel space in a wider and more interconnected context. Right now, I particularly like the work published by Mongabay, Grist, Greater Good Magazine, YES! Magazine, and the World Economic Forum. One book I think every travel writer and traveler should read is Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World by Dr. Anu Taranath.
What advice and/or warnings would you give to someone who is considering going into travel writing?
Your influence matters. Treat that influence with responsibility.
It is so easy to fall into the romanticized version of travel writing, but leaning on tired tropes and stereotypes is lazy at best and downright dangerous at its worst. Prospective travelers turn to travel writers to draw inspiration, but the content they consume also shapes expectations and informs decision making about where they will go, what they will do, how they will interact with people, how they will spend their money, and what behaviors they’ll exhibit. Travel writers need to realize that their job is to do far more than paint pretty pictures with words. Words are powerful; travel writers must wield them responsibly.
What is the biggest reward of life as a travel writer?
We all walk through the world shaped by our past experiences and history. I am eternally grateful that my perspective of the world is constantly being challenged by the people I meet, the information I learn, the stories I hear, and the experiences I have when I travel.
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