It’s been almost two years and we have still been fighting the global pandemic, although we have been talking much about lives after Covid-19 but the truth is, we don’t when it will actually become a flu. I was told that we should just carry on with our lives and what we do while staying cautious. After all, I am glad that I’ve been able to keep myself productive over the period. Like what Rumi says: What you seek is seeking you. I’ve been seeking for high qualified connections and knowledge, these high qualified connections and knowledge have been seeking me back.
Over the past few months, I have been a little more active to seek for hospitality professionals and tourism experts to enhance my network, the entire process led me to Kerry Newsome, the host of What about Vietnam Podcast – an international Podcast channel dedicated to promote Vietnam to the world.
Who is Kerry Newsome?
In short, she’s an Australian tourism and hospitality expert with over 20 years of experience in the field of sales, marketing and communications. In the last 10 years she developed a passion for Vietnam which led her to work with a local Vietnamese hotel group and ground operator. After years of working to connect Vietnam to the Australian market, “Vietnam got under my skin and I couldn’t let it go”, Kerry told me in one of our discussions to describe her passion for Vietnam. Responding to her connections with Vietnam, she said that through the CEF Children’s Fund, she had sponsored two Vietnamese girls and their education in the following years. She said they have enriched her life as she has got to know them and increased her understanding of Vietnamese youth.
From a hospitality & tourism professional to become an international travel influencer and podcaster
Kerry has proved to many people including myself that you are your only limit. In 2020, despite the pandemic, Kerry decided to take Vietnam travel experiences to a new channel and so she started her own podcast called “What About Vietnam – traveller Insights:” Now with a growing base of listeners, she is well known through her podcast and website www.whataboutvietnam.com and on social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Youtube by the same name.
In one of my recent research studies for the Executive MBA course on Leading in the Age of Digital Disruption at RMIT University, we were required to give an example of an active media leader that we know or follow. I never met Kerry in person, but it was just in time that I had this chance to work with Kerry on an education project that created a wonderful opportunity for me to learn from her leadership effectiveness in the digital age. Kerry accepted my request to be part of my research studies and has been giving me tremendous support ever since we’ve virtually met.
I’ve heard of Kerry Newsome for quite some time and now when I have the chance to work with her directly, I am totally blown away not only by her passion for the hospitality and tourism industry in general, but her love and dedication to spend a decade of creative and inspiring work to bring Vietnam to the world and vice versa.
Our partnership and friendship started first with an education webinar hosted by the Australian Hospitality Alumni Network Vietnam in December 2021 and I am confident that we will have many more exciting future projects coming up next.
Camellia Dinh's World 