Images courtesy of Nadiah Ford
Fora Advisor Nadiah Ford didn’t grow up traveling. Fresh out of college, as a young career woman in the fast-paced world of consulting, weekly travel became part of her job. When she met her future husband, travel — this time for leisure and exploration — became their thing. The couple collected Lonely Planet travel books. They still do, a tradition they now share with their two children.
After over a decade in consulting, Nadiah sought to tap into her creative side. Ideally, this endeavor would involve her passion: travel. Then she found Fora.
“Fora filled this hole, from a creative standpoint,” she shared.
Travel advising, she’s found, allows her to tap into that creative side of her brain. It provides novelty and rewarding challenges. Nadiah is humble, kind and refreshingly authentic. She’s not one to toot her own horn. So we decided to do it for her. After joining in September of 2023, she quickly reached Pro status, meaning she surpassed a minimum (and quite difficult, we might add) booking threshold. Then, still a newbie, she managed to win our Taylor Swift Eras tickets competition for highest sales as a new advisor. Needless to say, she is excelling.
We recently sat down with Nadiah to hear more about her story, how she found Fora and how it all fits into her (very busy) life.
Ready to travel? Connect with Nadiah to plan and book your dream vacation.
Nadiah’s path to Fora
Image courtesy of Nadiah Ford
Nadiah has worked in HR consulting since she graduated college. Indeed, she’s still a full-time consultant today. But she sensed something was missing.
“It's easy. I've been doing it so long,” she said of consulting. “There's not much creativity that goes into it. I have a great team. It just kind of all flows.”
Nadiah describes herself as very Type A — she’s accustomed to numbers and logic, something her corporate job requires. She wanted to engage the other side of her brain. She sought a creative outlet. Since college, and especially since meeting her husband, she’s been passionate about travel.
The young couple would embark on two big trips a year, usually aligned with their birthdays. They relished the sense of adventure and discovery that came with exploring the world.
So when Nadiah sensed the need for her own thing — something creative — travel was the obvious outlet. But how to start? She had the opportunity to join a traditional agency that planned a Croatia yacht trip for her family, but she was turned off by the upfront fee. She heard about Fora from a friend of a friend.
“Fora came at just the right time,” she said. “It's so out of character for me that I would jump into something without any sort of research.”
In August of 2023, she had a family trip to Indonesia lined up. She gave herself a challenge: before the Indonesia trip, she would create an Instagram account, just to establish a social media presence. Then, when she returned from the trip, she would sign up for Fora.
“And here we are,” she said.
Kicking off her travel business
Images courtesy of Nadiah Ford
When Nadiah joined Fora, she came in with no expectations. But her travel business very quickly took off. Her first booking as a Fora Advisor was for a friend. Nadiah had just come back from Miraval Austin, and her future client knew she was going.
“It couldn't have been more perfect,” Nadiah recalled. “I was just coming off this big wellness weekend high. And I could share all the amazing experiences: which yoga class to take, which spa treatment to indulge in, the best spot on the property to enjoy the sunset, the most challenging hike and the best dessert at Miraval: avocado cacao cookies!”
She was nervous at first, but with each subsequent booking, her confidence increased.
“We're building the plane as we're flying, and I have all of you guys to help,” she shared. “There have been some tricky situations here and there, but I've navigated — doing well and continuing to do well.”
Part of the reason she’s done so well is her knack for connecting with clients on a personal level. She works to understand their needs and provides them with the necessary information to make their trip exceptional.
Heading to Japan? She can provide first-hand recommendations. Traveling with young kids? Not an issue. (“We essentially went straight from the hospital to get our little guy's passport picture taken for our trip to New Zealand, where he turned a month old,” she said.) Clients of hers — a couple and their 18-month-old — recently wrapped up a trip to Spain. The mother is originally from Pakistan, as is Nadiah.
“We had that connection,” Nadiah said. “This family was religious. I think it helped having the cultural background and sharing my experiences and learnings of traveling with my own little ones.”
She knew, for instance, that having a Muslim guide take them through Alhambra was important. Being able to “bring that to the table for them,” she said, was paramount.
As she connects with clients, she’s discovered a new kind of flow that nourishes her.
“It just fills that cup and feels right and real and authentic,” she said. “And I'm all about authenticity.”
Embracing the learning curve & excelling
Image courtesy of Nadiah Ford
Part of this authenticity involves embracing the learning curve that inevitably accompanies something new.
“It's a lot of learning on the fly. And you guys [at Fora] do such a good job of supporting,” Nadiah said. “I like to have everything planned and all the protocols set. This is different, which shakes me up a little bit. But honestly, I think it's lovely, too, because it's a good spot for me to be in and continue to learn.”
Travel advising is indeed a continual learning process. And Nadiah has spent many early mornings and long nights making it work with her full-time corporate job, not to mention her full-time job as a mom.
However, “when you enjoy what you do, it's worth it,” she said. “I have to give myself credit that this is still new.”
Despite the learning curve, however, Nadiah has found Fora’s tech tools and integrated booking platform to be particularly helpful. She was struck by “the ease of it all,” she shared, adding how the guidance that’s laid out makes the process foolproof.
She’s also leaned on Forum, Fora’s community app, for quick responses to any travel- or client-related questions.
“I can go out there and be like, ‘Why is this credit card not going through?’ And within minutes, if not seconds, someone would respond,” she said. “It's been incredible.”
Although Nadiah is still relatively new to Fora, she’s managed to achieve Pro status quickly. And she won our in-house Taylor Swift ticket competition based on her booking volume, snagging the prize in the new advisor division to go see the pop star in Dublin.
“I didn't even look at the details because I thought this doesn't apply to me,” she admitted. “I’m brand new. There is no way my business could take off fast enough to achieve the highest new advisor sales.”
A few months later, when the competition closed, she received a video from Fora Co-Founder Henley Vazquez notifying her that she had won. The logical part of her brain kicked in; the news took a while to land. Meanwhile, her husband and kids were rightly proud of her (and her 10-year-old daughter was already planning her outfit to go see Taylor).
“He was ready to celebrate,” Nadiah said of her husband. “He's like, ‘Nadiah, this is big. You need to be proud of yourself.' I, for whatever reason, wasn't there — shocked, excited and still processing.”
Nadiah already has her Dublin trip locked in. In the meantime, she continues to plan bucket-list-worthy trips for her growing clientele. She has a busy (and rewarding) year ahead.
Ready to travel? Connect with Nadiah to plan and book your dream vacation.
