Nubia Younge was laid off in 2017, at 38, and used money from her 401(k) to buy a one-way ticket out of Boston.
A former administrative assistant and corporate meeting planner, Younge had not had her passport stamped until she was 32. She has since travelled to more than 40 countries and now travels up to 200 days a year. She is a single mother of two.
What she built started small and on purpose. “I noticed a small group of other Black travelers and decided to host a brunch on the beach for us,” she said. The Facebook group behind it grew from 25 members to 28,000 in four years, and Black In Tulum was a significant hub between 2020 and 2023. She went on to found Black In Travel.
Her newest venture and lifestyle brand is Ori Table, which runs retreats that are usually eight people and never more than 10. She said it began from her understanding that Black women deserve rest and wealth and alignment, and that it is she and women like her who are most deserving of it.
She is direct about what moved her. “I was tired of being tired,” she said. She names three things she believes keep people where they are: family, fear and finance. On what she was looking for, she said, “What I realized community means is being seen and being represented,” and “I had to learn how to thrive and navigate this world alone, but not lonely.”
