Meet Mercedes: Fit for Travel
by Cheryl Rosen /Sometimes it takes half a lifetime to follow your dream.
That’s how it was for attorney Mercedes Ozcan, who on the eve of her 50th birthday quit her job at a prestigious New York law firm to open her own office—not as a lawyer, but as a travel agent.
Ozcan’s love of the travel industry began when she was a kid growing up in the shadow of Kennedy Airport. By the time she was 18, she was working in Iberia’s first-class lounge and traveling the world on her employee travel benefits.
Growing up believing that her future lay in getting a great education, she went to college and then law school, which she financed by serving as an agent for distressed airline passengers.
When a flight was cancelled, Ozcan was the airline’s one-woman reservation desk, negotiating hotel rooms for its 400 passengers.
The lure of travel
It seemed like destiny when Ozcan came upon the Long Island-based law firm of McBreen & Kopko, which was looking for help for its growing transportation and travel group.
“I thought wow, aviation law, what a great thing to do,” Ozcan said. “It brought me back to my JFK roots. So I got to go back and mix and mingle with all those people again.”
What she didn’t count on was just how much she missed the unique vitality of the travel industry.
After months immersed in legal briefs, she began thinking about leaving the law behind and starting a travel agency of her own.
Business savvy
But Ozcan was no newcomer to the business world.
“The question was, am I going to sell law or am I going to sell travel? Either way, the bottom line is the hustle,” Ozcan says. “You have to go out there and really sell.”
She knew she needed two things: a niche to focus on, and contacts and mentors to guide her.
The first came easily enough.
Ozcan had always been serious about physical fitness. She’s a spin instructor and has organized and participated in many physical-fitness activities and groups involving women and sports.
With the popularity of physical activities like mud runs and bike tours off of cruise ships, she realized she had a unique niche, “experiential adventure travel for people over 50 who want to keep fit.”
Real passion
A year ago Ozcan launched her own agency based on her real passion, fitness. The agency is Fit Travel Go!
It’s too early to tell how the business will do, but she is confident she has laid a firm foundation.
“I loved studying the law, but practicing it truly has lost its luster for me,” she said. ”My passion and my gift is being out there talking to people, meeting people, networking, being involved.
“Now I have control of my own creativity, my destiny, my timeframe; there’s nothing that matches that. Everything that’s on my plate I put there.”
Career advice
Her advice for others looking at travel as a second career?
“If you read articles about how no one uses travel agents any more, just continue on,” she said.
“You may need to shift, to adapt, to focus on a new kind of service. There is room for you to sell travel. You just have to find what will keep you going.”