Travel Women We Love: TTAND’s Rhonda Stanley

I can’t picture Rhonda Stanley behind the counter at a drug store in Newfoundland, but that’s exactly what she originally set out to do in life.

Coming from a long line of pharmacists, Stanley was in university taking science to become one when a summer opportunity came up with LeGrow’s travel agency.  The company was bringing in students for a crash course in selling travel and those who achieved a minimum result in two weeks were hired. Not surprisingly, Stanley was successful and that summer job turned into her lifelong career.

“I dare admit this is my 45th year in the travel industry,” she told us with amazement in an interview last week. “Travel is in your blood. It doesn’t matter where life takes you, what direction you are headed. You can try to leave it, but it never leaves you, and those who leave, always come back.

I eat, sleep and breathe it.”

Stanley is now VP New Talent Development, who she’s been with since their beginning 11 years ago. Prior to TTAND, she was on the technology side of travel for about nine years, and before that, she was with Sears Travel for 25 years. She transferred to Burnaby, BC with Sears Travel in 1991 to manage a branch office and within a year, had taken over the region, responsible for British Columbia to Manitoba. A big jump to literally move from one coast to another, Stanley says she’s now spent more time in BC than she had in NFLD. She loves to visit her hometown, and she will always be a Newfie but “her roots are in BC.”

There are a few physical reminders of those early years; like the “little bumps on her finger from actually handwriting all of the airline tickets” which, with no direct flights from NFLD, there were many.  There’s also the same GDS that she used in her early years that still exists today.

But her biggest reminder though might be right beside her, her husband Flemming Friisdahl who she met on a rather amazing but disastrous start to a top performers trip to Cairo, Egypt.

“I was a manager of the year for Sears travel when I was in Newfoundland, and the awards trip was to Egypt with Nordic tours. We were going through Amsterdam and took a charter carrier that was supposed to take us to Cairo but landed in Luxor and made us all get off the plane.  We had no visas, Flemming was standing with them in Cairo,” she says with a laugh.

“They kept us in a locked room under guard before the President of Sears Travel (Mike Hannah) chartered a plane to take us to Cairo.

We’d been up all night, we’re tired, and here’s this guy Flemming getting on the bus in the middle of the night, all chipper, handing out roses to all the women.  Of course, by then, they were wilted, but he still handed them out, trying to be funny.

That was December 1989 and I didn’t really like him much, but we connected once I moved out to BC and we were married in 1994.”

Stanley counts her father who supported her in every step of the way and the National Manager of Sears Travel John King, as her biggest mentors.

“When I was young and in school, my dad got me into public speaking which is a big fear for many people. He was there for every presentation, and he was tough, but also my biggest fan.

I still remember having to go to court when I was with Sears Travel, for a fraud case. I remember waking up in a hotel in Lethbridge, Alberta and there was a note underneath my door that John King had sent to the hotel to print. It just said “you got this, I know you can do it. And if I was to put faith in anybody, it’s you.”  It was that belief to set me off to represent a company that size, and he supported me every step of my career.”

Looking ahead, Stanley sees a lot of opportunity for growth in the industry. Reminding us that when the internet first came out, many people thought advisors would become extinct. Back in 2011, Statistics Canada reported the average advisor age in Canada was 50 to 55 years old. That means many are now retirement age, making room for new advisors.

“Many people I speak with, say that they always wanted to be in travel. They’re typically between the ages of 45 and 55 years of age. The kids are now grown up, they are predominantly female, and already helping friends and family plan their travels It’s the perfect time for them, it’s like all the stars aligned for them.

How many people get to wake up every day knowing that they’re going to do something different? We’re helping people plan their dreams, helping them to realize those dreams. They don’t always have to be bucket list trips. It could be their first trip to Florida, the Caribbean, or their first cruise in the Mediterranean. Everything, and every destination and every client is just so different and so unique.

You’re seeing their travel through their eyes and I think that’s the exciting thing about travel. There’s never been a better time to be a travel professional, the opportunities and earning potential are greater than ever before.”