We recently had the chance to connect with Jess Johnson and have shared our conversation below.
Jess, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: When have you felt most loved—and did you believe you deserved it?
My mother and father were 24 and 26 years old when I was born. Their relationship had come to an end by the time I entered the world. So in my early childhood years, I lived with my mother, my grandmother and my grandfather. My father lived about 5 minutes away with his parents. So I spent time going up the street and around the corner between both my paternal and maternal grandparents’ houses in order to be with both sides of my family.
I was always surrounded by parents and family who loved me. I remember feeling the most loved when I was about 7 years old. I remember my father telling me he was a Jehovah Witness and he gave me a Bible. So I knew his religion must have been pretty important to him if he gave me a special kid’s Bible. Now, I was a child and I didn’t know what any of it meant. I just remember him telling me that because of his religion, he didn’t believe in Christmas and so he didn’t believe in getting me presents. In that moment I felt sadness. I have to say, my father actually bought me things all the time, all throughout the year, so I remember being confused about why his religion would not allow him to get me presents for Christmas.
However, as soon as he told me he didn’t believe in Christmas or Christmas gifts, he quickly quipped and said, “But if you want me to get you a Christmas gift, I will get you a gift.” I have never forgotten that he said that to me. It made me feel pretty special. I felt that my Daddy must love me because he’s willing to go against his religion to make me happy.
I felt the most love from my father, my mother, and my family. As a child, I grew up in a family where everyone got married and stayed married on both my mom and father’s side. There was an abundance of love, so the thought of whether or not I deserved love, has never crossed my mind. I don’t even understand how whether or not someone is deserving of love ever comes up. It’s like the air we breathe. Everyone deserves it.
Experiencing love for others and being loved by others, especially my father, at such an early age, has set me up to not look for love or validation through love. Love is something that’s just always there and always going to be. The real question for me is always can I see it and do I feel it. First, from within and then from others who matter the most in my life.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m the founder of Black Travelers Network, a travel education and community platform rooted in the belief that meaningful travel should feel accessible, intentional, and empowering—not intimidating or out of reach.
My background is actually outside of travel. For over a decade, I worked in the labor and political space, traveling extensively across the United States and spending time in communities of all sizes. That experience shaped how I see people. I met individuals from every walk of life, many of whom shared a deep curiosity about the world, but also a hesitation about how to explore it—especially internationally. I noticed that for many Black travelers in particular, the barriers weren’t a lack of interest, but a lack of information, confidence, and trusted guidance.
That insight led me to create Black Travelers Network. In its early years, the brand focused heavily on group travel and community-based experiences, connecting people who wanted to explore the world together and feel less alone in the process. Over time, however, I began to see a bigger opportunity—and responsibility.
Today, my work has evolved toward travel education and strategic planning, which is where The Entry Experience comes in. Rather than centering travel around a single group trip or a fixed date on the calendar, I now focus on equipping people with the tools, mindset, and planning frameworks they need to design their own unforgettable travel experiences—on their terms, in their time.
What makes this work unique is that it goes beyond itineraries and recommendations. I help travelers think differently about how they plan: how to avoid common (and costly) mistakes, how to move beyond surface-level tourism, and how to travel with intention, cultural awareness, and confidence. This approach is especially meaningful for people who may be traveling internationally for the first time, returning after a long break, or traveling with families and specific needs.
While Black Travelers Network remains deeply rooted in serving Black travelers—an audience that continues to be underserved in travel education—I am also expanding the brand’s reach to support a broader community of travelers who value thoughtful, well-planned, and enriching experiences.
At its core, my work is about removing fear, replacing guesswork with clarity, and helping people realize that the world is far more accessible than they’ve been led to believe. Right now, my focus is on The Entry Experience, which is a guided planning approach designed to help travelers move from curiosity to confidence when considering international destinations that require more intention and preparation.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
As I stated before, in my early childhood years, I lived with my mom and grandparents. Eventually, my mom got married to my step-dad who was in my life from the time I was about 2 years old. Once they married, we moved out of my grandparents home into low income housing. My parents, really struggled during the entire duration of my youth. It was my commitment to myself to be the best I could be in my education, so that I could create opportunities for myself and my family. My sheer fortitude is what allowed me to rise above the low income living conditions I grew up in. This laid the foundation for me to feel powerful.
While in high school, it was my writing that created the opportunity for me to, as I say: ” Write my way up out of the hood.” When I was in 10th grade, I entered an essay contest that was hosted by Dallas Independent School District and was sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women. I was 1 of 3 winners in the state of Texas. The prize: I became a United States-Israeli Student Ambassador and embarked on an all expense paid journey that allowed me to spend time in New York and Israel. It was my first time ever flying in an airplane and I would say this is really the experience that launched my life as an international traveler.
I spent time in Manhattan, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Holon, the Jordan border, and Masada. I had a couple of host families and I attended a couple of classes while in Israel. I even went camping with one of my Israeli families. It was truly a life changing experience. So once I returned to my high school, I was more determined than ever to graduate at the top of my class. This was important because my family could not afford to send me to college. Ultimately, I graduated number 4 in my class and my Denison University education was paid for in a way that meant my parents did not have to pay for any of my schooling.
Despite all of that, I did not recognize that as power. My earliest memory of feeling powerful actually didn’t come until my professional career in the labor and political space, which is the career I landed in immediately after graduating from university. I actually didn’t feel powerful until I was able to look back at my professional career and see how well I won, lost, and played the game of labor and political campaigning. I was a part of changing the everyday lives of Americans across the country for the better. Most importantly, I was able to change the lives of my family by making some really smart financial decisions and moving them up out the hood into a nice middle class neighborhood that was safe. This has had a profound impact on the lives of my closest family members, which includes my mom, my dad, my sister, and our next generation which consists of my nephews.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering and please believe I’ve had my moments, it has taught me many lessons that success never could. Suffering has taught me:
*Pain / Suffering is temporary: Grit is required. – Be it emotional, spiritual, or physical, there is always a limit as to how long suffering and discomfort actually lasts. Change is never ending, so suffering, by the most basic laws of the universe, can not and will not last forever. Which sets the stage for the next lesson…
*Patience. It takes a long time for most to move the needle and land on success. If we are talking about financial success, and let’s be clear, financial success is one metric of how success can be measured. Let’s just say achieving millionaire status and being comfortable is a level of success many in business aim to achieve. Well all the data says more often than not, people do not reach that level of success in business until between the ages of 57 – 61. That means it takes on average the majority of a person’s life to achieve that milestone of financial success. So to suffer becomes a real lesson in faith, tolerance, pain management, and patience to just keep going.
The final lesson suffering has taught me is to:
*Suspend embarrassment. I’ve walked away from a lot of money on more than one occasion. I’ve been uncomfortably light when it comes to liquidity. It’s only because I’ve taken risks that most people, who are paid very well, do not take because they fear being embarrassed. Many people fear being embarrassed in the presence of friends and family for not having the resources they once had or are expected to have. But what I’ve learned from motivational speaker Les Brown is: You better live on full, so you can die on empty. I say I’m living to leave nothing in the tank and no bullets in the chamber. That’s what it means for me to live a good life. That’s what suffering has taught me, that success never could.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
The public version of me is the real me, but so is the private version. Publicly, I’m very serious and focused. I work really hard and I believe in pushing people to give just as much effort and hard work. Not more effort and hard work, but just as much effort and hard work as they perceive I give. I can be no nonsense, a bit tough, very direct and I believe in asking tough questions to assess, so that if losses need to be cut, those cuts can happen early. It’s the risk management part of my personality at work. I believe in going hard after what it is that I want.
However, privately, I’m very laid back. My travels and the ways of the world have shaped me to not be so serious. I don’t have deadlines, I know how to define a goal, but being happy and living a good life is the goal. I joke around, I look forward to engaging in lightheartedness. superficial conversations about things that really do not matter with my closest friends. Most of my closest friends have no idea the things that I’ve achieved in my life because I do not talk about it. I enjoy my regular, basic life. I like my friends to stay my friends and I don’t typically mix business with friendship.
I don’t put too much pressure on anything or anyone in my private life. I like for people to be themselves. So yes, what you get publicly is the real me, but so is the private version.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
I remember talking on the phone one day to my paternal grandmother and I said: “Granny, I wish you could live forever!” She quickly said: “No honey, that’s not what I want. The Bible says we are not meant to be here forever. ” That has always stayed with me.
If immortality were real, I would build a spaceship to get to the other side of mortality. I believe it’s mortality that should motivate people to live their best life, enjoy the beauty while we are here, so we can look forward to getting a new fresh start should the Most High grant us another opportunity at life. And if that is not a possibility, then at least we would hopefully get the chance to see those whom we love and lost to mortality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.blacktravelersnetwork.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/black_travelers_network_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blacktravelersnetwork/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BlackTravelersNetwork
Image Credits
Black Travelers Network – Brazil, UAE, and South Africa Group Travel Experiences
