Welcome to my 2016 Round-up! Where did I go? What did I did I do? What did I love?
New Countries
I was thrilled to be invited to new places in 2016. I went to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Vatican City and Bonaire for the first time which takes me to 95 countries on the UN list and 125 on the Traveler’s Century Club list. I was invited to the United Nations in NYC as a “Champions of Humanity” Ambassador. I also went to Capitol Hill to meet with Representative Ted Deutch about the Congressional Holocaust Survivors Resolution.
For the first time I went to five conferences including TBEX, Travel Media Showcase, Travel Classics West, The Scuba Show and BlogHer. I met with top professionals in my field about writing, traveling, video and what I am going to do next in 2017!
Art
I had my very first solo art show! And participated in an art show at my studio in Santa Monica, The Clayhouse.
New technology
I was invited to test the new phone LG V20 which I love. The photos and video are so much better! I also received a dive computer to test, the DeepBlu Cosmiq, which is fantastic. In January of 2016, I created my first sizzle reel–see below! In March 2016, I filmed four episodes in Carlsbad. In May, I created a video for Reef Safe Sunscreen.
New Partners
I loved working with American Express and Flytographer in New Orleans in March. I stayed at my first Hyatt Regency in Bloomington, Minnesota and at the Hyatt Zilara in Cancun.
I was home in Los Angeles for the Jewish Holidays and in the Caribbean for my birthday. It has been a great year for me and for We Said Go Travel. My social media has doubled, my video views are now over 900,000 and I started my own channels on Amazon Fire TV and Roku. At this time last year, I had under 400 videos and now I have over 630. I hosted two more international writing awards which brings us to eleven awards and nearly 2000 writers published. I was interviewed by Business Insider–read both articles turning traveling into a career and about packing! Want to know even more? Read each the 2016 newsletter archives.
Thank you for your support for me and We Said Go Travel! I hope that in 2017 you take steps to make your dreams come true! Happy New Year! Lisa Niver
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Lisa Ellen Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 101 countries and six continents. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she worked on cruise ships for seven years and backpacked for three years in Asia. She is the founder of the website WeSaidGoTravel which is read in 235 countries and was named #3 on Rise Global’s top 1,000 Travel Blogs.
With more than 150,000 followers across social media, she has hosted Facebook Live for USA Today 10best, is verified on Twitter and listed on IMDb, and is the Social Media Manager for the Los Angeles Press Club.
You can find Lisa Niver talking travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, Satellite Media Tours, The Jet Set TV and Orbitz travel webisodes as well as her YouTube channel, where her WeSaidGoTravel videos have over 1.5 million views. After three months on TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts, she had over 500,000 (1/2 million) views.
As a journalist, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors and been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. She has been a judge for the Gracie Awards for the Alliance of Women in Media, and has run 15 travel competitions on her website, publishing over 2,500 writers and photographers from 75 countries.
For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Niver has published more than 2000 articles, in more than three dozen magazines and journals
including National Geographic, Wired, Teen Vogue, HuffPost Personal, POPSUGAR, Ms. Magazine, Luxury Magazine, Smithsonian, Sierra Club, Saturday Evening Post, AARP, AAA Explorer Magazine, American Airways, Delta Sky, enRoute (Air Canada), Hemispheres, Jewish Journal, Myanmar Times, BuzzFeed, Robb Report, Scuba Diver Life, Ski Utah, Trivago, Undomesticated, USA Today, TODAY, Wharton Magazine, and Yahoo.
Awards
National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards
2021 Winner: Book Critic: Ms. Magazine “Untamed: Brave Means Living From the Inside Out”
2019 Winner: Soft News Feature for Film/TV: KTLA TV “Oscars Countdown to Gold with Lisa Niver”
2019 Finalist for: Soft News, Business/Music/Tech/Art
Southern California Journalism Awards
2021 Winner: Technology Reporting
2021 Finalist: Book Criticism
2020 Winner: Print Magazine Feature: Hemispheres Magazine, “Painter by the Numbers, Rembrandt”
2020 Finalist: Online Journalist of the Year, Activism Journalism, Educational Reporting, Broadcast Lifestyle Feature
2019 Finalist: Broadcast Television Lifestyle Segment for “Ogden Ski Getaway”
2018 Finalist: Science/Technology Reporting, Travel Reporting, Personality Profile
2017 Winner: Print Column “A Journey to Freedom over Three Passovers”
