Karen Loftus - Adventuress in Chief

Prior to her journalistic endeavors, the award-winning playwright and Tennessee Williams Fellow cut her travel teeth as an international comedian.

‘Lofty’, as she is globally known, toured The US, Middle East, Europe and Asia entertaining the troops and international audiences at military bases (US military in Korea with MWR), comedy clubs around the world (Comedy Cafe in Amsterdam & The Comedy Store in London) at theaters (La Goya in Barcelona, Ars Nova in NY), festivals (Edinburgh Fringe Festival & Singapore Comedy Festival), hotels (Raffles Hotel in Singapore, The Crown Plaza in Abu Dhabi) ), colleges (Sewanee, University of the South in Tennessee, Arkansas State University), conferences (WITI - Women in Technology in San Francisco) and at several private clubs (American Club in Hong Kong & in American Club in Singapore) and at corporate (Sony, Microsoft, Tyco Toys & Ford) events throughout the world.

After ten years of juggling her groundbreaking global tours together with her non-profit program, The Body Comedy Project, (sponsored by Comedy Central) where she used humor to heal, both survivors of violence and domestic violence offenders, in several shelters in LA and in LA jails, Lofty took a break and worked as an entertainment reporter interviewing film, TV and reality stars. One year on Hollywood’s raging red carpet later, had her running for the global door.

As a travel, luxury lifestyle & adventure writer, Karen has since written thousands of articles for 90+ media outlets including Vogue, Architectural Digest, American Way, Hemispheres Magazine, Forbes, Robb Report, NY Daily News, The Globe & Mail (Canada), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), The Gulf News (Dubai) Grazia Magazine (US & UK), NUVO Magazine (Canada), Lucire (New Zealand), New Woman (Australia), Men’s Fitness, Men’s Journal, AskMen, InsideHook, Travel Weekly, Huffington Post, Food & Beverage Magazine, Societe Perrier, Zink Magazine and Sherman's Travels among others.

This savvy traveler has been to all seven continents and 70 countries and counting. Today she speaks at conferences around the world about women and travel, the transformative power of travel, empowerment travel and trends in travel, be it luxury, adventure, solo or women’s travel.

She created and co-hosts #WATC - Women’s Adventure Travel Chat on Twitter, a Twitter chat garnering as many as 10 million impressions in the hour and she runs travel (From the Path to the Page) and creative writing (One Voice & What’s So Funny?) workshops.

She also co-created & co-hosts ReVerbs a live storytelling platform for the global travel, adventure and apparel industry, a vibrant conference alternative where executives, and industry leaders break from tradition and tell a personal tale versus a corporate story.

Karen is very excited to be launching her company, Women’s Adventure Travels, and to be leading her female-driven trips. It’s a full circle moment, one long in the making, a marriage of her many interests and experiences with itineraries based on many of her favorite places, people, and passions. The unique elements of the trips reflect Karen's varied background.

Her all-female trips have a feminine thread throughout as she and guests will be visiting top women tastemakers, the women of distinction and influence in each market, be it a hotelier, chef, artisan, athlete and or a village woman defying the local or global odds.

There’s also a storytelling component with women speakers and or storytellers. It is seamlessly woven into the trips with women and a few good men speaking over dinner, drinks or by the fire sharing their triumphs and tales. Karen and guests may tell a tale or two as well.

Last, there is a community immersion element with authentic interaction with local women and children, where they visit the villages, schools, co-ops and workplaces to share an activity, an experience, a meal and a moment with the local women to get a genuine look into their lives. It’s about digging the hands into the sand.

Set in stunning landscapes, the trips will also provide a mad mix of outdoor and adventure activity at various levels throughout. Their stays will be in top spots that showcase exceptional local artisans, food, and beverages as well as an element of wellness. No two itineraries will ever be alike and you will be hard-pressed to find anything quite like it online.

For more information on Karen, go to her LinkedIn profile, email her directly with any questions or simply click on one of her social media pages below to follow her on The Global Road.