About Mary Jo
Mary Jo Manzanares is a publisher, travel blogger, conference director, speaker, content and social media consultant, Flight Attendant, and avid traveler.
Her travel ethos is Value Luxury – that sweet spot where experience and price intersect in an affordable WOW experience. Think of it as luxury for real people, the kind of luxury that you don’t have to be a celebrity to experience.
Mary Jo has a consumer facing personal blog, Traveling with MJ, which covers practical information and recommendations for value luxury travelers. The blog also focuses on helping airline personnel, especially flight attendants, with suggestions on how to enjoy their flight benefits and create value luxury travel experiences. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Traveler’s Way, an online travel magazine providing informational and inspirational travel recommendations for curious Baby Boomer travelers.
Mary Jo is a co-founder of the Value Luxury Network, a niche group of professional travel and lifestyle writers, photographers, and digital media experts that focus on the “value luxury” lifestyle. VLN can help you create powerful media campaigns that gets your brand message in front of the upscale female travel consumer, whether through editorial content, social media campaigns, or targeted blogger press trips.
Mary Jo is also the Conference Director for TBEX, the world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, and new media content creators, and also consults with travel industry clients on social media and how they can work with travel bloggers. She has been a speaker at various industry events on topics ranging from travel blogging as a second career to how the travel industry can best work with travel bloggers, from consumer travel topics to how to create effective brand-blogger campaigns. Speaking appearancess have included local venues and private events, as well as national events and conferences such as: BlogHer, New Media Expo (formerly BlogWorld Expo), Travel & Adventure Show, PhoCusWright, Seattle Golf and Travel Show, Travel Weekly Hawaii Leadership Forum, and ITB Berlin.
When she’s not on a trip, Mary Jo is planning or researching the next one. She lives in Seattle where she always has a bag packed, ready for the next great adventure. In addition to traveling, Mary Jo is a big fan of food and wine, movies and books, museums and spa pampering, shopping and culture, and discovering new places and things. She likes lingering over a cup of coffee, wandering in a museum, sipping wine at a cafe, and sharing it all with friends and readers.
Follow Mary Jo on Twitter at @MJManzanares, @TravelingwithMJ and @TheTravelersWay, friend her on Facebook at Mary Jo Manzanares, become a fan at Traveling with MJ and of the magazine at The Travelers Way. Or check her out on Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram, Google+ and LinkedIn.