About Us

Dayne was born in South Africa and spent the early years of his life there before moving to Sarasota, Florida. He founded Strive Media, the parent company of Trips To Discover in 2008. He has a lifelong passion for entrepreneurship and eats, sleeps and breathes all things digital. Most of his time at the office is spent furthering the impact of our brand and finding awesome, talented people to join us in our mission.

Hailing from Auburndale, Florida, Shanna's roots are firmly planted in the Sunshine State. Growing up surrounded by its natural beauty and vibrant culture, she developed a deep connection to her home and a profound appreciation for its hidden treasures.

Mark has been building things on the web since the mid-1990s. He oversees all development, architecture, and technology within our company. Fun fact — he passionately hates all code that he wrote more than three months ago.

Maribeth is a native Floridian, she calls the Gulf Coast home, and she's not afraid to go where the wind takes her. Receiving a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing from the University of Central Florida, Maribeth joined the Trips to Discover team in 2017. She is responsible for content marketing and enjoys interacting with followers across the country and even across the globe.

Lauren joined the Trips to Discover Team in 2016. She earned her degree in Design from Illinois State University, and has since lived in some of the most beautiful areas in the U.S. before settling down in Florida. She is responsible for the overall design and user experience of Trips To Discover, and enjoys incorporating the styles she's encountered from her travels into her design elements.

Charity De Souza is a Florida native and travel enthusiast. Traveling to over 50 countries abroad and residing in 6, she has a passion for exploring new cultures. While Central Florida is where she calls home, her favorite travel memories include skydiving in Switzerland and watching the sunset in Morocco.

Noah Holtgraves is a data journalist at Trips to Discover, where he utilizes his expertise in analyzing extensive datasets to derive significant implications and subtle differences in the hospitality industry that he presents in an easily understandable manner. He joined the team in June 2021 and has since been instrumental in creating insightful travel data reports.

Born and raised in the Adirondack Park of upstate New York, Cassie has a special appreciation for all things nature. She graduated from Siena College in 2020 with a degree in English and joined Trips to Discover in 2021. In her free time, Cassie enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with her Rat Terrier, Marlow.

Olivia Herlyn is a Connecticut native living in St. Petersburg, Florida. She started with Trips to Discover in 2019 as a remote Outreach Specialist and transitioned to an editorial role a couple of years later. Before settling in the Tampa Bay Area, Olivia lived in the beautiful wine region of Mendoza, Argentina for three years with her husband and two rescue dogs, Rio and Lima. Some of her favorite travel memories include a solo trip to Macchu Picchu, driving across Italy with her husband, and visiting the Dead Sea and Jerusalem on a layover (she’s also a flight attendant!).

As the daughter of a flight attendant, Olivia knew travel would be a big part of her life. Realizing she wanted travel to be an even bigger part of her professional life, she began working for Trips to Discover. Before transitioning to her current Assistant Copy Editor position, Olivia’s outreach resulted in backlinks on websites of notable tourism bureaus and resorts like visitwichita.com, visitsavannah.com, littlepalmisland.com, and visitparkcity.com.

Olivia graduated from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina with a degree in International Business and a minor in Spanish. One of the highlights of her college experience was studying abroad in Madrid.

Sarah lives in Mississippi and completed her degree in theatre at the University of Southern Mississippi. She joined the Trips to Discover team in 2017 and is responsible for email outreach. As an avid traveler, both domestic and international, she enjoys her position at Trips to Discover as it allows her to learn about so many interesting places and events around the world.

K.C. was a featured writer for Yahoo! Travel before joining trips to discover in 2013. She is the author of Best Travel Guide for First Time Visitors to Ireland, an Amazon bestseller every year between 2013 and 2016. She has been a featured expert on Newsweek, Travel + Leisure, Travelocity, among others.

Alyssa has been writing about exciting travel topics for Trips to Discover since 2013. After living the big city life in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, Alyssa sold the bulk of her possessions and became a digital nomad, living full-time in her camper and working from wherever she could find an outlet and an internet connection for her laptop.

Madison is a content writer, editor, and small business owner living in Okinawa, Japan. She focuses primarily on Texas, Colorado, and Japan travel destinations as well as budget-friendly guidelines and hiking trips.
Follow her adventures on Instagram @inanydirection_

Karyn Wofford is a freelance writer in the fields of travel, eco-tourism, and wellness. She’s an avid traveler and Georgia native. She grew up with a passion for travel, exploring everything from the mountains to the ocean, and continues to find new and unique things to do in the places she travels.

Marcea loves writing about Florida and knows many unique things to do and places to explore in the Sunshine State. A graduate from the University of Central Florida, she is attempting to visit all 175 of Florida’s state parks and enjoys kayaking, visiting museums and reading as many books as she can. Keep up with Marcea’s adventures on her travel blog, My Cornacopia.

Georgie started her career as a news journalist at Yahoo before moving into branded content at a travel start-up in London. She’s been writing for eight years but has been full-time freelancing since 2019. Georgie’s work has appeared in publications including The Guardian, Fodor’s, ELLE Magazine, VICE UK, and more.

Pavlo has been working as a travel writer for more than 8 years, and his work has been featured in CNN Travel, BBC Travel, Time Out and Fodor's, among others. Changing cities and continents is a lifestyle for Pavlo, he has been to more than 40 countries across the globe. He can’t get enough of exploring the world and loves to share this passion through travel writing.

Tarah Chieffi is a theme park and family travel journalist who uses her words to help travelers plan fun-filled family vacations. When she isn’t eating theme park food and riding roller coasters, she can be found cycling wherever her bike will take her, tucked under the covers with a good book, or planning her next adventure with her husband and three young sons.