Just last year, Sweet, a lesbian travel company, emerged to offer our traveling community another vacation option which encompasses sea, land, domestic and international destinations. You may already be familiar with them as a result of their recently announced partnership with Southwest Airlines, or from the media love they’ve been getting for placing an importance on “voluntourism” and carbon-free cruising.
Shannon Wentworth, 36-year-old CEO and co-founder of Sweet kindly reached out to us and we are happy to have the opportunity to conduct this Q&A with her.
Ivette López: You are just about year old and entered the market at the brink of the economic downturn – what steps have you taken to introduce Sweet to the gay and lesbian market and what sort of response have you received?
Shannon Wentworth: Since launching Sweet at Club Skirts’ Dinah Shore in April 2008, we’ve sponsored over 50 lesbian events, aired a commercial on LOGO, advertised in most of the lesbian magazines and Web sites in the United States and have had had tons of exposure in the print and online media (most notably, a story in The New York Times). The response to Sweet is overwhelming. Seriously, pinch me. It feels like the best dream. We’ve been received with open arms by the LGBT community and media, as well as by the mainstream business community and media.
Ivette López Sisniega: I see you have profiles on Facebook and MySpace. Can we expect to see Sweet embark on a digital project to connect with your customer base?
Shannon Wentworth: Sweet wants to connect with its future guests wherever they hang out and it so happens that tons of them are on MySpace and Facebook – both which are great tools to get to know people. While Sweet plans to always use technology to reduce the use of natural resources (i.e., more e-mail than direct mail), we don’t have plans to launch our own social network. Our website, www.discoversweet.com is rich with cool web 2.0 features, like the ability to upload a blog item directly to your favorite social network, an RSS feed, our events calendar and the Sweet jukebox. We also launched our Sweet community forum recently.
Ivette López Sisniega: Congratulations on your recent partnership with Southwest Airlines. Would you mind walking us through the process in selecting them? Did you consider other airline partners?
Shannon Wentworth: We were looking for an airline partner that provided both value and service. After speaking with several airlines, we found Southwest to be the best and most enthusiastic partner. Southwest’s commitment to customer service and customer-friendly policies is a wonderful fit for Sweet. Southwest shares our commitment to the lesbian and gay community and to the environment.
Ivette López Sisniega: I love the idea of volunteer-oriented “voluntourism” vacations. How was that was inspired and why you think that’s a great fit for the gay and lesbian market?
Shannon Wentworth: We think the idea of having a blast while leaving the world a better place is totally Sweet. In addition to hosting off-the-hook parties on board with a high-profile promoter like Club Skirts, makers of the legendary Dinah Shore Weekend, and offering amazing performances by superstar lesbian comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer, “Last Comic Standing” semi-finalist Erin Foley, comedians Gloria Bigelow and Sandra Valls and music by award-winning singer-songwriters Jen Foster and Edie Carey, we’re offsetting all of our carbon emissions, doing volunteer projects in the ports we visit and matching our guests’ philanthropic contributions. So far, the lesbian community loves the idea of a fun-filled vacation with a purpose.
We certainly hope to see great things from our friends at Sweet and wish them the best as their plans begin to take off! To learn more about Shannon and the rest of the “Sweet” staff and concepts, be sure to check out their site.
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