Make New Friends, Wherever You Go
Girl Scout alum Jacqueline Gifford, editor in chief of Travel + Leisure magazine, believes in the power of meeting new people—something she learned while living abroad in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Japan.
“People reach out to me all the time from different levels [to connect] and, if I have time, I say yes,” she explains. “As careers grow and take shape, people rise in whatever field they’re in, maybe they switch industries … you just never know where somebody is going to end up.”
“A lot of people only want to talk to people that are going to get them someplace,” she adds, “But I think there’s a beauty in saying ‘yes’ and not being calculated about it.”
Jacqui finished elementary school in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where she was a Girl Scout Brownie and Junior. She has fond memories of her mother, who is also a Girl Scout alum, taking her door-to-door to sell cookies.
Then she discovered in middle school that her family was moving back to Japan, where she was born.
There, Jacqui learned that as an only child in a global community, she needed to make friends quickly and be comfortable with people of different “backgrounds, faiths, and colors.”
“I was ready for something new—middle school girls can be tough. And the people at my new school were very welcoming,” she says.
Later, as the travel editor at OK! magazine, Jacqui found herself taking meetings with people from across the industry.
“I was young, and I would always meet with the Hilton Head Island Visitor and
Convention Bureau CEO, Bill Miles, and the Vice President of Communications, Charlie Clark. I still talk to them to this day—they weren’t like ‘I need to see the editor in chief,’” she explains.
As the top editor at one of America’s top travel magazines, travel is a big part of Jacqui’s job. She continues to make time to introduce herself and talk to people wherever she goes, whether she is traveling for business, or with her husband, Rob, and young son, Bobby.
While her husband is introverted, she has shown her Bobby—who loves theater, fashion, and travel—how to be social as he moves through the world. “He isn’t afraid to talk to people.
“It can be overwhelming, for my husband in particular,” she laughs. “But that’s kind of me. In the long run, it really is a good thing to do. You just learn more that way.”
