Today we’d like to introduce you to Michele Simon.
Hi Michele, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
First, I would like to thank VoyageATL for the opportunity to share my story and provide a peek into my life as a MS Warrior, Supply Chain Consultant, entrepreneur, and wife. I was born and raised in Chicago, but love planted me in the Atlanta, Georgia area almost ten years ago. I stand proud in the shoes of a 46-year-old married woman with a heavy focus on living life on purpose. I have three beautiful bonus daughters, seven lively and amazing grandchildren, and one fur baby.
I started my career journey in 2002 as a Chemical Engineer however, ten years later I discovered my career passion was really in Supply Chain Management. I’m pretty confident that my process improvement, analytical, and problem-solving skills piqued my interest and now I love understanding how value chains build the steps needed to create a marketable product. After ten-plus years of working in the Supply Chain industry, I am now consulting multinational consumer and technology companies on how to transform their business and improve their digital presence.
Along with Supply Chain consulting, I am the founder and owner of Travel Stamp Junkees LLC. I took my passion for travel and my desire to learn about other cultures and opened a travel agency to appeal to a customer base that loves travel as much as I do and needs someone experienced to guide them properly. My goal is to listen to my customer’s unique interests, preferences, and budgets and create a travel experience they will never forget. I feel that travel increases mood, decreases stress, and encourages creativity. And if I can make this happen for my customers, I know what I built has fulfilled its purpose. Travel Stamp Junkees launched in 2019 and has serviced over 400 customers and counting.
Outside of my consulting and entrepreneur life, I also live with a central nervous system disorder, Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I was diagnosed with MS over 15 years ago, and some of my symptoms include body numbness and tingling, pain and body spasms, and tiredness and weakness. It’s important for me to share this about myself because having MS has defeated a lot of people. After diagnosis, your life changes in ways you can’t imagine, and because it’s more of an invisible disease, people don’t understand it. I enjoy educating people about MS, being an example of a survivor, and not letting it define me. I love who I have become and the greater person I am growing into.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As a consultant working alongside some of the top big four consultants, a business owner navigating in a saturated market and living with a disability, it has not been a smooth road. I launched my agency 6 months before COVID hit the US and I also lost my mother as I was building my business and developing my brand at my firm. Not being able to travel during COVID caused me to lose all of my customers, and my firm lost a number of contracts due to businesses closing. I was blessed to survive several rounds of layoffs, but I knew that wasn’t enough. Every day, I felt my mother’s presence and her push, so I endured. But along with that spiritual push, I also utilized my business intelligence and my network. I started revamping my brand and studying where the market was headed as businesses started to recover. I started learning more about different supply chain technologies, digital workflow, and automation via training courses. I also sought out a mentor. Having a mentor was key to propelling my career and my business. I found mentors that were in the shoes I wanted to fill in 3 to 5 years and I paid close attention to their lessons learned. An established and well-respected mentor is a flex when it comes to identifying your professional goals. They help you strategize and provide effective advice, and they expose you to their network, where you can build connections.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Travel Stamp Junkees LLC?
Professionally and career-wise, I am a Supply Chain consultant and work in all areas of Supply Chain & Operations (i.e., Logistics, Manufacturing, Planning, Quality, etc.). I love my career because it exposes me to so many different industries and I learn so much more compared to working a typical 9 to 5. But one of my true passions in life is travel, and why I opened Travel Stamp Junkees LLC.
I consider myself to be more of a traditional agency owner because I am truly focused on customization and creating an experience. I spend a lot of time with my clients, understanding what’s important to them. I also want my clients to know that I did not open my agency because it’s the hot thing to do. I opened it because I truly want to help people explore the world. I want to be a solid knowledge base for my clients, and I want them to feel they can trust me. My agency is known for its customer service and attention to detail, and that I am well-traveled. I specialize in luxury travel, specialty group and solo trips, and I have booked clients to the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, Alaska, cruises, etc. There isn’t a destination I can’t make possible for anyone.
It makes me proud to know that people trust me enough to invest their hard-earned money in a trip planned by Travel Stamp Junkees LLC. Receiving repeat customers, numerous referrals, and amazing reviews makes my heart smile and keeps me focused on improving my brand.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are three very special people that have been instrumental in my professional and entrepreneurial life. The first person is my mom, Michele Dickens. She never allowed me to accept defeat, and when I went through some of the most stressful and discouraging days as an Engineer, she stood by me and continuously spoke words of encouragement to me. And although she’s no longer with me, she has been my angel and spiritual protector.
The second person is my travel agency mentor, Diana Hayes, who also owns her own agency, Diva Getaways LLC. Diana was and is my business mentor. She took me under her wing and showed me the ins and outs of the travel industry. And one day, she gave me a stern and gentle nudge to venture out on my own – and that’s when Travel Stamp Junkees LLC became my baby.
The third and most impactful person is my husband, Dakim Simon. Dakim is my biggest cheerleader and supporter. Without him, I wouldn’t have had the courage to start my business. He said, “Michele, you show so many people what travel is like through your experiences, why not plan experiences for them too?”. He’s an amazing person, and I love him dearly.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/ travelstampjunkees/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ TravelStampJunkees - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/michele-simon- mba-six-sigma-green-belt- 167a9b100/
Image Credits
Lynn McIntosh, Dark Flower Studios
