Today we’d like to introduce you to Gibson Placide.
Gibson, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
As a first-generation American, born of Haitian Immigrants, I have always believed that there is more that connects us than divides us on this planet. I earned a degree in Education from the University of Central Florida, where I met the woman who would inspire me to fly in many ways. Before I go there, let’s “keep it mov’n”, I proceeded to work as a teacher for one year after graduating and discovered a need to make an impact on people’s lives in Human Resources.
Always motivated to impact lives of others in a positive way, I dedicated my professional career to helping change the unconscious biases that naturally exist among hiring procedures in Corporate America. I found myself making an impact at companies such as Starwood Hotels, Bank of America, eBay/PayPal, Microsoft, and Starbucks. Coming into a stellar 20-year career within Talent Acquisitions, I began to wonder, “what’s next?”.
I have always been passionate and driven around the areas of Gender pay equality and Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace and have made great strides in those areas. But, at the threat of our family becoming too bogged down by the daily corporate demands of our lives, my wife Isa Placide would always plan our yearly vacations. In fact, the first time I had ever flown on a plane was to visit her family for the first time in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This was when my love of travel began and spurred our journeys to travel to over 20 countries as a family and share the world with our son Matthew who has been traveling since in the womb.
On one of our trips, I remarked to my wife that almost everywhere we go we seem to spot Brazilians on vacation as well. She shared that first of all, Brazilians take traveling seriously, meaning they are intentional about planning and venturing within and outside of their country to experience the world. “But, how is this affordable for them when in the US so many people struggle to travel abroad or from city to city,” I asked.
Then she shared that people pay for flights in installment in Brazil making it possible. This news would cause my jaw to drop and subsequently drive us in the direction of enabling everyone at any economic standing the opportunity to travel the world. The idea of Layaway Tickets was born in October of 2016 with the sole goal to enable all people to discover the magic of travel for themselves as we have done. I truly believe that there is more that connects us than what divides us and since launching in 2017 we have directly received affirmation from our customers that our bold notion is correct.
Has it been a smooth road?
The struggles where countless… First is fighting the self-defeating habits of doubt in our own ability to launch and wondering if people would truly find our service of value in their lives. We knew that our first major hurdle would be getting our message out there and encouraging people to trust this black-owned startup that they’ve never, ever heard of and offering services that is foreign to a majority of Americans.
We tackled this branding challenge head-on via Social Media platforms by communicating our message first through inspiring quotes, travel pictures, jokes, and tips. All in efforts to win over our audiences hearts and minds. Occasionally, we would interject our mission of making offering flights in easy payments making travel possible to anyone who was previously excluded due to lack of funds. Slowly, the message started to catch on. People’s first reactions were, “Is this real?, and “Do you accept people with bad credit?” “Lol! Yes and Yes!” was always our response. At the same time, something incredible also started to happen.
Millennials, the generation who is not afraid of making online purchases, equip with the concept of a startup no-name brand company, and effected by high student debt all decided to take their lives in their own hands!
(The millennial generation is the largest in U.S. history and as they reach their prime working and spending years, their impact on the economy will be significant. This new generation is savvier and more educated. They turn to their handheld devices to meet all their needs. Whether it be hailing a ride through Lyft app or ordering a breakfast burrito through the Seamless app, technology is how they get things done. They are plugged into their devices and are disrupting traditional purchasing patterns.)
Diaspora movement. The movement of people of color to journey to the country or countries of their ancestry. Whether they were first-generation or generational Americans, born in another country but now call America home, or descendants of African slaves brought to America, all were motivated to travel like never before!
(In 2016 72 million consumers said that they don’t buy airline flights because they lack the necessary saving or credit. – U.S. Census Bureau)
We eventually discovered that our place is in the background. Meaning, we highlight the photos, stories, adventures of our customers on every platform. Our brand became the faces of our customers!
Eventually, this caught the attention of other small business owners within the travel community who are committed to providing greatly unique travel experiences to their customers all at a great price and service.
We have gone through several iterations of our partnership services model and technical break fixes to create a solution other travel business can leverage to offer flight payments options to their customers.
A key factor in this journey has been our partnership with our friends at Paper, Planes, and Passports! According to eMarketer, the size of the 2016 U.S. online travel booking industry was $180.59 billion and is projected to grow to $219.69 billion by 2021. We want our partners to have as much access to this market as possible by leveraging us to give travelers who want to plan future trips but don’t have the funds available to pay immediately the option of paying in installments.
Please tell us about Layaway Tickets.
Advancement in travel and technology has made the world much smaller and accessible. In this age, unity of identity and ambitions are important. But, as accessible as travel has become, it is not free and certain segments of people who would like to travel are unable to do so.
Our services are ideal for the college student wanting to travel home for the holidays. They can secure a lower price early and pay for the ticket over time. Senior citizens on a fixed income wanting to take advantage of our services to plan trips in advance and spread the cost over time. Families who have upcoming reunions or weddings can lock in cheap fares and hotels in the Winter to save even more for these common Spring and Summer affairs.
Layaway Tickets enables its customers to search and book their flights well in advance and make partial payments (bi-weekly or monthly) until their airline ticket is paid in full. Customers can search and book their flights on their mobile devices and laptops. No one else enables people to purchase flights via a direct search and booking, purchase without a credit check, and all at a small 15% processing fee while locking in those lower airline tickets prices when you purchase well in advance.
Layaway Tickets also enables other travel businesses become a member of our platform in order to offer payment installments for their travel packages (Hotel, Food, Excursions) and customer’s Airline Flight purchase. Best perk is that our 15% processing fee is lowered to 10% for the customers of our fellow travel businesses using our platform!
This is our way of showing the entire travel community that we are in this journey of making travel more accessible to everyone, together!
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
The city of Atlanta is the perfect place to start a new business like ours. This city is breaming with talented women and men. In fact, our story could not be possible anywhere else!
As a tech startup, we have partnered with local developers, black travel industry professionals, and investors that had to believe in us in order for any of this to become a reality. It brings us great pride to know that this city is producing greatness every day!
Contact Info:
- Website: layawaytickets.com
- Phone: 678-691-4235
- Email: info@layawaytickets.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/layawaytickets
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/layawaytickets
Image Credit:
Vineyard photo courtesy of Shanticleer Graham
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