YOU GO, GIRL

The travel writer who spotlighted the journeys of Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde and countless other sister globe-trotters reveals the destinations every Black woman should experience

- Veronica Wells-Puoane

Thirty-four years ago, Elaine Lee, then a 38-year-old civil rights attorney, visited Paris—and the trajectory of her life changed. It was the last day of Fashion Week. Lee was at a dinner party, surrounded by models, photographers and Black expats. Eventually the diners began teasing a man named Richard, who was sitting next to her.

“How is it that you vacation for two months and then you work two months?” they asked.

Flipping the question on its head, Richard responded, “Vacation? I don’t take vacations. This is my lifestyle. This is how I live.”

Lee walked away from that evening having learned an important lesson. “That just did it for me,” she recalls. “I thought, I have a vacation-free life because I'm a workaholic. He has a vacation-free life because he has a lifestyle. I had a ‘desk style,’ and I needed to change. I knew then: I’m not really living.”

Inspired by the more than 50 stamps in Richard’s passport, Lee flew home and met with a financial planner, to see how she could incorporate more travel into her life. Two years later, she took her first trip around the world.