5 Future Leaders to Watch List, 2025

Future Leaders in Travel, powered by TravelAge West, launched eight years ago with a simple hypothesis: If you connect travel advisors and suppliers under the age of 40 with tailored content, opportunities for reflection and immersive destination activities, advisors will stay in this career, and amazing things will happen.

Looking out from the stage at this year’s attendees was a surreal reminder of how far our program has come. We welcomed 65 advisors, our biggest and most impressive cohort yet. These five travel advisors exemplify why this group is poised to make their mark on the industry.

Katy Caldwell-Cole

Advising Since: 2023. Projected Sales: $2,500,000.

For nearly 20 years, Katy Caldwell-Cole was on the road with musicians. What started out as a stint as a merchandise manager transitioned into roles as a lighting director and then tour manager. 

“I was responsible for coordinating the logistics that kept artists, crews and gear moving smoothly across the globe,” she said. “Handling travel was a natural part of the job — and over time, it became one of the aspects I enjoyed most.”

The Texas-based advisor says that exposure to different cultures, people and places fundamentally shaped how she views the world, while working in a male-dominated industry sharpened her commitment and resilience. She became not just savvy in travel logistics, but also passionate about sharing the transformative power of travel.

Since entering the travel industry, Caldwell-Cole has focused on building a strong foundation in education and business, which she believes should be required for the profession. Last year, she earned her Verified Travel Advisor (VTA) certification from the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) and obtained her IATAN number.

And this year, she has earned her Certified Travel Associate (CTA) certification through The Travel Institute and her Certified Cruise Counsellor (CCC) designation through Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). She is in the process of becoming trained in Sabre and is working to be fully independent through the Network of Entrepreneurs Selling Travel.

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She hopes that her agency, Touring Folk, will become a trusted name within the entertainment industry, and that it will redefine what it means to offer personalized, one-on-one relationships to artists and touring entourages around the globe. She still travels with some of her clients as their tour manager — which allows her to truly anticipate their wants and needs.

Travel is the industry I will retire from, and I will build a legacy I can be proud of.

“That level of trust has even led one client to bring me along on her personal vacations to ensure every detail is flawless,” she said, adding that she works hard to have strong relationships with her frequently booked hotels and luxury operators such as Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Abercrombie & Kent and Kensington.

In order to open her waitlist to more ultra-high-net-worth clients, she has expanded her team with a full-time operations member and plans to bring on two advisors by the end of the year.

“Travel is the industry I will retire from, and I will build a legacy I can be proud of,” she said.

Natalia Yepes

Advising Since: 2021. Projected Sales: $600,000.

Some people just light up a room — or maybe an airplane. Natalia Yepes began her career in travel as a flight attendant at United Airlines, where she realized her passion for helping others discover the world on their own terms.

A few years later at American Airlines, her talents were put to use in an expanded role, and she helped with the airline’s credit card and loyalty programs and collaborated with its teaching departments for training and recruiting.

After being furloughed in 2020 because of the pandemic, Yepes knew travel would return with a vengeance and started working full-time to create Adventuresque Travel Boutique (now hosted by WorldVia Travel Network). She focused her training on customer service and ethical methods of selling travel, immediately joining ASTA in 2021 and earning her CTA from The Travel Institute.

"I am very passionate about exploring destinations in a way that highlights native culture and keeps local economies alive,” she said. “I have found that this enthusiasm is contagious, and my clients notice that I want them to have the best experience. It keeps my product authentic.”

Staying educated is a key driver of her success, and she makes sure she is continuously learning about destinations and meeting new suppliers, who she credits with providing that “wow factor” to her clients.  Her expertise allows her to plan detailed, highly curated trips based on each client’s preferences.

Yepes is a wonderful spokesperson for the career — and was discovered by a local television producer who invited her to talk about travel on the show, “Inside South Florida.” 

At Future Leaders, this ability to connect, communicate and put people at ease was on full display. Leading discussions on crisis communication and intention setting, she made it clear that she is an advisor’s advisor.

I missed having a mentor who would guide me through the beginning, and I aim to be this person to new advisors.

“I missed having a mentor who would guide me through the beginning, and I aim to be this person to new advisors,” she said, reflecting on her own goals. “I want to set up a program where we all pay it forward to keep our industry ethical and earnestly make travel sustainable for local economies and the environment.”

Melanie Kostrab  

Advising Since: 2019. Projected Sales: $2,000,000.

More than 120 five-star reviews — and a 99% recommendation rate — prove that Melanie Kostrab of Travelmation was meant to be an advisor.

A former physical therapist of 12 years, Kostrab sought a career that would offer her more flexibility as a mother of two sons — and she found her calling in building relationships by planning travel.

“I am a planner by nature, and I truly wake up each day looking forward to assisting my clients with their vacations,” she said.

Unsurprisingly, she was named one of the top 20 advisors at Travelmation in 2023 and 2024. And her passion for cruising has translated into sales: She is the recipient of top sales awards from MSC Cruises in 2023 and Royal Caribbean in 2024.

“I live in Florida, so I literally can get from my house to a cruise ship in less than an hour,” she said. “I love being able to tour different islands and countries and meet so many people, including cruise staff from all over the world and the people in each country I visit."

In addition to completing vendor trainings for Disney Destinations and most cruise lines, Kostrab attends weekly vendor education sessions with her agency and says she loves connecting with fellow 
advisors and suppliers to talk travel.

I am a planner by nature, and I truly wake up each day looking forward to assisting my clients with their vacations.

She credits being a mom for her ability to serve families of babies, toddlers, kids and teens — as well as couples looking for kid-free getaways.
As for goals, she hopes to grow her group and incentive travel clientele. At the heart of her business is a love for building relationships with clients — the more, the better.

Matthew Angelo

Advising Since: 2021. Projected Sales: $1,300,000.

Matthew Angelo grew up in his grandfather’s travel agencies, pitching in with office tasks and soaking up industry knowledge without even realizing it.

And while travel has always played a meaningful role in his life — from family trips as a kid to living abroad in Belgium — he first pursued a career as a classical flutist.

Angelo says being a professional musician taught him how to be a resilient entrepreneur who can promote himself, build relationships, collaborate and take personal accountability to succeed.

But eventually the family business came calling. Although his grandfather sold his agency years before Angelo entered the industry, he now works at National Discount Cruise Company in Pennsylvania — which purchased his grandfather’s last agency — alongside his mother, continuing the family’s legacy in a new way.

And he was hooked immediately.

“It felt like coming home to something I was meant to do,” he said. “I’m incredibly grateful to have found another career that lights me up — because working in a field I care deeply about is the only way I know how to keep growing, stay motivated and share that excitement with others.”

I’m incredibly grateful to have found another career that lights me up — because working in a field I care deeply about is the only way I know how to keep growing, stay motivated and share that excitement with others.

Angelo balances his passion for travel with a commitment to education, gained by regularly attending webinars with TravelAge West and Travel Weekly, and in-person conferences. His next goal is to earn his VTA certification, and says that ongoing education is “how I provide the best service and insight to my clients.”

He hopes to one day be a partial owner in a visionary agency that creates irresistible client experiences and stays deeply connected with the travel community.

“For me, it’s about building meaningful relationships — with suppliers, with clients and with fellow travel professionals — and working collaboratively to ensure that the travel advisor remains an irreplaceable part of the travel experience,” he said. “I’m committed to doing everything in my power to help shape an industry where human connection and expert guidance continue to thrive.”

Melanie Rodriguez

Advising Since: 2021. Projected Sales: $1,100,000.

After a traumatic health incident in 2009, Melanie Rodriguez briefly passed away.

“I decided that life was far too short to work a job I didn’t love and to not make time to see the world,” she said. “I have been an event planner and worked ground operations for American Airlines — but I want to be an advisor for the rest of my life.”

And by all accounts, she means it. To make sure she is equipped to help her clients travel the world, the D.C.-based advisor has earned her VTA from ASTA, her CCC from CLIA, her CTA from The Travel Institute and her Autism Certificate from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards — what she calls “the difference between an OK agent and a fabulous agent.”

It’s important to Rodriguez that her clients know that she doesn’t just Google destinations, but travels the world to meet suppliers and know exactly what her travelers will experience.

It is amazing to know that you can help give such a monumental feeling to another family in the form of their first vacation.

“I want to make sure I’m letting clients know that not all agents are ‘book and forget,’” she said. “We are service people in a service industry who make their vacation dreams a reality.”

Rodriguez says that psychology — which she studied in school — is the backbone of her business, and taking care of clients with special needs drives her.

“It was shocking to me to know that there are not visible services to make a parent [of a child with Autism] feel truly comfortable venturing out into the world,” she said. “It is amazing to know that you can help give such a monumental feeling to another family in the form of their first vacation.”

As she looks forward to more years in the industry, her main goals are to expand into offering rental properties in the U.S. and Europe, to get her own IATAN accreditation and to acquire more knowledge so she can continue delivering excellent trips to wary clients.

“I want each client to go into the world and feel like I’m right there with them,” she said. “I want them to say, ‘I feel so much better about traveling.’”