Who is Kiratiana Freelon? A travel expert, Olympic enthusiast, journalist, speaker, and author. Kiratiana first caught the travel bug as a 20 year-old college student studying abroad in Munich, Germany. After graduating from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics, she was awarded a prestigious fellowship that took her across West Africa, Brazil and Europe. Feeling the need to share her experiences and encourage others to engage in impactful cultural exploration while traveling, she authored her first travel focused book, aptly entitled, "Kiratiana’s Travel Guide to Black Paris: Get Lost and Get Found."
As an author, she has written for Jet Magazine, The Grio, BlackAtlas.com, Bonjourparis.com. As a journalist, she has covered the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing (2008) and London (2012). As an expert on exploring global culture, she has been featured in many prominent media outlets, including the New York Times, Black Enterprise, the Chicago Defender, NABJ Digital blog, and Black Web 2.0. And, as a speaker, she has presented at South by South West (SXSW), and Blogalicious.
Kiratiana's unique approach and perspective is catching the attention of various social media pundits, and just recently, her efforts in travel-focused digital media landed her on Black Enterprise’s list of "Top Black People in Tech to Follow on Twitter" and “Top Black Travelers to Follow on Twitter.” Kiratiana’s most recent venture is an eBook, launched in the spirit of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, entitled, "Kiratiana’s Travel Guide to Multicultural London." She launched a $6,000 Kickstarter campaign to support the project.
Kiratiana recently launched a tumblr, http://blackindiekick.tumblr.com/, which features Indiegogo and Kickstarter projects by black people or about black people.
