Vanessa Karel: “Women-to-Women Travel Innovation Leader”

Title: Founder CEO
Organization: Greether
Age: 35

Vanessa Karel is at the forefront of a movement redefining how women travel. As the Founder & CEO of Greether — one of the world’s fastest-growing women-to-women travel platforms, operating across 1,000+ cities in 100+ countries — she has built an answer to the question every female traveler asks the moment she lands somewhere new: Who can I trust there?

Vanessa founded Greether after a personal safety incident while traveling abroad made visible what the industry had long ignored: women represent the majority of the world’s travelers, yet safety, trust, and access to authentic local insight remain their greatest barriers. She built Greether to solve this at scale — creating a platform that connects female travelers with verified local women Greeters, enhancing traveler confidence while unlocking real economic opportunity for local women worldwide. To date, Greether has generated income for women across 60+ countries, advancing two UN Sustainable Development Goals simultaneously: reducing safety risks for women and expanding their economic power.

The platform has grown organically to serve travelers across more than 100 countries and has earned global recognition as one of the most innovative companies in its space. Greether was named Travel Startup of the Year at World Travel Market (WTM) London 2024, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup, and one of the Top 3 Most Innovative Female Empowerment Travel Companies in the world by the UNWTO Awake Tourism Challenge. The company also took first place in CNET’s Promise of Tourism Awards and has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, USA Today, CBS News — and even Saturday Night Live.

Vanessa has been named one of the Most Influential Women in Travel (2025) by Travel Pulse, recognized as one of the 100 Latina Leaders by Latino Leaders Magazine in both 2024 and 2025, and listed among the 100 Latinx Founders to Watch by Hispanic Executive. In 2023, she was voted Most Impactful Entrepreneur Creating Social Impact in Mexico by ASEM.

Greether is backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) through the TxO program, supported by Expedia Group’s Open World Accelerator, and has attracted investment from Mercury Bank, Aleph1, Untours Foundation, and Expedia Group — a rare combination of top-tier venture credibility and mission-aligned capital.

A sought-after global speaker on women’s safety, economic empowerment, and the future of travel, Vanessa has taken the stage at the United Nations, UNWTO, UN Women, Expedia, Phocuswright, Japan Expo, Latinas in Tech, Girls in Tech, HACE, and the Latino Foundation, among many others. She has invested an estimated 20,000 hours toward gender equality and female empowerment — not as a side pursuit, but as the foundation of everything she builds.

Vanessa Karel is not just building a startup. She is building the infrastructure for how women navigate the world — and the world is paying attention.