Former TIME Graduate, Vanessa Dal Busco tells e-Travel Blackboard why she aims to one day have the opportunity to mentor an up & comer and why she lives by Apples’ motto: “think different”.

e-Travel Blackboard: When and why did you join the industry?

Vanessa: I joined the industry in 2009 with Sabre Pacific when I realised the Pharmaceutical Industry wasn’t going to get any more exciting! The nature of this industry attracts colourful personalities.

e-Travel Blackboard: What do you like most about your job?

Vanessa: The people and the aspirational [sic] nature of the industry. I like the way technology is embraced and there is rarely a definitive answer – that solutions keep evolving.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s one of the biggest achievements of your career so far?

Vanessa: Being selected as a finalist in ACTE 3 Under 33 program this year.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s the best advice ever given to you and who gave it?

Vanessa: Steve Jobs through the Apple ad “Think Different”

e-Travel Blackboard: Having graduated from the TIME program, would you ever consider becoming a mentor and why?

Vanessa: Yes that is something I work towards – that is my most long-term goal and since being an industry icon is pretty much a pre-requisite, I have at least 20 years before this goal could be realised!

I found the TIME program hugely beneficial. I gained a greater understanding of the Industry and a greater understanding of my own capabilities and what I can achieve in the industry. It was an incredible learning curve and I would recommend the program to anyone who has that thirst for knowledge and is looking to develop their career.

e-Travel Blackboard: Who do you admire and see as a role model in the travel industry?

Vanessa: My TIME mentor, Judith O’Neill is a person I admire for her ability to draw out the full capacity of a person – she extracts talent when there was no awareness that it existed!

My Director, Donna Meads-Barlow for her tenacity and energy.

e-Travel Blackboard: What destinations are on your travel bucket list?

Vanessa: Burkina Faso and all of West Africa. South of India. Nepal, Tibet, China.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s a memorable travel experience you’ve had (good or bad)?

Vanessa: My recent trip through North India – for the people, the food, the culture. Sunrise on the Ganges River, Varanasi.

e-Travel Blackboard: What are three things you always take with you when travelling?
Vanessa: Charger, ipad, hand sanitiser

e-Travel Blackboard: Name someone famous you’d like to travel with and a destination you’d like to go with them.

The Dalai Lama to Nepal, Tibet & China