|
..
|
|
|
Agent
Education Profiles BIO-SKETCH
OF HELEN C. BROADUS She
is currently a Member of
the International Board
of Directors of the
Africa Travel
Association (ATA) and
has served with great
distinction as the
Executive Secretary for
the past seven years.
She is also the
Chairperson of the
Education and Training
Committee as well as
willingly serves on
several other ATA
Standing Committees.
Over the past fifteen
years within the ATA
organization, she has
substantially
contributed to the
professional growth and
development of the ATA
organization at all
levels and is definitely
a model of commitment
and service to the
promotion of travel and
tourism opportunities to
the Continent of
Africa. The
following is an overview
of her many
accomplishments and
achievements both within
the ATA organization and
with many other similar
Africa-focused
organizations and
associations: •
Chapter President of
Mid-Atlantic Region of
Africa Travel
Association from
1992-1997. During her
tenure, she
significantly increased
the visibility of the
ATA organization by
establishing ongoing
networking relationships
with numerous travel and
tourism industry
professionals,
non-governmental
organizations, chambers
of commerce,
governmental agencies,
and members of the
African Diplomatic
Corps. •
During her tenure as the
Mid-Atlantic Chapter
President, she received
the ATA's Founder's
Award in 1997. In 1999,
she received the
prestigious Hotel
Intercontinental Group
Award for the promotion
of travel and tourism
opportunities to West
Africa. •
In addition, in 1995,
she also received a
Citation Certificate
from the Mayor of the
District of Columbia,
the Honorable Marion S.
Barry, for her
outstanding
contributions to the
promotion of travel and
tourism opportunities
between the citizenry of
the District of Columbia
and many African
nations. Several
examples of activities
that merited such
recognition included,
hosting ATA's "Best of
Africa" event,
sponsoring ATA
promotional activities
during Congressional
Black Caucus Legislative
Week, and sponsoring
travel and tourism
forums with the District
of Columbia's Chamber of
Commerce, DC Public
Schools System,
Africare, Constituency
for Africa and Corporate
Council on Africa.
•
Elected Executive
Secretary to the
International Board of
Directors from 1997 to
the present. As such,
she is directly
responsible for revising
format procedures for
recordation and
publishing of ATA
official minutes of
proceedings to include:
International Board of
Directors' Meetings,
Convocation of African
Ministers Meetings,
Executive Committee
Meetings, General
Membership Meetings, and
Special Ad Hoc Meetings.
The ATA Executive
Director, ATA President
and ATA Board Members as
well as African
Ministers of Tourism
have cited her on
numerous occasions for
the outstanding
professional performance
of her duties and
responsibilities. •
Collaborated with the
Nigerian ATA Delegation
to create the ATA
African Fashion Walk
during the Africa Travel
Association's Tanzanian
Congress &endash; which
ultimately led to the
highly popular ATA
African Fashion Show
programs frequently held
during each ATA
International Congress
as well as the ATA
Fashion Section listed
on the ATA
Website. •
Conducted First Annual
Pilgrimage to Benin as
well as Inaugural
Familiarization (FAM)
Tours of Uganda,
Nigeria, Botswana,
Sierra Leone, Swaziland,
the Seychelles and
Lesotho on behalf of the
ATA organization.
•
Selected as an At-Large
Delegate to the National
Summit on Africa in 2000
as a representative of
the ATA organization and
was instrumental in
designing language
within a final report
that addressed the
significance of the
travel and tourism
industry with regard to
overall cultural
awareness and economic
stimulus for African
nations. •
Regularly participates
in the New Members'
Orientation Forum
Initiative, whereby new
members to the ATA
organization are
provided with news and
information during the
ATA Congress. Offers
advice on successful
strategies for becoming
a travel professional
and works very closely
with new African ATA
Members to improve upon
their marketability
skills for collaborating
opportunities with
American ATA Members.
•
Chairperson of ATA
Education and Training
Committee as well as
member of the Committee
for the Annual Congress
and the Membership
Committee. •
As Chairperson of
Education and Training
Committee, facilitated
the introduction of
African destination and
certification training
for ATA Delegates
attending annual
Congresses and
Symposiums. •
Frequent contributing
writer of more than
thirty-five (35)
newsworthy articles
published by the Africa
Travellers Journal,
Africa Travel Magazine,
Africa Travel
Association's Website
and Black Meetings and
Tourism
Magazine. In
addition to the above
ATA-related activities,
she has further expanded
the ATA organization's
influence and
recognition through her
active involvement with
the Constituency for
Africa (CFA), in which
she has been able to
effectively contribute
to the lobbying efforts
directed at federal
government agencies and
congressional
representatives about
the value of the travel
and tourism industry of
Africa in relationship
to the Africa Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA).
She
is also actively
involved with the
following two
Africa-related
associations: Member of
the American and African
Business Women's
Alliance (AABWA), which
is an international
organization devoted to
the empowerment of
entrepreneurship between
American and African
women business owners
and Special Advisor to
Students In Free
Enterprise-Africa, which
is a non-profit
organization that is
devoted to creating
entrepreneurial training
and related business
opportunities for
students in colleges and
universities across
Africa. For more
information about Venue
International
Professionals, Inc.,
please visit their
website at
www.venuetravel.com. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
Ms.
Helen C. Broadus is the
President of Venue
International
Professionals, Inc.
(VIP, a full service
travel and tourism
consulting firm that
specializes on the
Continent of Africa and
has visited twenty-five
African countries (at
least once) over the
past fifteen years. She
is also a featured
writer of newsworthy
articles for many trade
publications (to include
the Africa Travellers
Journal, Africa Travel
Magazine and Black
Meetings & Tourism
Magazine) as well as a
featured panelist of
radio, cable television
and other mediums on
various topics of the
travel and tourism
opportunities in
Africa.