Two years ago, when Huda Alvi—then a 37-year-old married entrepreneur with three teenagers (a daughter and two sons)—announced that she would be taking a solo backpacking trip to Central and South America, her South Asian parents were alarmed.

“They literally sat me down and it was a full-on intervention. They wanted me to cancel because they were too scared,” says Alvi, who lives in Milton, Ontario in Canada. “They didn’t get it. My mom wondered why I wasn’t going with my husband, and if everything was okay in our marriage.” 

Luckily, she had the support of her husband and kids, so she went anyway. The trip was life-changing; she spent 25 days exploring Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala. While there, she pushed herself to try things that scared her, such as paragliding, zip lining, riding an ATV to a hidden waterfall and staying in a glass house on stilts in the Monteverde mountains cloud forest. 

“Once I did Costa Rica, it brought out a new sense of adventure in me. I felt very confident,” she says. “Out of all the things I’ve done in my life, nothing felt quite like what I did there.”  

For many women from Eastern cultures, going on trips abroad isn’t as simple as it is for many others. Even if they grew up travelling with their families, as Alvi’s did. Before she turned 14, she had already lived in the U.K., U.S., India, Pakistan and Canada and taken numerous family road trips. She credits her father, who was an entrepreneur, for instilling a love of travel in her and her siblings. “My dad was an adventurer and seeker …his dream was to travel,” Alvi says. “Even today, one of his biggest desires is to get a camper van and tour America.”

But growing up in a culture hinged on collectiveness and prioritizes protecting daughters means women often grow up lacking the courage to travel alone. Alvi shared, too, that many of the women on her trips experience guilt leaving their children behind to travel. In other words, support from family is essential; Alvi’s mother often cares for her children when she’s away. All these reasons illustrate a little of why it’s less common to see women from certain cultures travelling solo. 

After experiencing some of these roadblocks firsthand, Alvi and her sister Sana set out to make travel accessible to all women. In 2018, they launched The Girls Trip, with the intention of being the first tour company for Millennial women of colour. Since then, the sisters have taken over 350 women from diverse backgrounds ranging from their late 20s to their mid-40s to bucket-list destinations such as Indonesia, Italy, Portugal and Morocco.

“When we first launched, there was no other company doing it that looked like us,” says Alvi. “It was all white girls in bikinis. [Among women of colour] there was this feeling of, ‘Oh my god, I can’t really go with them. They look a certain way.’ But they felt like they could go with two brown girls.” That’s because, whether they dress more modestly or don’t drink alcohol, they can feel safe in the knowledge that they will be understood rather than judged.

To cater to a wider audience, Girls Trip offers monthly payment plans and budget-friendly vacations. Trips are curated to take planning out of the equation, and the ability to travel with a group provides a safety net for women travelling alone for the first time. It also encouraged them to take the leap afterward, and discover all the resources and planning they can do prior to ensure safe travels. Itineraries incorporate cultural exploration, such as visiting a temple in Bali or the ruins of Pompeii, as well as personal growth through adventurous activities, like zip-lining and rafting—all while building meaningful connections.

Many women form deep friendships on the trips and leave with newfound confidence in themselves, Alvi says, with many keen to travel independently again. For many mothers in particular, the trips also end up being a form of self-care. “Many of them will end up crying … saying the trip has allowed them to reset, and now they feel they can be more present for their kids,” Alvi says. 

This is one reason why Alvi has become hooked on this style of travel; she guesses she’s taken close to 15 solo trips since 2017. It’s also developed her business acumen and inspired her creativity, she says. In addition to The Girls Trip, she started Wellthy Woman, which relaunches in March and also works to empower racialized women. In that case, the goal is building wealth while maintaining self-care. For instance, Alvi coaches women on how to achieve financial independence and a balanced diet through webinars, events, a podcast and an online community.

“It might be 2025, but a lot of our third-culture women are still operating very traditionally. The husbands handle the mortgage or the bills, even though they bring in the money,” Alvi explains. “Anything can happen at any time, and having a better idea of their finances is a huge security blanket for women that have children.” 

The idea of a more self-aware and in control approach to wealth was born out of Alvi’s personal journey. When she divorced her first husband at the age of 22, she was left with two young children to care for and a life to rebuild. In 2020, she again found herself having to start from scratch after she and her second husband separated temporarily. At the time, The Girls Trip was forced to pause indefinitely due to pandemic-related travel disruptions. On top of it all, Alvi was also “house poor,” had no personal savings and had to rely on CERB. 

“That’s when I had my awakening with financial wealth, which led to my pivot … I couldn’t believe this was where I was at. I thought, ‘I should have something of my own,’” she says. 

Rallying, she used CAD $40,000 from the sale of her marital home to learn about investing and obtain her real estate licence. After a year, she reunited with her second husband and they bought six investment properties together, flipping three of them. She started eating healthier, exercising and working on personal growth. Throughout her journey, she shared her struggles and triumphs on social media—she has more than 100,000 followers on TikTok—and found the content resonated with a lot of racialized women. 

Alvi knows how powerful social media can be in influencing others. Back in 2015, she started making YouTube videos and Instagram posts to destigmatize divorce in the South Asian community. She advised women on how to turn their lives around, and discussed getting remarried with children—another unconventional choice. Some of her content went viral, with women commenting how they appreciated her discussing taboo topics and providing hope.  

“I’m willing to share the lessons I learn, and that’s my superpower,” Alvi says. “Being a single mom for so long, and having a daughter as my eldest, I wanted to break all the norms. I wanted to set the standard … if women are financially independent and given the right support systems, there’s no reason why we can’t break some of those foundations that are so rigged [against] us.”