Dr. Grace Bergeron Books Trips With Purpose After Academia

The trip started as a hobby. Grace Bergeron put together a week in Europe for a group of 15 travelers, handling the routing, the reservations, and the small details that decide whether a trip becomes a story people tell for years.

She had spent her career in higher education and technology, and the organizing came easily. By the time the group came home, the hobby became a business.

Dr. Grace Bergeron is the owner of Travel with Purpose, the travel business she runs through Dream Vacations, planning trips for individuals, families, and groups. She brings more than 20 years of corporate experience in higher education and technology to the work. A member of The Entreprenista League, she is self-funded and building the company she first imagined for herself at age 9.

“I truly believe I have found my purpose by doing what I love every day.” Her path from a corporate career to a calendar full of other people’s trips came down to one skill she already had.

The plan she made in the 3rd grade

Grace knew what she wanted early. “Yes, I knew when I was in the 3rd grade,” she says, 9 years old and already clear that she would run something of her own. The idea then waited out an entire corporate career.

Retirement is what finally made room for it. After more than 20 years in higher education and technology, she looked for a way into travel that came with structure, and after a stretch of research she joined Dream Vacations. “I like Dream Vacations because of the training and built-in opportunities,” she says.

What one trip to Europe showed her

Fifteen travelers is enough people to find out whether you actually enjoy the work. Grace did. Her curiosity, her passion for exploring the world, and her organizational skills combined into something other people would pay for, and she recognized it in real time.

She reaches for an old line to describe how the work feels now: “Do what you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life,” she says. Retirement handed her the opening, and she used it to start something she wanted since childhood.

Being a trusted travel advisor

Ask Grace what she is proudest of, and the answer is her reputation. “Being a trusted travel advisor,” she says. “Sure, people can book their own travel, but can they curate a memorable educational experience?”

Her career was in higher education, and that shows up in the way she plans. An itinerary is built to leave the traveler with something they did not have on the way out. Her most recent win was a trip she pulled together for a particularly picky client, and a picky client who comes home happy is its own kind of proof.

Anyone with curiosity for adventure

Grace does not screen for a travel style. “Anyone who has the curiosity for high or low adventures,” she says of her clients. Individuals, families, and groups all arrive with a version of the same request, which is to make the trip they have been picturing for years actually happen.

“Today, I have the privilege of helping individuals, families, and groups turn their travel dreams into reality while creating unforgettable memories,” she says.

A bigger footprint at home

What's next is a short list: More learning and scale inside her own community. She wants to grow Travel with Purpose where she lives, among the people who already know her and can send the next family her way. Group travel is where she started, and it is still the work she is best set up to do.

Her advice for founders earlier in the climb is the same thing she tells herself: “Don’t stress. You are doing fine. Just keep placing one foot in front of the other. Keep going!”

You can find Grace on LinkedIn, and you can see what Travel with Purpose offers and start planning a trip here.

Grace’s second act is a reminder that the skills you spend a career building do not retire when you do. The Entreprenista League surrounds you with women founders who are turning that kind of experience into businesses of their own, at every stage and every age. Learn more about the Entreprenista League right here.