Growing up in Maryland, Rachel Covello never saw people in travel ads who looked like her family.
“Seeing ads on TV for different destinations and vacation experiences, most of the ads I’d see are these perfect, beautiful bodies with perfect, straight and cisgender families,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a family that looks like mine in advertising.”
Now, at age 44, Covello runs a powerful online travel platform, and she makes sure her content is inclusive and accessible. Covello is the publisher of OutCoast (outcoast.com), as well as a content creator for the site, an inclusive tourism strategist and host of the Florida OutCoast Convention. OutCoast’s blog content focuses on the LGBTQ+ community and offers insights for neurodivergent and sober travelers as well.
The blog covers everything from Pride events in St. Pete to a dog-friendly guide to Pensacola and a tailored guide for gay Florida road trippers. Other recent articles explored wellness retreats in the U.S. for LGBTQ+ travelers and bisexual flag-inspired fashion for your next trip. The site even includes a directory of wedding venues, retailers, accommodations and more. And a calendar offers details for events like music festivals, queer comedy nights and photography exhibits.
OutCoast was founded with a focus on Florida, but now highlights LGBTQ+-inclusive businesses, destinations and events across the “U.S. Gay.” As Covello put it, “We are the one-stop resource for LGBTQ+ people who love to travel and explore freely and without judgement.”
While Covello’s site helps travelers navigate the country, she also works as a consultant, advising tourism-focused business leaders and marketers on strategic insights, creative sales and marketing tools and collaborative support to create LGBTQ+-inclusive messaging.
Covello took a winding path to becoming an advocate for inclusivity efforts in the travel industry, and her fascinating journey offers both inspiration and practical tips for advisors working with members of the LGBTQ+ community.
After earning a degree in animation, Covello worked in sales for Marriott and then in nutrition until an injury forced her to step away. Facing that unexpected challenge, Covello created what she called a “happiness list” — a place to jot down the things that brought her joy. On the list: photography, reading and hosting events in the LGBTQ+ space. She started taking photos, joined a writing group and wrote a book titled “Reshaping Rachel” and started hosting social events for lesbians in the community — all things she manifested from the list.
That eventually turned into creating LGBTQ Equality Alliance, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit in Pennsylvania, where she lived at the time. She hosted health and wellness gatherings, a gala and even PrideFest. Covello also began working with a local publisher to create an LGBTQ+ website for the Philadelphia area and served on a statewide board of LGBTQ+ leaders under Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf.
After moving to Florida in 2017, Covello became the conference photographer for the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. From there, she combined all of her skills — writing, photography, community connection, leadership and a passion for LGBTQ+ content — to establish OutCoast. The site launched and quickly began flourishing. That is, until the pandemic hit.
With travel restrictions across the nation, running a travel website suddenly became nearly impossible. But Covello quickly pivoted amid this career challenge, brainstorming new creative content ideas. As driving became a safer option than flying in the pandemic’s early recovery phase, she decided to build road trip guides to Florida. Enlisting the help of writers and family members who “were bored out of their minds at home,” the team created 70 articles — covering arts, culture, food and hotels for different regions around Florida — in a month. Covello herself spent a month on the road charting the entire perimeter of the state and writing travel guides. As destinations across Florida started reopening, the OutCoast team revisited them and published written articles, videos and social media posts on fun things to do.
As the pandemic eased, Covello revisited her love of hosting live events. She hosted Florida’s first and only statewide LGBTQ+ tourism convention, the Florida OutCoast Convention (FLOCC), in 2023 in Tampa.
“It was such a great place to have safe conversations in a state that doesn’t always feel that way for our demographic,” she said. “We know there are super inclusive destinations, and it gave them a voice, too. I think the big conversation right now, and something I really love to speak on, is how do you promote inclusive destinations in a conservative state and really push against some of the assumptions about those destinations?”
The work Covello does is important for both LGBTQ+ travelers and the advisors working with them. In addition to Florida, she’s branching out to work with other destinations as well. Enjoy Illinois has its own LGBTQ+ resources and hired OutCoast to create additional content on inclusive cities across the state. Enjoy Illinois even became OutCoast’s most recent and largest client to date, Covello said, helping the blog step out of Florida.
As Covello looks to the future, her goals are twofold: more inclusive content and more inclusive events. She wants to create more content about wellness tourism, including sober spaces and nutrition. As for events, regional pop-up OutCoast events and a focus on wellness tourism are on the horizon. Plus, Covello’s always looking for ways to make her content more inclusive, especially as OutCoast goes national. Covello added that in addition to creating “spaces of safety and belonging” for the LGBTQ+ community, OutCoast also aims to create content for people interested in size diversity and neurodivergence.
“I’m really encouraging people to live fluidly and embrace fluidity. We don’t have to be in boxes — whether it’s size or identity or interests or core beliefs or political views, that all changes as humans evolve. I think embracing fluidity and giving people safe spaces to do that is key,” she said. “How do we create spaces for all people to travel and live authentically and just love life?”
Originally appeared in the Spring 2025 issue of The Compass magazine
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