Staying True to Yourself

As with most people in the travel industry, Joshua Harrell, chief revenue officer at WorldVia, has a host of experiences that have aided in getting him where he is today.  

While his winding career path has taken him through several different industries — entertainment, fashion, cosmetics — it did technically start in the travel space, specifically when his mom dropped him off at Six Flags at age 16. At the time, the department you’d work in was picked by answering certain questions, and his was “Have you ever typed on a keyboard?”  

“I said yes, which meant that I could work with cash registers in the retail division, and little did we know that that was going to forever change my life,” Harrell said. 

After college, Harrell realized he enjoyed working with lotions, potions and skincare, and he blindly applied to an advertisement to work at a company called Bare Escentuals, which would later evolve into the company we know now as bareMinerals.  

“We became the number one beauty brand. We started doing infomercials. I started going on with [the CEO] to do these shows and produce these shows, and it was the most thrilling ride ever,” Harrell said. “So fast forward 20 years with them, and I was able to afford to follow my own path.” 

His own path included launching four businesses and recording an album. And while the album (which is still on iTunes today!) did not take off and every single business failed, a revelation was realized along the way: “What I really discovered through those failures is I love building brands. I love building the ethos. I love supporting it with operations. I love building the dialogue that goes into a brand,” Harrell said. “I realized that that was my calling is building brands, but not only visuals and the way it shows up, but how your team embodies the brand. … I think the way that your team embodies a brand is the thing that I find the most magical.” 

Harrell spent time as a freelancer but continued to keep the door open to new opportunities. He ended up applying for a random marketing job at a company he couldn’t find any information about.   

“I met with our CEO, Jason Block … and I’m listening to him talk, and I'm hearing this entrepreneur, and I'm like, oh, there is a spark there, right? And I was like, there's something about this. I like this, but who uses a travel advisor anyway?” Harrell said. “But I started talking to him more and more, and we had several interviews, and I'm like, this sounds pretty interesting cause it sounds like this is work I could do.”  

It’s no surprise he got the job and immersed himself in the world of travel, learning all about the industry and helping the advisors on his team amplify their sales and grow their customer bases. He quickly realized that in the travel industry, collaboration beats competition, and he is currently on the board for PATH (Professional Association of Travel Hosts).   

“In the cosmetic industry, if you were talking to competitors, you might not have a job when you got back to the office,” Harrell said. “Here, everybody's talking and sharing because they want to elevate each other in our segment of the industry. Beautiful. … There are just such cool moments within this industry.” 

Everyone’s success looks different, and one of Harrell’s favorite parts of the job is meeting each advisor where they’re at and helping them find success. He also enjoys seeing everyone within the WorldVia organization innovate and collaborate with one another.  

When it comes to something Harrell is most proud of, it goes back to a spark of inspiration he had after noticing how many businesses were positioning themselves as media companies. He brought the idea to Block, and they ended up going back and forth on names. “And it was a compromise,” Harrell said. “So we chopped his name in half, and I added ‘World.’ That was my big contribution. But even down to the icon that we use, there's a story behind it.” 

Anyone can come up with a name, but not everyone can build a brand, and this particular brand came to life during a meeting in Mexico. All the different companies in the organization were still operating as their own identity, and when this new idea and name were shared among the group, someone asked, “Can’t we all be called WorldVia?”  

By building the brand with heart and through shared ideas, it became something that everyone wanted to be a part of. “It had a heart even when it wasn't truly alive,” Harrell said. “And that meeting in Mexico completely changed our trajectory. We would not be WorldVia Travel Network today if it weren't for that moment. So I'm proud of that.”  

As for advice, Harrell reminds advisors to stay true to themselves: “We struggle to differentiate ourselves in business, but you really have to accept that there is only one you in this galaxy. You are an endangered species. So you just need to create content from your heart,” he said. “You will always win when you're authentic and you show up as you.”  

What’s in Joshua’s Carry-on?  

“Just so we can be clear, I always check bags,” Harrell said. “But in my carry-on, I have my iPad Pro; I've got my MacBook, and I have my camera for creating content. Gotta capture those moments. I have what I like to call a beautiful wool wrap, but it is not a wrap because it's supposed to be an authentic Scottish cloak.” Worn like a cape, it keeps him nice and warm on the cold plane rides. One more thing he won’t leave home without? Ricola Caramel Throat Balm Drops.  

Originally appeared in the Fall 2025 issue of The Compass magazine