Journey to Owning Your Power
- Oct 2
- 2 min read
By Gabriella Yan
For much of my early career, I was comfortable working behind the scenes, executing someone else’s vision. I built a career in luxury hospitality across Australia, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, but my work was always framed within someone else’s strategy, and more often than not, under men’s leadership.
Working in tourism also gave me insider knowledge. I saw how little of the money tourists spent actually stayed local, and how the very communities that made travel meaningful were left out of the benefits. Knowing what I knew, and knowing I had the power and skills to act, I couldn’t ignore it. That realisation was the spark that pushed to launch TRAppe, a lifestyle-forward sustainable travel platform that curates hotels, restaurants, and experiences that are kind to the planet and good to its people, without sacrificing comfort, style, or fun.
From the beginning I knew I needed external funding to make this dream a reality. As a solo Asian female founder, I also knew the odds were stacked against me. Still, I threw myself into pitching, from venture capital firms to accelerators and incubator programs. Each meeting was intimidating: calls with decision-makers who didn’t look like me, questioning whether my idea was “big enough” or whether I was “ready.” But I pressed on, knowing I only needed one yes.
After plenty of no’s, the breakthrough finally came, I managed to secure VC funding in March 2025. Saying yes meant diving headfirst into even more uncharted waters - legal agreements, investor expectations, and the whirlwind of product building. None of it has been easy, but I refused to quit, knowing the impact this could have in reducing economic leakage in tourism.
In just 18 months, TRAppe secured funding, launched our first product - a Bali e-guide spotlighting 100+ conscious hotels, restaurants, and experiences, and built a community of travellers who resonate with our mission. We partnered with businesses tackling economic leakage in tourism, an issue that drains as much as 80% of revenue from local communities in Southeast Asia. By spotlighting conscious, local-first experiences, TRAppe helps keep more money in the hands of the people who make a destination meaningful. We also plant a coral for every e-guide sold with the Livingseas Foundation, ensuring both us and our customers are directly giving back to the island.
But the most significant victory for me so far hasn’t been a headline or a metric, it’s been internal. Through this journey, I’ve learned to walk into any room, whether it’s a boardroom full of investors or an industry event full of big players, knowing I deserve to be there. I no longer hide my story, my background, or my perspective. Where I once felt pressure to erase my identity to fit in, I now see my multicultural upbringing, my questions, and my untraditional path as strengths.
The world has no shortage of unwritten rules about who gets to speak, who gets funded, and who gets to take up space. I’ve learned that stepping into my power means deciding which of those rules don’t apply to me, and having the courage to write my own instead.
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