Travel retail consultant and serial entrepreneur Stephenie Rodriguez has assumed a new role addressing major international forums that focus on resilience.
As reported, the Jozu for Women CEO and WanderSafe personal protection device developer cheated death following a long battle against cerebral malaria and sepsis in 2019.
Her road to recovery has been a long one. Rodriguez spent most of 2020 in Sydney hospitals in a battle to save her dying feet and hands. She ultimately faced a double amputation of both feet, to be replaced by robotic artificial limbs.
On 31 March 2021, Rodriguez had both feet amputated and titanium rods inserted into her shinbones, before spending eight weeks with physiotherapists learning how to walk again.
Rodriguez featured in TRI-POD, The Moodie Davitt Report’s travel retail-themed podcast series in collaboration with The SEVA Group, earlier this year.
She has since addressed a physical and online TEDxLytteltonWomen forum in South Africa. Considering the theme ‘What Now?’, speakers focused on technology, innovation, design and culture, with responses viewed through the lens of African women.
Rodriguez spoke on resilience and the need for delegates and listeners to realise that their best friend in difficult times is themself.
You can watch her TED Talk in the video below.
Earlier this month, Rodriguez spoke to 4,000 American Express employees on the importance of mindset and finding a purpose during times of uncertainty. She also spoke at the Women-In-Tech Global Summit in Paris.
Her presentations were part of her first round-the-world trip as a solo female disabled traveller, starting in Australia and including stops in Dubai, Paris, Miami, Belize and Los Angeles.
With the return of international travel, Rodriguez is set to have her WanderSafe personal safety device and app, which is especially suitable for women in lone travel or other potentially vulnerable situations, back at the forefront of travel retail.
She said new partnerships in Africa and India are under discussion. Rodriguez plans to launch the WanderSafe III during the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes in October.
Her mission to “impact a billion lives by 2025 and democratise safety” continues.
Rodriguez co-initiated the WanderSafe Accord in November last year. The treaty envisions a world in which women’s rights are recognised as human rights and every woman is able to achieve her full potential.
It aims to eradicate gender-based violence in support of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) for schools, businesses, sporting clubs, associations, NGOs and governments.
“We’d like to see duty free brands, retailers and airports sign this with us to make a very bold statement of collaboration for the UN SDG,” Rodriguez said.
Francis Ford Coppola Hideaway Resorts Director Martin Krediet signed the WanderSafe Accord and became the first hotel chain in the world to ratify the safety pledge for employees and guests.
