We're Allison and Danielle, Co-Founders of WHOA travel. We've spent over a decade building this thing from the ground up, and it all started with a climb up Kilimanjaro together. We believe adventure is one of the most powerful forces for change in a woman's life, and that the outdoor industry is just plain better when women are leading it too. But at the heart of it, we're really just two women who fell in love with what happens when you put women together in wild places, and never looked back.
What started as one climb became a calling
We met while planning our first Kilimanjaro trip, and we knew almost instantly we'd found something rare: a shared vision, a shared love of adventure, and a friendship that would end up changing the course of both our lives. After summiting together, we couldn't shake what we'd found up there, that particular magic of women challenging themselves side by side, and the way nature has a habit of stripping away everything unnecessary and building you back up stronger. That combination, female camaraderie, real challenge, and the transformative power of the outdoors, was too good to leave on the mountain. We knew it was something missing from our lives, and we knew other women probably felt the same way. So we built WHOA.
In 2013, we left our careers in International Education and Advertising to chase a pretty simple belief: that adventure travel could be a force for connection, courage, and real change in women's lives. From day one, that meant working with and lifting up female guides and women-led organizations around the world. Our International Women's Day summit of Kilimanjaro in 2014 is really what put WHOA on the map, and it became a living symbol of what we believe: women rising together, with purpose. Now, in our 13th year, we've brought over 1,000 women up Africa's tallest mountain, and we're lucky enough to be leading adventures on all seven continents.
Building Something That Lasts
Since starting WHOA, the world and our worlds have changed a lot. We've both become mothers, and this has made our commitment to the work even deeper. We think about the world our kids will inherit, and honestly, that shapes almost every decision we make, from the local partners we seek out to the standards we hold ourselves to. We know we're setting an example for the next generation, one we hope will get to start further ahead than we did. That conviction is what led us to co-found The Carabiner Collective and join 1% for the Planet. That work has earned us some recognition along the way too, from Outside Magazine's Trailblazer Award to being sponsored delegates at Adventure Travel World Summits, and it's made us even more passionate advocates for gender equity in the outdoors. But we're also the first to admit we're still learning, still asking ourselves harder questions, still figuring out better ways to show up.
When we're not leading trips or dreaming up the next one, you'll find us in New Jersey and Munich, raising the next generation of adventurers. Between the two of us, we've visited over 80 countries, all seven continents, and summited Kilimanjaro 15 times and counting. If there's one thing we've learned, it's that the adventure never really ends, it just keeps expanding!
Awards + Recognition + Achievements
2026 Trailblazer Best in Travel Award Outside Magazine
2024 USA Today Reader’s Choice Best in Travel
2024 Speaker + Workshop Facilitator: Climate Action for Small Businesses ATTA Adventure Elevate Amman, Jordan
2023 Panelist: Empowering Travelers by Eliminating Unsustainable Choices ITB Berlin, Germany
2022-24 Sponsored Delegates at Adventure Travel World Summit Panama, Japan, Switzerland
2022 Tory Burch Fellow
2019 Fulbright Specialist
Let's work together
FEMALE EMPOWERMENT + ENTREPRENEURSHIP | ADVENTURE TRAVEL | SUSTAINABILITY
Please reach out to discuss collaborating, speaking engagements, or consulting opportunities
ALLISON FLEECE
Based in New Jersey, Allison leads operations, partnerships, customer relations, and sales at WHOA, the behind-the-scenes work that turns an ambitious adventure into a trip that runs like clockwork. Before WHOA, she worked in International Education, and brings that same relationship-first approach to building partnerships with women-led guide companies around the world and to every conversation with a future WHOA traveler. She's especially passionate about entrepreneurship and the practical, structural work of building a business that puts women first, not just in mission, but in how it actually operates.
Connect with Allison
DANIELLE THORNTON
Based in Munich, Danielle leads brand strategy, creative direction, and trip development at WHOA, shaping not just how the brand looks and sounds, but the thinking behind every decision it makes. Before WHOA, she worked in advertising, and now channels that strategic and storytelling instinct into building a brand people feel personally connected to. She's especially focused on sustainability, and how travel experiences can be designed to challenge people while genuinely protecting the places they visit.