Meet Vonda Keeler, VAX’s New Brand Ambassador

My love for travel is something I inherited from my Dad. Dad would love to see nature, the colors, the smells, and just be outside and somewhere new and be the happiest person on the trip! He taught me to appreciate so much of what we get to see and experience, while keeping a positive and grateful attitude. I’m thankful for the few trips we did take together and the memories made! I’m also appreciative of the many trips I’ve been able to take for work or family trips with other family, friends and for my work in the travel industry.

Before I began in the travel industry, I had found myself in sales positions in different industries. The sales positions always felt like the right fit in any industry I was introduced to. I would say that’s largely in part to the fact that I love meeting new people, learning from them and helping them when I can. My first sales experience was when I was only 19 and working at Olan Mills Glamour studio. I was asked to fill in for a work colleague (sales dept) while she was out sick. I ended up enjoying the sales portion and selling more photo packages than the average sales representative.

Many years later, after numerous career successes, development and training, I started working in the office supply space selling copiers/printers and additional office equipment. End of 2014, a travel agency owner was interested in having me do a “free assessment” of the costs for her ink usage. I showed her how the copiers I sold could save her some money and time, and she bought!  That was my introduction to the travel industry. This agency owner enticed me to start working for her as a travel advisor. Shortly after working at this agency, I met my first BDM and was shocked to learn of a sales position in the travel industry. I knew that is where I needed to be eventually.

I had a lot to learn in the travel industry, so a new colleague of mine, Debra Whitmore and I drove up to KHM travel group in April of 2015 and both signed up to become independent consultant travel advisors. I have to say, Debra helped me so much as my confidence was low and she was such an encouragement. THANK YOU DEBRA!

It was while at KHM I learned the value of the “sales email” tool on VAX. This was a game changer for me and gave me the confidence to send out quotes and look professional in doing so. I stayed on as a “KHM agent” travel advisor for eight years gaining a wealth of knowledge on new destinations and the industry as a whole. For several years I remained an agent while I started my journey as a Business Development Manager for Blue Diamond Resorts. My role with Blue Diamond Resorts was a great opportunity to expand my travel experience and learn another side of the industry. The next seven years were spent on the Business Development Team for Blue Diamond Resorts representing the resort brands of Royalton, Hideaway at Royalton, Grand Lido, Memories, Mystique and Planet Hollywood Beach Resorts. In this role is when I realized my passion, and where I excelled was in building relationships with travel advisors and helping them grow their travel knowledge and business.

I’m extremely thankful for having the opportunity to work in different segments of the travel industry both as an advisor and a BDM. Working as an advisor was extremely valuable to me. It helped me to appreciate the tough jobs travel advisors have, how much work they do, and it helped me to know how I could best assist them in the BDM role. The knowledge and experience I’ve gained from both roles have allowed me to build some amazing relationships, as well as invaluable knowledge to use to continue to assist travel advisors.

I am now thrilled to be part of the VAX VacationAccess team. Joining this team as the VAX Brand Ambassador is a perfect fit! This Brand Ambassador position allows me to do what I have grown to love by continuing to build advisor relationships and now providing them with the numerous tools VAX offers with their educational programs and of course award-winning technology. So I’m looking forward to working with these same amazing travel advisors and all the wonderful new faces in this ever-growing industry! My goal for myself and VAX is to become a part of these new advisors’ success while growing a stronger and better relationship with our loyal advisors.