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Travel Advisor Success Story: Velia Kennedy, Modern Family Travel

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Travel Advisor Success Story: Velia Kennedy, Modern Family Travel

Velia Kennedy (Source: Velia Kennedy)

Travel Advisor Success Stories focus on veteran advisors and how they achieved success. Here’s a look at Velia Kennedy, owner of Modern Family Travel.

How did you get your start as a travel advisor?

My love for travel, particularly Disney, comes from my own childhood. Growing up in a divorced family, I have fond memories of the three big vacations we took to Walt Disney World before my parents separated. Those trips were full of happiness, and I knew I wanted to create those kinds of memories for my own family one day.

I started an Instagram account dedicated to helping small shops promote Disney-inspired products and shared my own tips and tricks for navigating the parks. It wasn’t long before I was approached by a newer travel agency about becoming a travel agent.

I was initially apprehensive – I was already busy selling engineering software globally – but I decided to take the leap and book travel on the side. To my surprise, I quickly grew with the company, and my love for planning magical vacations expanded beyond just Disney.

I’m forever grateful for that opportunity, as it set me on the path to what has become my true passion – helping families and couples plan incredible journeys around the world. It still boggles my mind that a just-for-fun Instagram account has led me down such a different path than I ever saw for myself.

Travel Advisor Success Story: Velia Kennedy, Modern Family Travel

Velia Kennedy accepting the 2024 ASTA Travel Advisor of the Year award from ASTA President and CEO Zain Kerby. (Source: ASTA)

How did you build your business over the years?

Building Modern Family Travel has been a journey of passion, persistence and continuous learning. We just celebrated three years in business this August, and I couldn’t be more proud of how far we’ve come.

A huge part of our growth has been about getting clear on what I wanted my company to represent and being intentional about who I brought on to represent it. From the start, I’ve been mindful when hiring, ensuring that every advisor understands our values and aligns with the goals I have for the agency. It was crucial that we found people who shared our commitment to inclusivity and delivering exceptional service.

Inclusivity is at the core of our brand – whether it’s for LGBTQ families or families with special needs, we make sure everyone feels welcome. This meant that when expanding our team, I had to be sure those we brought in shared that sentiment.

Our agency would be nothing without our incredible agents. They are truly the heart and soul of Modern Family Travel, and their dedication to creating unforgettable experiences for families is what makes us successful.

Word of mouth and social media have also played pivotal roles in our growth, allowing us to connect with new clients and show how we deliver personalized, thoughtful service. From Disney vacations to all-inclusive resorts, cruises and destination weddings, we’ve expanded our offerings to meet the needs of a wide range of travelers, all while staying true to our values.

What characteristics make you a successful advisor?

Empathy, humility and being a good listener are the core characteristics that I believe make me successful as a travel advisor. Empathy allows me to truly connect with my clients, understanding their unique needs, desires and concerns when planning their vacations. I listen deeply, not just to respond, but to fully understand what they are looking for in a travel experience. By asking ‘why,’ I dig deeper into their motivations, which helps me craft trips that are not just enjoyable but meaningful and tailored to them.

Leading with kindness is also crucial. I approach every interaction – whether with clients or my team – with the mindset that kindness fosters trust and comfort, which are essential in building long-term relationships. Humility plays a big role as well; I know I don’t have all the answers, and I’m constantly learning from my clients, my team and the evolving travel industry. This openness has helped me grow as a leader and advisor while empowering my team and clients to feel heard and valued.

What have been your greatest challenges been?

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced is navigating a role where so many decisions fall on my shoulders. As a business owner, it can sometimes feel isolating, especially when you’re the one responsible for making the tough calls. It can be overwhelming, and I’ve definitely had moments where I felt like I was navigating this journey alone. Over time, I’ve learned just how important it is to find others in the industry who are willing to listen and share their experiences. Having a network of peers has been invaluable in helping me feel supported and strong, even in the most challenging moments.       

Another personal challenge has been managing my own mental health, specifically with anxiety and ADHD. I’m incredibly open about this because I want others to know that you can be a badass business owner and still have struggles. It’s okay to share what you’re going through and to ask for help when you need it.

Being transparent about my mental health has been hard, but it’s also opened the door to so much love and support from the travel community, friends and family. I’ve found that talking about it has encouraged others to open up about their own challenges, and I’m so grateful for the conversations it’s sparked. It’s created a sense of connection and understanding that helps us manage these struggles together.

What have your greatest accomplishments been?

One of my proudest achievements has been being named the 2024 ASTA Travel Advisor of the Year. It’s an incredible honor to be recognized in an industry I love so much. I’m also thrilled to call Modern Family Travel an award-winning agency, having been awarded the LOVE Award for Best Travel Agency by the Main Line Parent Community two years in a row, in both 2023 and 2024. But beyond the industry accolades, I find the greatest joy in seeing my agents hit their personal milestones – whether it’s booking their first big trip or reaching a new goal. We make a point to celebrate every accomplishment, big or small, because it keeps the journey fun and reminds why we do what we do!

What tips can you provide advisors new to the industry?

Be patient, stay passionate, and above all, be authentic. Building a travel business takes time, and there will be challenges, but if you stay true to who you are and focus on your clients’ best interests, success will follow. It’s also important to remember that not every client will be your client and that’s okay. It’s perfectly fine not to be everyone’s cup of tea. Focus on building connections with the clients who truly align with your values and appreciate the service you provide.

Don’t be afraid to do things differently. What sets you apart is your unique perspective, and being authentic will resonate with the right clients. Network with other professionals, always be open to learning and embrace change, as the travel industry is always evolving. And most importantly, take the time to truly understand your clients’ needs. That’s the key to creating unforgettable experiences and building lasting relationships. When you keep that personal connection at the core of what you do, your business will thrive.


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Artificial Intelligence in Asset and Wealth Management

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has moved with lightning speed from a buzzword to a boardroom priority in the past three years. Asset managers and family wealth advisors have traveled a long way from their early experiments with ChatGPT. They’re now beginning to realize the potential of AI to enhance investment decisions, automate operations and deliver personalized client experiences. But AI opportunities come with unique risks, especially when it comes to data privacy and security, as well as regulatory and legal compliance in a fast moving and fast changing landscape.

Let’s break down the fundamentals of AI and explore some of the most critical risks, offering three primary guideposts for responsible AI adoption and risk management.

Key AI…





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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Drones Market worth $2751.9

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Drones Market

The AI in Drones Market is estimated to be USD 821.3 million in 2025 and projected to reach USD 2751.9 million by 2030 at a CAGR of 27.4% during the forecast period.
The report “AI in Drones Market [https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/artificial-intelligence-drones-market-43722301.html?utm_source=abnewswire.com&utm_medium=PaidPR&utm_campaign=artificialintelligenceindronesmarket] by Solution (Infrastructure, Software, Services), Function (Flight Operations, Maintenance, Ground Control, Asset Health, Simulation, Revenue Optimization), End User, Technology – Global Forecast to 2030″ The artificial intelligence (AI) in drones market is estimated to be USD 821.3 million in 2025. It is projected to reach USD 2751.9 million in 2030 with a CAGR of 27.4% during the forecast period. The AI in drones market is witnessing strong growth globally, fueled by the rising adoption of drones across the defense, commercial, and civil sectors. As drone applications expand from surveillance and logistics to agriculture and urban mobility, there is a growing demand for advanced AI that offers greater efficiency, endurance, and reliability. This market growth is further supported by increasing defense investments, supportive regulatory frameworks, and a surge in demand for autonomous aerial operations.

Download PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=43722301 [https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=43722301&utm_source=abnewswire.com&utm_medium=PaidPR&utm_campaign=artificialintelligenceindronesmarket]

Browse 340 market data Tables and 50 Figures spread through 279 Pages and in-depth TOC on “AI in Drones Market”

View detailed Table of Content here – https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/artificial-intelligence-drones-market-43722301.html [https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/artificial-intelligence-drones-market-43722301.html?utm_source=abnewswire.com&utm_medium=PaidPR&utm_campaign=artificialintelligenceindronesmarket]

Image: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Images/artificial-intelligence-drones-market.webp [https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/artificial-intelligence-drones-market-43722301.html?utm_source=abnewswire.com&utm_medium=PaidPR&utm_campaign=artificialintelligenceindronesmarket]

By end user, the commercial segment is projected to account for the largest share during the forecast period.

By end user, the commercial segment is projected to account for the largest share of AI in Drones Industry [https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/artificial-intelligence-drones.asp?utm_source=abnewswire.com&utm_medium=PaidPR&utm_campaign=artificialintelligenceindronesmarket] during the forecast period. The segment’s growth is attributed to the increasing use of AI-powered drones, fueled by the increasing demand across industries like construction, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and logistics. These industries are using drones for purposes, such as last-mile delivery, asset inspection, precision agriculture, and crop health monitoring. Additionally, AI enables predicting decision-making, real-time analytics, and object detection automatically through drones, making operations more efficient and lowering the cost of labor. With advancements in drone-as-a-service (DaaS) models and connectivity with enterprise software platforms, commercial clients can access high-end AI capabilities at a low initial upfront investment. Moreover, the increasing concerns for safety, compliance, and sustainability promote the adoption of AI-powered drones in business activities, thereby driving the growth of the commercial segment.

By function, the flight & mission operations segment is projected to account for the largest share during the forecast period.

By function, the flight & mission operations segment is projected to account for the largest share during the forecast period. Flight and mission operations represent the core of AI-driven drone functionalities, encompassing autonomous navigation, route optimization, obstacle avoidance, and swarm coordination. AI enables drones to dynamically adjust to evolving environments, weather conditions, or obstacles in real time, making safe and dependable mission accomplishments possible. In industries like e-commerce, defense, and disaster relief, the capability to automate and optimize the flight paths of drones is imperative for cost-efficient and timely operations. For example, delivery services employ AI to minimize route durations and enhance logistical efficiency, whereas emergency response operators use drones for search-and-rescue or reconnaissance in hostile environments. With expanding use cases and increasingly sophisticated AI models, the growth of the flight & mission operations segment is projected to continue as the most significant application area for the market.

North America is projected to account for the largest share during the forecast period.

North America is projected to lead the AI in drones market during the forecast period, driven by its strong defense infrastructure, heavy R&D expenditures, and the dominant presence of leading drone companies. Additionally, the increasing use of drones generates high demand for sophisticated propulsion systems ranging from internal combustion engines and gas turbines to electric and hybrid-electric propulsion units. The region is witnessing the growing use of drones in delivery services, agriculture, infrastructure inspection, and emergency services, all of which need reliable and efficient propulsion systems. Supporting regulations from the FAA and innovation clusters in the US and Canada have fostered a strong drone startup and AI solution provider ecosystem. Besides, the region’s emphasis on R&D, cybersecurity, and AI chip manufacturing accelerates the implementation of drones.

The AI in Drones Companies [https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/artificial-intelligence-drones-companies.asp?utm_source=abnewswire.com&utm_medium=PaidPR&utm_campaign=artificialintelligenceindronesmarket] includes DJI (China), DroneDeploy (US), Teledyne FLIR LLC (US), Skydio Inc. (US), ShieldAI (US), ideaForge Technology Ltd. (India), DAC.digital (Poland), Aerovironment, Inc (US), Pix4D SA (Switzerland), Draganfly (Canada), Dedrone (US), Percepto Ltd. (US), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (US), Honeywell International Inc. (US), and 3DSurvey (Slovenia).

About MarketsandMarkets Trademark

MarketsandMarkets Trademark has been recognized as one of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms by Forbes, as per their recent report.

MarketsandMarkets Trademark is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. With the widest lens on emerging technologies, we are proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients across the globe.

Today, 80% of Fortune 2000 companies rely on MarketsandMarkets, and 90 of the top 100 companies in each sector trust us to accelerate their revenue growth. With a global clientele of over 13,000 organizations, we help businesses thrive in a disruptive ecosystem.

The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion in new revenue streams that are replacing existing ones within this decade. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines – TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing.

Built on the ‘GIVE Growth’ principle, we collaborate with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies to keep them future-ready. Our insights and strategies are powered by industry experts, cutting-edge AI, and our Market Intelligence Cloud, KnowledgeStore Trademark , which integrates research and provides ecosystem-wide visibility into revenue shifts.

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3 Words That Could Be a Big Problem for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbots

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Key Points

  • Tech company Cloudflare is making it easy for content owners to deploy pay per crawl.

  • If chatbots have to pay each time they crawl a website, that can drastically increase their operating costs.

Many tech companies are investing heavily into artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, which can help address customer queries efficiently and allow businesses to reduce their staffing levels. Grok, Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Copilot are just some of the names you’ve probably encountered by now. And those are just some of the more popular chatbots.

The excitement around chatbots and their ability to collect, analyze, and summarize data has many people excited about their potential. But there are three words that could derail that potential and significantly increase the costs for the companies that are betting on chatbots: pay per crawl.

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Cloudflare to offer pay per crawl

Cloudflare(NYSE: NET) helps people and companies create websites and make them both faster and more secure. And it has recently announced a new feature that could stifle chatbots: pay per crawl. What this means is that content owners could ensure that they are compensated when AI chatbots access their sites, collect data, and use it in a response to a user’s query.

This is what I expect to be the norm going forward. That’s because the danger for content owners is that if a chatbot can simply scrape information from a website, without compensating the owner for it, that results in less traffic and fewer ad dollars. Restricting access is one option, but forcing AI chatbots to pay for access is another one. And it’s crucial for chatbots because if they don’t have access to the latest information, their answers can quickly become outdated and less useful to the end user.

Given how common it is these days to see a company having its own chatbot, I believe the future will be that chatbots are all operating within their own silos and pull only company-specific information. Being able to scour and scrape the internet for all the best content seems improbable, given the costs that could be incurred from doing so, especially if sites deploy pay per crawl.

Earlier this year, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman said that even on a $200-per-month pro subscription for ChatGPT, the company was losing money. And that’s without having to worry about the costs if pay per crawl were initiated at a large scale. Under that scenario, it can be much more difficult for a company running an AI chatbot to turn a profit.

Investing in AI chatbots may not be a recipe for success

Many big tech companies can afford to invest heavily into tech, and they have indeed done so. One of the best examples of that is Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META), which owns popular social media applications such as WhatsApp and Facebook.

It recently announced the launch of a new AI division, as it spends heavily on AI-related growth. Last month, it also announced a $14 billion investment into Scale AI and hired its co-founder, Alex Wang, to help lead Meta’s AI efforts.

The company has its own chatbot, Meta AI, which it is offering as a stand-alone app, as it looks to compete with others, including ChatGPT. Meta, with billions in monthly active users, has a ton of user data it can tap into. But in building up strong AI capabilities for its business and chatbot, it could result in more significant expenditures in the future, making it difficult for this to be a profitable venture down the road.

While Meta has deep pockets and has generated free cash flow of over $52 billion in the trailing 12 months, investors will want to keep a close eye on the company’s AI efforts, to ensure the new division doesn’t just become another money pit like Reality Labs.

Investors should tread carefully with stocks spending big on AI

AI is the new buzz term in tech, and while companies are falling over themselves spending heavily on these next-gen technologies, it’s unclear just how big of a payoff there might be from such efforts — if there will even be one at all. Some companies will undoubtedly become more efficient and profitable by improving their operations. But in other cases, especially when the focus is on chatbots, that may not be the case.

The prudent thing for investors to do when looking at tech stocks is to see what their plans are for AI, and how they believe their investments will lead to improved financials down the road. If there isn’t a clear plan and if it’s just about investing heavily into AI and into chatbots, that can be a sign that the company may be going down a spending spree that could end up doing more harm than good.

There’s a lot of excitement around AI these days, but it’s important to keep it in check. Hype can help a stock rally in the short term, but it’s strong fundamentals that will ensure its value remains high over the long haul.

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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cloudflare and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.



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