Daniella Gould
Daniella Gould is the owner and instructor at Santosa Yoga and Health, her full-time mobile business in San Juan. She has been practicing yoga for over 25 years and found it a great way to form a new community in each new place that she lived in from London to Beijing, from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, and most recently from Colorado Springs to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
For Danielle, yoga is about connecting people with their bodies and breath to quiet the noise and distractions that often accompany our hectic lives and to, ultimately, find contentment and satisfaction. This is why she incorporates yoga philosophy into her classes, workshops, and retreats with the aim of empowering and supporting students to meet life’s challenges with as much ease as possible. She enjoys working with people of all levels. She believes that everyone can benefit from yoga, meditation, and breathing practices regardless of their age, flexibility, and/or experience.
She holds the following certifications: MA in Asian Studies from UC Berkeley, Yoga Alliance 200 RYT from Pranava Yoga Center, Y12SR (addiction recovery yoga) with Nikki Myers, breath-work teacher training with Jon Paul Crimi. She has also attended multiple trainings, including on trauma, resilience, self regulation, parenting, social justice, meditation and mindfulness.
Eye on the Rainforest
Travel Impactful is a close partner of Eye On The Rainforest, located at Las Casas de la Selva in Puerto Rico. The organization is run by Thrity “3t” Vakil, the company’s full-time volunteer director and a woman entrepreneur. Eye On The Rainforest is home to the Tropic Ventures Sustainable Forestry & Rainforest Enrichment Project that aims to demonstrate the economic use of rainforest land using methods that do not destroy rainforest ecology–a goal that Travel Impactful is inspired to support. 3T’s team also researches key plants in the rainforest ecosystem and is committed to educating the public on using all forest resources meaningfully. Alongside Eye On The Rainforest, Travel Impactful participants plant trees and explore the rainforest, all while gaining a deeper understanding of sustainable forestry and rainforest enrichment in Puerto Rico.This is a video from Earthday 2021, at Las Casas de la Selva, featuring the Sustainable forestry & Rainforest Enrichment Project in Patillas, Puerto Rico. For more information, visit the website at https://eyeontherainforest.org.
Cacao 360
Travel Impactful supports local businesses, and we are excited to announce our partnership with Cacao 360, one of our trusted partners whose ideals and mission closely reflect ours. Like Travel Impactful, Cacao 360 is run by a woman entrepreneur, Decenia. The company is a sustainable producer of fresh and local cacao and chocolate based in Puerto Rico whose mission is to create more than just chocolate. The cacao harvested from her farm, Semila, captures the unique tastes of Puerto Rico and the passion of those who cultivated it, providing a sense of wellness and happiness that comes from only fresh products. Cacao 360 is committed to using high quality products made by Puerto Rican farmers, and every cacao is grown locally, which supports the development of the industry and the economic growth of this island. Join us alongside Cacao360 to support the people and farmers of Puerto Rico. Click on the video to listen to Decenia’s unique story of how she started Cacao 360 after Hurricane Maria. For more information, visit her website at https://www.cacao360.com/ or see our blog post.
Education
Travel Impactful is thrilled to announce that we are planning trips to build schools in Malawi, Senegal, and Guatemala! Along with the nonprofit organization @buildOn, we will travel to a community to live and work in solidarity with community members. The entire project will follow a sustainable methodology that puts the community front and center and advances gender equality, community ownership, and education for all. We will also spend time exploring the local history, going sight-seeing, and relaxing with new friends.
Flight Angels
Travel Impactful is passionate about supporting the welfare of both Puerto Rico’s environment and its living creatures, which is why we have decided to partner with the animal welfare organization Mutt Mutt Engine. Join us to become a flight angel, a traveler who flies from a place needing rescue support to a U.S. destination where we have a rescue partner willing to take the dog in. Join us on our next trip to become a flight angel and save lives together! Browse the following photos to see some of the animals our travelers have supported! For more information, visit their website at https://www.muttmuttengine.org.