About The Travelling Light
Hi 👋 I’m Katie, an Australian photographer, writer and brand strategist in Italy 12 years into making a living going my own way, and the person behind this newsletter for self-employed dreamers & nomads.
The Travelling Light started as a travel blog to describe the light you find when you travel. But over time, it took on a new meaning — signifying a lighter way of living and moving about the world.
This is a space for those who want to experiment outside society’s well-worn path — climb the ladder, save up, buy a house, settle down — who see there’s a million other ways to use our time, make and spend our money, and set up where and how we want to live.
Technology, remote work, and the increasing desire for autonomy are reshaping life and the opportunities available to us, to meet us on all these alternative pathways. Whether it’s channelling a passion into a business, roaming the world as a digital nomad, retreating into nature, or chasing a dream city across the world, work is shifting, and allowing us, maybe even forcing us, to travel lighter.
Here, I hope to create a space for fellow free spirits out there travelling light, with intuitive business and branding how-to’s for independent workers and entrepreneurs, conscious travel and nomad guides, and deep dives into spirituality.
My Story
I’m a travel photographer, writer and brand strategist living between the extremes of my quiet, small-town life in central (Marche) Italy, and my travelling life taking on commissions out in the world or setting up my laptop somewhere warmer.
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In 2013, I left the safe shores of a normal life and marketing job in London, wading out into the uncharted waters of creative freelancing, travelling solo as a digital nomad (before we even knew what to call it) and spiritual awakening, sharing my travels and deeply personal experiences on my blog.
My reward for all those fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants years was that my blog took on a life of its own. The Travelling Light popped up in the pages of publications like Vogue Italia, Harper’s Bazaar and New York Magazine and put my work in front of people around the globe.
It allowed me to make an independent living, first crafting brands, content and copy for businesses and agencies all over the world, then mentoring freelancers and creatives to build their brands (how to work with me), and in time, creating images and words for editorial clients like BBC, Delicious and Lonely Planet (peek my published pieces), and commercial clients like Booking.com and Getty.
My work came with me wherever I went, so I went all over the world. At first, a new place every month, in time I slowed down, spending months in my favourite places from Ubud, Bali to the Italian countryside, to Paris. I eventually set myself up in Paris for a few years with creative friends and cosmopolitan life around me. In 2019 I moved to a small town in Italy with my now-husband, Filippo, using it as a base to keep travelling.
A Newsletter For Self-Employed Dreamers & Nomads
All these adventures, synchronicities and opportunities just proved to me over and over again that if you have something to say, do, be in the world and you dare to take the leap, really good things will happen.
It is this big lesson and all the little learnings and experiences wrapped up inside that I want to share with you here: from conscious business, branding and storytelling, to slow travel guides, to exploring spirituality, told through the lens of my personal experience.
What Can You Expect Here?
I’m letting my inbox and DMs guide the way here and most of your questions fall into three key themes:
Dream-building & creative careers – How to turn your dreams into your everyday life, build a sustainable creative career/business, and design a life where you can live and work on your own terms. From the super practical brand marketing stuff to the intuitive, spiritual takes on business I’ll share everything I’ve developed over 12+ years making a living my own way.
Conscious travel guides – Once a month I’ll share a travel piece, places to go in… Italy, Paris, Bali, India and beyond, my book of addresses collected from years on the road as a digital nomad and now travel photographer and writer. If you like to travel slow, natural, authentic, away from the crowds, these guides are for you!
Spirituality – Exploring astrocartography, astrology, human design… all the deeper, unseen, unexpected and cutting edge ways we can understand ourselves, the world and our place in it.
I’ll be taking requests from you too, using you as my North Star to guide me. I’ll take your questions in the chat and comments section and create content in response!
How Does it Work?
As a free subscriber, you’ll receive one post per month delivered straight to your inbox. And I’ll make it a good one!
As a paid subscriber (€6/month or €60/year), you’ll officially be a part of this community and have a hand in the building of this space. Your support also allows me to pour my heart and soul into creating here instead of hawking my words and photos elsewhere to make my living. In return, you get the full, unfiltered, very personal version of this newsletter. That includes:
One newsletter every week. You’ll never miss a post and have the whole library open to you when you’re in the mood.
Access to our private community group-chat to share your own journey, ask questions directly to me and to the whole gang. It’ll be like our own little town square/piazza!
Get in Touch
I’d love to connect with you or hear your feedback! Find me on Instagram @thetravellinglight or email hello@thetravellinglight.com
Katie ⋆.˚
