The American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) has named Dr. Shenika Baisley-Woodley its Travel Advisor of the Year. The annual award, which celebrates a stand-out advisor who epitomizes the “talent, ingenuity and dedication that define today’s travel professionals,” was announced on May 29 at ASTA’s Travel Advisor Conference in San Diego, California.
An advisor since 2018, Baisley-Woodley is the owner of Divine Dream Destinations and specializes in group travel, cruises and destination weddings.
She is a wife, a mother of two and a full-time lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. Commissioned in 2001, she has dedicated more than two decades to military service and leadership. She also holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree with an emphasis in Healthcare Administration. In 2028, Baisley-Woodley plans to retire from her military career, but she will continue serving her travel clients well into the future.
Baisley-Woodley is a travel advisor and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.
Photo Credit: 2026 Shenika Baisley-WoodleyHere’s how Baisley-Woodley came into the industry, and what’s next.
In Service of Others
Like many advisors, Baisley-Woodley worked in other fields — and still does — before joining the travel industry. Having earned a Master of Healthcare Administration degree long ago, she went on to manage a health and wellness center and initially envisioned a career in hospital administration. However, she recognized that there were limited advancement opportunities for women in the healthcare industry at the time, so she redirected her ambitions toward military service. Both of her grandfathers served during World War II, and her brother followed in their footsteps, serving in the U.S. Army and retiring as a colonel.
Baisley-Woodley went down to the recruitment office and tried to enlist as a soldier, but her education enabled her to earn a commission as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. Though she initially worked two weeks a year and one weekend a month (military reservists usually have full-time civilian jobs), her career progressed over time. She held various leadership roles and she gained extensive experience in operations and soldier support within the U.S. Army Medical Department (AMEDD), which provides healthcare services and advocacy for soldiers and their families.
Baisley-Woodley accepting her award on stage on May 29
Photo Credit: 2026 Jason Dixson PhotographyCommitted to expanding her impact, she later transitioned to full-time military service. Today, she serves at the Parks Reserve Forces Training Area Dublin, California, where she is the deputy commander of the Western Medical Area Readiness Support Group. She helps oversee approximately 1,900 Army Reserve soldiers across multiple states.
“The military provided me with a sense of purpose,” Baisley-Woodley said. “I love helping people, and I love taking care of soldiers. I go above and beyond for them.”
Selling Travel
In 2018, a friend introduced Baisley-Woodley to InteleTravel, a host agency that partners with PlanNet Marketing to recruit new advisors. She was excited right away — she knew she had the skills and the entrepreneurial mindset needed to sell travel, and the ability to organize the business around her military role. And helping people make their vacation dreams come true, no matter their budget, appealed to her penchant for caretaking. She launched Divine Dream Destinations that year.
Beyond managing an active Facebook group page, Baisley-Woodley doesn’t do a ton of marketing, as her repeat and referral business is stellar. She sells cruises and group vacations, plus destination weddings. She even planned her own destination wedding in December 2019; about 90 guests joined her on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and they all disembarked for the wedding ceremony at a now-closed resort on Nassau.
“To this day, the makeup artist, videographer and photographer from my wedding are who I use for my client’s destination weddings in the Bahamas,” she said.
To manage two jobs, Baisley-Woodley adheres to structures, schedules and boundaries. She has specific inquiry forms for different travel types (leisure trips, Disney vacations, weddings) and she holds “office hours” after her time at the military base during which her clients know she is reachable. She manages two email accounts — one for clients and one for suppliers — and she has infinite folders of vetted destination and hotel ideas she can pull from to curate trips, depending on client interests.
“On top of that, I'm an ambassador with InteleTravel, so I’m helping advisors build teams or training others,” she said.
What’s on the Horizon
Over the years, Baisley-Woodley imagined what her post-military life would look like, and her travel career helped fund it. From the very beginning, she diligently saved the majority of her travel commissions, and with those funds, she and her husband recently bought 12.64 acres of land in North Carolina, where they plan to build a farmhouse and develop a unique glamping retreat.
There will be a pool, a pond for fishing, horses and room for polo, a game she learned while attending the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. (War college provides education to senior military officers like Baisley-Woodley.) She is excited to have her friends, family, clients and travel advisor peers stay at her property.
“I’ve always wanted land,” she said. “We have a lot of trees, and my husband cooks everyday so he’s going to be the resort chef. We'll have a big pavilion for ranch weddings, and glamping in another area.”
When asked if she ever gets tired, a small smile appears on her face.
“I do,” she said. “But I eat, I sleep, I take naps and I try to manage my time. And I love the travel business, and making things happen for my clients.”
