A Journey That Began With Choosing Courage

For Chhavi Verg Kooner, some of the most important moments in life began with a simple decision to stop letting fear make the decisions.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, travel creator, speaker and hospitality storyteller, Chhavi stepped into the world of pageantry as a way to challenge herself. What started as a personal test of confidence eventually became a defining chapter in her life. She won Miss New Jersey USA and went on to become first runner up at Miss USA in 2017, making history as the first Indian American to reach that stage of the competition.

Yet the title was never the whole story.

The experience taught Chhavi that growth often begins before confidence arrives. That lesson would later influence the way she approached speaking, media, entrepreneurship and travel.

From Pageantry To A Career Built Around Storytelling

Chhavi’s career gradually moved beyond the pageant stage and into a much broader creative world.

Her experience has included television, modeling, hosting, content creation and public speaking. She has also delivered TEDx talks focused on confidence, personal beliefs and turning difficult experiences into opportunities for growth.

Her TEDx work reflects a theme that has remained central to her journey: people are often capable of far more than the stories they tell themselves.

That philosophy became especially important as Chhavi began building an online community and creating content for audiences around the world. Her digital presence has grown to more than half a million people across platforms, while travel has increasingly become one of the strongest parts of her professional identity.

Rather than treating travel simply as a collection of destinations, Chhavi began looking at it as a way to change perspective.

When Travel Became More Than A Destination

For many travelers, a trip is measured by the places visited, hotels booked and photographs taken.

For Chhavi, travel represents something deeper.

Stepping into an unfamiliar environment can create the space people need to think differently about their lives. Away from routines, expectations and familiar surroundings, travelers can discover new interests, relationships and even new versions of themselves.

That belief became one of the foundations behind GLO Trips.

The concept was created to bring women together through travel, personal development and meaningful connection. Instead of simply organizing a getaway, Chhavi wanted to create experiences where women could meet like minded people, explore beautiful destinations and have conversations that might not happen in everyday life.

The idea is personal because it reflects her own evolution.

The woman who once entered a pageant to become more confident eventually discovered that confidence is not something people necessarily find before taking action. Sometimes, it develops because they take the first step.

Building GLO Trips Into A Global Community

GLO Trips represents the next stage of Chhavi’s entrepreneurial vision.

What began through intimate destination experiences is now being shaped into a larger global community and experiences brand for women. The ambition is not limited to creating individual trips. Chhavi sees opportunities to bring the GLO philosophy into hotels, hospitality spaces and destination experiences.

Her vision includes workshops, events and curated experiences hosted at exceptional properties, giving guests the opportunity to connect with others while taking time to reflect, learn and grow.

This creates an interesting connection between travel and personal development.

Hotels are traditionally places where people sleep, dine and explore a destination. Chhavi sees the possibility of making them places where people can also connect, participate and leave with something more meaningful than a memorable photograph.

That approach could become an important part of GLO Trips as the brand expands.

Luxury Hotel Reviews Brings Her Storytelling Into Hospitality

Alongside GLO Trips, Chhavi is developing Luxury Hotel Reviews, a travel media platform focused on luxury hospitality and exceptional experiences.

The business brings together several parts of her professional background: media, travel, content creation and storytelling.

For hotels and destinations, digital storytelling has become an increasingly important way to reach modern travelers. Guests are no longer discovering properties only through traditional advertising. They are also influenced by creators, reviews, visual storytelling and personal experiences shared online.

Chhavi’s position at the intersection of travel media and hospitality allows her to tell those stories through a creator led perspective.

Her goal is to build Luxury Hotel Reviews into a trusted global luxury travel media platform while working with hotels, destinations and hospitality partners to introduce exceptional properties to audiences around the world.

Dubai Opens A New Chapter

Now based in Dubai, Chhavi is entering another important chapter in her journey.

Dubai has become one of the world’s most recognizable destinations for luxury hospitality, tourism and international experiences. For someone building businesses around travel and hotels, the city offers a natural environment for new relationships and collaborations.

Chhavi is particularly focused on developing deeper connections within the UAE hospitality and tourism industry. Her ambitions include working with hotels, hospitality groups and public relations partners while continuing to grow her international audience.

Her move to Dubai also reflects something larger about her career.

She has consistently followed opportunities that place her outside familiar territory. From entering pageantry to stepping into television and speaking, and later building travel businesses, her career has been shaped by a willingness to enter rooms where she did not always know exactly what would happen next.

A Career Defined By Reinvention

Chhavi’s achievements are easy to measure.

There is the Miss New Jersey USA title, the Miss USA first runner up placement, TEDx appearances, television work and a global digital community.

Her television journey has also brought her into international travel storytelling. In 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery’s The Awakenings of Coffee followed Chhavi through an exploration of Vietnamese coffee culture and personal reflection. The program was broadcast internationally on Discovery and connected travel with themes of balance, lifestyle and inner growth.

But Chhavi increasingly measures success differently.

For her, achievement is not simply about collecting titles. It is about taking experiences and turning them into platforms that can create opportunities and meaningful connections for other people.

That shift from personal achievement to shared impact is one of the most interesting parts of her evolution.

Redefining What Success Looks Like

The traditional idea of success often revolves around the next milestone.

The next title.

The next business.

The next financial goal.

The next opportunity.

Chhavi has learned to look beyond that cycle.

Her philosophy today is centered on building a life that is enjoyable and meaningful rather than simply impressive from the outside. Freedom, relationships, travel, meaningful work and the ability to influence others have become equally important measures of success.

That perspective gives her entrepreneurial journey a more human dimension.

She is ambitious, but her ambition is connected to the kind of life she wants to create and the people she hopes to bring along with her.

The Courage To Begin Before You Are Ready

Perhaps the strongest message from Chhavi’s journey is also the simplest.

Do not wait until you feel completely ready.

Her own career demonstrates why.

A decision to challenge herself led to pageantry. Pageantry opened doors to media and public speaking. Media and storytelling created a path into travel. Travel eventually became the foundation for businesses designed to help other people experience the world differently.

Each step created the possibility for the next one.

Chhavi encourages people to take the trip, start the idea, enter the room where they know nobody and pursue opportunities that may initially feel slightly beyond their reach.

That philosophy is more than motivational advice. It is the thread connecting the different chapters of her career.

A Bigger Vision For The Road Ahead

Today, Chhavi is focused on growing GLO Trips into a global community for women while expanding Luxury Hotel Reviews into a stronger international travel media platform.

Her future is closely connected to hospitality, tourism, storytelling and experiences, with Dubai offering a strategic base for developing new partnerships in the region.

But the heart of her work remains unchanged.

She wants travel to mean something.

She wants women to find connection through shared experiences.

She wants hotels and destinations to tell stories that reach people beyond traditional marketing.

And she wants her own journey to remind others that they do not need to have every answer before beginning.

For Chhavi, the most exciting chapter may not be the one already written. It may be the one that begins every time she chooses courage over hesitation and turns another unfamiliar destination into an opportunity for growth, connection and possibility.

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