In this episode of the Living Legacy Podcast, host Zaakirah Muhammad interviews Danielle Desir, founder of The Thought Card, a travel‑finance blog and podcast. Danielle describes herself as a travel‑finance strategist who blends her passions for travel and personal finance, sharing how she paid off $63,000 in student loans, bought a home in Connecticut, and has visited 25 countries. She explains the origin of Thought Card, which began as a casual travel journal in 2015 and evolved into a platform focused on financially savvy travel, especially for those managing debt. Danielle discusses the hurdles she faced when starting a blog and a podcast—platform selection, information overload, and technical challenges—and offers practical advice: start with research, use WordPress, and leverage community support. She highlights the Women of Color Podcasters Facebook group she founded as a key resource, and stresses the importance of niche focus, passion, and a sustainable schedule for podcasters. The conversation compares blogging, vlogging, and podcasting, noting the synergy between written scripts and audio episodes and the SEO benefits of maintaining a website. Danielle shares how conferences boosted her visibility, recommends attending industry events (often with scholarships), and emphasizes continuous learning through podcasts, courses, and networking. She reflects on her analytical background, evolving into a more creative mindset, and outlines her typical day balancing a full‑time managerial role at a medical school, a long commute, workouts, and weekend content creation. Travel preferences are explored, with Reykjavik and Toronto cited as favorites, and her travel planning strategy—chasing flight deals and balancing short‑term getaways with longer immersive trips—are described. Future goals include a trip to Japan and upcoming milestones for the Women of Color Podcasters community, such as a website launch, a “Podthon” mini‑conference, and a possible retreat. The episode concludes with Danielle’s contact points: ThoughtCard.com, The Thought Card Podcast, social media handles, a budgeting course, and the Financially Savvy Travelers Facebook group.
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Hi, Danielle.
Hi. How are you? I'm fantastic. Fantastic today.
Thank you for being a guest on my podcast.
I appreciate the opportunity. I can't wait to share all the information.
Okay, so let's just jump right into it. I just can't wait to talk about— I just can't wait to learn more about you myself. You know, of course you can go to the website, But tell me who Danielle is.
Yes. So I am a travel finance strategist, a writer, a speaker, a podcaster. And if you're wondering, wondering what a travel finance strategist is, I really just focus on finding creative ways to afford to do things. And my passions are travel and personal finance. So just combining the two together because money impacts nearly everything that we do. So, and if you're like me, my money's never long enough to do everything thing that I want to do. So it's like, how do we have it all and how do we prioritize and how do we make it all happen? So I am the founder of Thoughtcard.com and that is a travel and personal finance website. And that's really where I share my journeys. For example, paying off $63,000 of student loan debt. I share being a new homeowner. I share also traveling the world. I've traveled to 25 countries and just kind of—
That's amazing.
how it all plays together and just inspire people to know that they can do it. It takes sacrifice for sure, but if you know more, you can definitely do more for sure.
I love that. I love that. So are you a Connecticut native?
I am not a Connecticut native. I am originally from the Bronx in New York City and I moved out here after graduate school and I actually found that this is a great place to live and has affordable housing here. So this is where I decided to settle.
I love it. I love it. So you bought your house, um, after grad school in Connecticut?
Yes. Yes.
Okay. Very cool. So why did you, why did you start Thought Crush?
So it's funny because I'm celebrating my 4-year anniversary this month. So it's been 4 years of just doing it, doing the thing. And I started the blog because I wanted to share some of my thoughts and my adventures. So at the time I was traveling with my family, my cousins to Paris, France, Amsterdam. We went to England also. So I was like, let me just start off with these adventures and share my thoughts. And it was just a musing blog. Like it was just sharing the random things. And over time I really realized like, okay, I have a theme of being a financially savvy traveler. I have a theme of having student loan debt. And people were like, I have that too. And it's funny because at the time people weren't really talking about their debt. student loan debt is not really something that you and your girls just chat about just 'cause, or strategically talk about. So this was a way for me to share what I was doing and it really helped me become accountable for myself. So I actually had quarterly updates. I would share my progress and where things are. So it's nice to read it and be like, wow, 3 years ago I was doing this and now I'm so far past that. So yeah, that's definitely where it all started. And again, my blog really just combines my 2 passions. I've always been passionate for travel. Interesting story is that over the summers, my mom would send me off to visit my grandparents in Haiti. So I spent every summer in Haiti with my grandparents from the age of 5 to 15. So there I learned the culture and the language and the food. So I was exposed to travel at a really young age, but I was limited to just going to one country all the time. So my mind and my eyes got broadened to the idea, okay, there's more places. So I saw immediately France was on top of my wish list. And once I went to France, I kept on going after that. And yeah, The Thought Cart is really a place for me to share my ideas and really to inspire people to know that they can do it despite your financial responsibilities. You can do it if you're patient, if you have a strategy, and if you like cheap flights too. Yeah.
I love it. It's so funny. I'm glad you mentioned Haiti. I grew up in South Florida. So as soon as I saw your last name, I'm like, she has to be Haitian.
Yes, absolutely.
Love it. So, um, now it's not, it's not always easy launching. So what initially would you say stopped you or kept you from launching?
So I remember wanting to blog for a while, but I just didn't know what was the right platform to use. Was it WordPress or I'm not even sure if Squarespace was around around that time, but it was just like getting started similar to podcasting. I have wanted to be a podcaster for Over 2 years before I started, and it was just not knowing where to start. And there's just so much information online that it's just like information overload, and it's just discouraging. Like, okay, I'll do this one day, which never happened. So I think that if you do want to start, just start doing the research. Make a plan, make a short list of maybe a couple things that you can do just to kind of get yourself in the door, get the information that you need. Personally, if you're looking for a website, I really enjoy WordPress. And the great thing about once you understand a platform, you can replicate it. So I've been able to do multiple websites on my own now because I understand the foundations. So invest the time into learning and then know that you could use that moving forward as well.
Now, what, um, what would be your favorite resource for those who want to get into podcasting?
Wow. So I'm just gonna shamelessly plug Women of Color Podcasters, which is the Facebook group that I founded. Women of Color Podcasters, you can actually find it when you go to WOC Podcasters, the actual name on Facebook. That's my favorite resource because it allows you to tap into a community of women all around the world at this point, over 37 countries represented. And you can get information based off of people who have done it or who have experience doing the question that you have. So there's nothing like learning something from someone else in real time compared to Googling something or reading an article that who knows if it's been updated. So I would say joining a Facebook community, and there are tons of other Facebook communities out there depending on your niche or depending on just what your interests are. So finding community is really, really important. And for starting a podcast, not the technical side stuff, but I think it's really important to figure out what your show topic and idea is and something that you're passionate about. Podcasting is a lot of work. It is very labor intensive. And if you're not doing it yourself, it could be very expensive as well. Um, if you're getting an editor or producer or things like that. So just kind of really being passionate about what you want to do and having a schedule of how are you going to see it through so that you don't kind of get burnt out and stop.
So how would you compare blogging to vlogging to podcasting?
Yeah, okay, that's a really great question. So I personally feel that blogging and podcasting are extremely similar. If you are a writer, you can transpose that into podcasting because Podcasting is really the audio version and not every podcast has to be a conversation. So when I first started, I wasn't really sure like how to get on the mic and talk to an audience. Like I didn't know how to do that, but I knew how to write and I knew how to write scripts. So I would just literally write like a blog post. I would write a blog post and just say it out loud. And when I was saying it on the podcast, I made sure to have inflections in my voice so that, you know, moments of excitement and, you know, all that good stuff. So I'm not— Scripted, reading like I'm scripted. But that really helped me. So for me, I feel like blogging and podcasting are very similar. Also, if you are doing podcasting, I highly recommend having your own website. And with a website, it's important to have content on there, written content on there for SEO, search engine optimization purposes. So if you already wrote your script out, you can use that for your podcast website, you know, for the episode website. So it's a good opportunity to kind of repurpose things. So if you're a blogger, definitely consider podcasting. It's so much easier. And, you know, I started my podcast back in September 2018. I feel so much more confident as a speaker, as someone to lead a community and meet people off the cuff because I have been practicing podcasting. So a lot of benefits there for sure.
I love it. So you did briefly talk about a few pointers and tips, but what What other resources really helped you when you were getting started with Thought Card?
So with the Thought Card, it's interesting because I went to a lot of conferences. So I would say whatever niche you're in, even if it's a blog or podcast, figure out what the conferences are, the major conferences that you can go to, because that's what really put me, I think, on the map. So I remember one of my first conferences I went to, of course, course, like, you know, I didn't really know what to expect and I just invested a ton of money. But I promise you, after that first conference, I had the confidence and it's just been, you know, I've never looked back and it was the best investment that I can do. So I would say if you can try to go to a conference, a lot of conferences also have scholarship programs. So apply for scholarship programs to see if you can get in and, you know, shave some money off of the cost. And if you're worried about cost as well, think about it as an investment. Figure out what exactly do you want to get out of the conference that you're going to go to and try to see how you can recoup that money back quickly so that your return on investment is there. So that's really important. I think the conference is really what helped me to really get started. When I started 4 years ago, I didn't really read guides or anything like that. I just kind of like you know, threw spaghetti on the wall to figure it out, which I highly— it's great, but it's also, you know, you live and learn. But just be open to learning new experiences and reading a lot. I also read, like now I read a lot. I listen to a lot of podcasts on either podcasting or blogging. So that really helps me. Influencer marketing, things like that. So those are my recommendations to get started.
So you were talking about going with the flow, learning as you go, but what would you say were the most difficult things when you were first getting started?
I would say like not breaking your website was one of the big things that like I really kind of, I really struggled with. Or maybe like running out of space in your website because I wanted to upload these huge maps. I'm a travel blogger, so it's like I wanted to upload these huge massive pictures. So the technical stuff definitely did get in the way. I think it's also important that if you can afford to hire out, it's worth it. A lot of times it's worth it to hire out because I'm not really a designer. I'm not a designer. I can have some designing moments, but I'm not a designer. So it's great to hire someone to do something and then you could see how they did it and you could be like, okay, let me do this myself next time. Let me try. And you get better at it as you go. So technical stuff is definitely not my forte, but I I think you get over it. You get over it quickly. And like I said, you learn the platform and then you just kind of go with it and continue learning for sure.
So you consider yourself more to be analytical, numbers girl, things like that?
Yes, yes, yes. Definitely like chronological order, give it to me like logical. But it's interesting because even though I saw myself that way, I'm learning to see myself as a creative, more of a creative being now. I think it's important that even though you might have a tendency to be a certain way, don't close yourself off to other things as well. It's funny because my mom always tells me like, I never saw you as a writer. I always saw you as an analyst or something like that. And it's so surprising to her, and it's surprising to me as well, but it's because I kept on crafting and kept on trying and practicing writing so much that now I can myself a writer. And again, it's about finding the tools and resources to help you become better. So even if I'm not natural at it, I take a course, so I— or I go to a seminar, or I go to a talk at a conference, and I get little gems, and I try to see if I could implement that and grow, grow myself there as well.
I love it. So tell me a little bit about a typical day in the life of All right.
So I do work full-time. I am a manager at a medical school. So I really wake up early, like talking about 5:30, 5:45 so that I could commute. My commute is rather lengthy. I work in New York City. So I have a pretty big commute, maybe like an hour and 45 minutes, maybe close to 2 hours. So, but that gives me the opportunity to work on things, reply to emails, do my social media, brain dump. articles and think about what do I want to do next. So I try to capitalize on my commute time as much as possible. And then I have my full day. I love to work out during lunchtime because by the time I get home at nighttime, it's not happening. So by the time I'm commuting back home again, I try to be productive again, maybe doing something a little bit less labor-intensive. So something more, a little less, you know, more relaxing, but still try to be productive. And by the time I come home, it's really doing maybe something small like editing a photo or, you know, watching Netflix or something relaxing. And in terms of the weekends, that's really when I feel inspired to, to really tackle my bigger projects, like the bigger things that I want to do, perhaps edit a full episode or interview people on my show. So it's kind of like using the time that you have wisely. That's like a day in my life. Mm-hmm.
That's the key. Time management is key.
It is very important for sure.
So what we've talked about travels, but let's see, what is one of your favorite cities to travel to?
Ah, okay. So I'm going to say Reykjavik is in Iceland and for sure it is one of my favorite places. In the world. The country itself also, but I really love Reykjavik because it's very small, it's very compact, and colorful as well. And I love that the city is really close to the outdoors. So we're talking about a couple hours drive from, you know, to volcanoes and glaciers and things like that. So ideally, I would love to live there, love to be there. I just really enjoy Reykjavik. A lot. I also like Toronto too. Toronto, I love the big city vibes. I love the layout, especially in the summertime. It's beautiful there. People are out and about. So I really like Toronto as well.
So what is— well, I think maybe this is a 2-part question. What is your goal when you travel and where do you want to travel to next?
So I would say determining where I want to travel to next is really random. I am not committed to any particular place, but that could be changing because now I have a partner and now we're like, where do we want to go to now? So it's a little bit different. Definitely different. But when it comes to destinations, I primarily follow the flight deal. So wherever I find a good flight deal bargain, that's where I fly to next. And using that method of travel has allowed me to travel to places like Oslo and Seoul. Sweden and Norway and Iceland multiple times and Bermuda. So it's like you get to see so many different places that perhaps weren't initially on your radar if you just leave yourself open to flight deals. But again, that's changing now. Last year I focused a lot on short trips, like weekend getaways and really short trips. And I think I kind of got burnt out a little bit. So this year I'm focusing on longer trips. Really getting to know a destination a little bit longer and thinking about what are the places I really want to go to. For example, next year we would love to go to Japan. So making Japan happen will be like high on the priority list.
Before or around the time of the Olympics?
So that's the problem. I heard that the Olympics is happening. Now I'm like, I think we might need to curb that because there's no way it's going to be cheap around the time of the Olympics. You know? So maybe I think we're gonna have to curb that. Maybe we'll go to Italy or something. Or something like that. We'll see. We'll see. But Japan is still on the list. It's very high.
Very nice. Okay. So where can we find you on the web?
Absolutely. So you could find me on my blog, thoughtcard.com. You can find me on my podcast, The Thought Card Podcast, on anywhere you listen to podcasts. You can also find me on social media, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, @thethoughtcard. I also have a Facebook group called Financially Savvy Travelers. We're a tight-knit community. We share flight deals and photos and tips and tricks and activities and things like that. So it's a great place to connect with other travelers. I also have a budgeting course out right now. It's called Back to Budgeting Basics. It's a course that I put together for those who are looking to kind of tighten up their budget and learn creative ways to be, you know, more organized and to really see gains in their finances. Yeah, that's really all of the places. Oh, and if you want to reach out to me directly, you have a question, you can email me at thethoughtcard@gmail.com.
So what about— what's going on next with the Women of Color Podcasters?
Wow. So we are actually hitting on our 1-year anniversary coming up May 1st, which is so exciting. I mean, this was just a random Twitter hashtag, okay, that has now become this global community of over 1,400 women. So we're launching our website and we are going to have a lot of articles written by women of color sharing our expertise and our knowledge and things like that. And we're actually also working on a kind of like a Podthon. It's called Podthon, but it's really a mini conference which allows podcasters to present their ideas. in a weekend. So we're putting that together as well. So there's a lot of— maybe a retreat coming up soon. Who knows, right? So there are a lot of exciting things coming, but the community has continued to astound me and just be a great place to learn and share resources. So it's great.
I love it. I love it. Well, thank you, Danielle, so much for being here.
