‘Train Travel Queen’ Sojourner White shares prepare journeys world wide | WUWM 89.7 FM

Imagine your main job being touring the world on the prepare.

That’s the fact for Milwaukee native and journey influencer Sojourner White.

She reveals 1000’s of individuals throughout her social media platforms that trains can take you thru scenic routes from New York to Montreal, and to expeditions in India.

Viewers have dubbed White the “Train Travel Queen.”

It has been her full-time job for the previous yr and a half.

“Before this I was a social worker, but I worked on the research side for about five years before transitioning full-time into content creation,” White says. “‘Cause it’s not like you have a viral video and all of a sudden you can leave your 9-to-5. That’s not how this works normally. I know that’s kind of the understanding, but for me in particular, I didn’t really plan on leaving. It wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to do full-time until I realized I was already putting in a lot of hours for it.”

White previously labored with Ubuntu Research & Evaluation, a Milwaukee-based, Black woman-led consulting group, based by Dr. Monique Liston.

Liston, somebody who White says has all the time been like an enormous sister, supplied White a job on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic; which occurred to be when White graduated with a grasp’s in worldwide social work. Her job prospects had fallen by.

“It was a great experience to prepare me to be an entrepreneur, because consulting is essentially what you kinda do as a creator,” says White. “You’re just consulting for multiple brands across projects; for me it’s like tourism in different cities, and countries and you know, companies and whatnot. So, I did that for five years, and then I said, ‘You know what, I think I’ve done what I wanted to do, at least for the most part. Let me go and do this thing that’s kind of always been there.'”

The “thing” was Sojournies, White’s journey model. It’s been round since 2017.

Learning concerning the world and historical past by prepare

White has been to California, New York, India, Italy, Alaska, and plenty of extra locations, all by prepare. And she’s doing it solo.

“One thing I’m always telling people too is treat train tickets like flights, honey,” says White. “The price is not going to go down…Don’t wait until the day before to think that you’re going to get like a $10 train ticket, baby. And then budgeting too. Like I talk about the roomettes, and they are pricey…I say do it once. You don’t have to do it all the time. I’m on the train because it’s part of my job. But I think figuring out what makes sense for you.”

White has partnered with journey manufacturers like Trip Advisor, Visit Milwaukee, and Explore Georgia.

She says her travels have been eye-opening in some ways.

“I’ve learned so much about the U.S. and also other countries by riding the trains. Especially in the U.S.,” White says. “My godmother passed away in 2024, but I learned that her father was a waiter on the train. And so, then I got into the history of like the Pullman porters and learning about the Black history behind train travel and how we made it a luxury experience, because the Pullman porters and maids were serving people on the train and all that stuff. I just kept learning about how trains really did shape the U.S. and kind of where Black folks ended up. Like, that’s how people migrated during the Great Migration.”

White says for her, trains have grow to be, actually, a distinct automobile to her understanding this nation’s historical past.