Lebawit “Lily” Girma is an award-winning independent travel journalist and the founder of Tourism Lens Media, reporting and consulting at the intersection of conscious travel, equity in tourism, and cultural heritage tourism storytelling.

Over more than 15 years, Lily has reported on global tourism for Bloomberg News, BBC Travel, Skift, National Geographic Traveller, Condé Nast Traveler, and AFAR, with a focus on the business of making tourism more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable. She led and authored Bloomberg News’ first-ever monthly column on conscious tourism, Better Travel Bureau, and her reporting has earned a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award and multiple North American Travel Journalist Awards in the sustainability and DEI categories, among other honors.

A former corporate attorney who traded her Washington, D.C. law office for the road in 2008, Lily was born in Ethiopia, raised in Côte d’Ivoire, educated in the UK and US, and spent years embedded in the Caribbean as a reporter, including in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Belize. She speaks four languages and has lived in eight countries — a multicultural lens that shapes her commitment to equity, sustainability, and stories that remain untold.

Through Tourism Lens Media, Lily advises tourism boards, hospitality brands, international corporations, media organizations, and academic institutions — including George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies at the business school, and Cornell University, where she served as Executive-in-Residence for the Sustainable Tourism Asset Management Program (STAMP) in 2024.

Her consulting practice spans branded content, editorial strategy, curriculum design, and storytelling frameworks that connect cultural heritage preservation with sustainable business practices. She also teaches and coaches tourism professionals, storytellers, and editorial teams on crafting impactful, equity-centered messaging in sustainable tourism.

A sought-after speaker and moderator, Lily has presented at UN Tourism Brand Africa, Skift Global Forum, ITB Berlin, WTM Africa, and Bloomberg CityLab on tourism equity, conscious travel, climate action, and the future of the industry.