With more than forty years in the industry, Susan Bowman is one of the most recognizable faces in travel – chances are you’ve worked with her somewhere along the way. Currently Vice President Marketing and Industry Relations for Transat Distribution Canada, she says that travel “found her” and has always been her passion.

“I like to travel but it’s the business of travel that I love. I think what fascinated me is that it’s always evolving,” she explains. “When I first started, we were hand writing tickets and faxing. And then Expedia came along and everyone thought the world was going to end, that retail would disappear overnight. Companies may come and go, but the travel business itself continues to thrive and, if anything, I think it’s getting bigger and more robust.”

In her role, Bowman is responsible for marketing and industry relations for TDC’s 400+ agencies and 3,300 travel consultants across Canada. She doesn’t like to talk about herself or her achievements, which she says with a smile, are “boring.” We would beg to differ and so did Centennial College in 2013 when they elected her as their Alumnus of Distinction, where she graduated from the Tourism and Travel program. Speaking to a crowd of 800 graduates at that ceremony, she brought her then high-school aged daughter to the ceremony.

“I said to the graduates, ‘we’ve been waiting for you. It’s a big business and we need people like you coming into it.’ My daughter said to me afterwards that that was really powerful for her to see my career at the stage it was at and to see what I was being recognized for. She was able to realize the evolution of a career, how all of these things connect.”

That’s a bit of a contrast to what Bowman’s mother perceived her career to be when she was first starting out. She jokes her mother always figured she’d buy a bungalow in Scarborough close to them, marry her high school boyfriend and immediately start having kids.

“The concept that I would go off and work, particularly in the travel business where I got on planes and travelled, was completely foreign to her.”

“I think it’s a question of which lifestyle are you happier in? For me, there was no question that I am at my happiest when I’m working. That’s not to say I’m not happy at home being a mother and a wife, because I love that. But I also love having a career. In fact, I’m often asked why I haven’t retired and I keep saying it’s because I love to work. People look at me funny when I say that, but that’s the truth, I enjoy it.”

Bowman points out that the travel industry is dominated by women, and says right from the beginning there were women like Canadian Travel Hall of Fame member Vanessa Lee, who were powerful and very strong in their abilities. She says she was fortunate to have worked for companies like American Express who were very gender neutral and where you could succeed based on your merits.

“I’ve been lucky right through to Transat where I have a female boss and also many of our Transat leaders are women. I didn’t find it inconceivable that you could move up as a woman when I first started in my career, so that wasn’t something that I was focused on at the beginning. It was more about getting entrenched, learning the business and figuring out what path I could take that would make the most sense for me.”

Of course, there were moments where she experienced some challenges, such as the time she was in Kenya on a FAM with hoteliers. She was excluded from conversations with the hotel’s General Manager, who spoke only to the men in the group. When it was pointed out to him by the host, his response was that her husband should be ashamed of himself for allowing her to work.

“I am grateful to work in Canada -- and in an industry where I have had equal opportunity throughout my career.”

We asked Bowman about what lies ahead for the next generation of travel industry?

“You know, I think millennials get a bit of a bad rap. They have different traits than we do. When I first started working, you addressed your boss by Mr/Mrs and their last name. Today it’s very different. I don’t think you can say to an entire generation that this is not the way you work. It’s not going to happen.”

Bowman says her motivation has always been a fascination to solve business problems, to grow and to mentor and realize customers’ needs and demands change.

“In my experience, if you do your job well consistently-- and you are passionate, you will succeed.”

We’d agree with that.