I Like Local

Program Manager, Researcher, Content Creator
I Like Local is an impact travel marketplace connecting travelers directly with local people and community organizations across Africa and Asia.

The platform uses travel as a way to create meaningful connections between people and cultures, while giving local hosts access to the global travel market. Experiences range from homestays and farmstays to workshops, cultural activities, and environmental experiences.

As Program Manager for Indonesia, I worked at the intersection of research, storytelling, partnerships, and content.

To better understand our local partners and the experiences they offered, I conducted field research across rural areas of Java and Bali. I focused on understanding the people behind them. The research involved interviews, photography, videography, writing, and narrative development, which I then translated into stories and content for the platform.

The fieldwork allowed me to identify what made each host and experience distinctive, while also building a deeper understanding of how we could communicate their stories authentically to an international audience.

I documented a range of experiences across different categories:

Homestays
Farmstays
Classes & workshops
Environmental experiences
Cultural experiences

Meet Handani’s Family in Bantul, Yogyakarta

In the heart of Bantul Regency, Handani’s family welcomes guests into their home and everyday life. They transformed their backyard into a small homestay complex built from bamboo and recycled materials, creating a place where visitors can experience a more intimate side of local life.

Beyond offering accommodation, the family uses the homestay as an opportunity to share their approach to living with less waste, introducing guests to simple, practical ways of thinking about sustainability in everyday life. For them, hospitality is not simply about providing a place to stay. It is about opening up their home, sharing their way of life, and creating an exchange between people and place.

Building Local Partnerships

Alongside content and research, I managed partnerships and on-the-ground strategy for the Indonesian market. One example was the development and distribution of referral cards designed to introduce I Like Local to potential travelers through relevant urban communities.

I developed partnerships and identified distribution points including co-working spaces, community hubs, and hostels, bringing the platform into spaces where culturally curious and independent travelers were already gathering.

This work connected the different parts of my role — researching people and places, developing relationships, shaping stories, and finding ways to bring those stories to the right audience.

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