Lifestyle Collaborators & Ambassador Partners
We have successfully collaborated with various partners, including Preskil Island Resort and Spa, Savenues, Sedibaluxurysafarilodge, Holafly eSIM, Vuna Coffee Rituals, and Gin & Company.
Please visit our Instagram page, Travelbuddies_lifestyle, to familiarise yourself with our recent collaborations and the style of content that we can create for you. In particular, see our “hotels”, “collaborations”, and “fashion” highlights on our Instagram page.
Vuna Coffee Rituals: Brand Ambassadors
Vuna Coffee RitualsContent creators and social media influencers understand the impact and benefits of social networking sites (SNS)perfectly. Although everyone has a different reason for using an SNS such as Facebook or Instagram, there are several motivational reasons for using these platforms. According to a research study conducted by Brandtzaeg and Heim (2009), the most important reason for using these sites are to get in contact with new people (31%), to stay in touch with friends (21%), or to socialise in general (14%).
Our Instagram page enables us to connect with the most amazing organisations and like-minded people who have a shared passion for travel and our Travel Buddies Lifestyle. During January this year, we were approached by Vuna Coffee Rituals to collaborate with them on the Instagram page, and that is how the fantastic synergy between two organisations from two diverse industries started.
Sara Morrocchi and Dennise Yeh are the influential team members behind Vuna Coffee Rituals, a speciality coffee company based in Amsterdam, to make coffee equitable and sustainable.
Our passion for people (and travel) always makes us curious to know more about the individuals behind a business venture and the reasons for their start-up. Not surprisingly, their business was partly born out of their love for GREAT coffee and partly due to the isolation of the pandemic.
Sara Morrocchitrained as a political scientist, but because of her passion for social impact, she changed her career early in her 20s to the coffee value chain management field. Since then, she has been committed to sourcing socially responsible coffee brands and ensuring a sustainable connection between the producers and the consumers of coffee. Sara is an expert in the field of coffee production and procurement. In 2015, this remarkable woman decided to apply her teaching capabilities. She launched Vuna Coffee School, a digital education platform designed for coffee producer organisations (the school operates face-to-face in Latin America, East Africa and South-East Asia). As if that is not enough to keep this entrepreneur occupied, she co-founded Vuna Coffee Rituals.
Dennise Yeh originally started her career as a journalist but soon realised her love for e-commerce and digital transformation. She developed a deep understanding of the link between digital transformation and brand exposure, enabling her to manage several leading brands. She became a subject matter expert in the field of brand management particularly in East Asia, North America and Europe. Dennise understood the importance of having a holistic view in marketing to establish and scale a digital business. She is passionate about brand design, website user experience, e-commerce operation, digital marketing, and data analytics. Interestingly, she has been involved in the brand management of various industries ranging from designer clothes to cars, interior decoration, and sneakers to where she is now specialising in coffee.
So, what do we have in common with these remarkable businesswomen? We all love the taste of speciality coffee, but…”we don’t want the trouble of brewing it”,…and that’s how the Travel Buddies Lifestyle and Vuna Coffee Rituals became a match made in heaven. We want our followers to experience the best lifestyle.
Vuna Coffee bags are so practical because they provide you with brewed coffee without using any specialised equipment. It is created for different moods (we all have those, too) with flavours such as Rise and Shine (our favourite), Fruit Splash, Tangy Pop, and Mellow Bello. The packaging is fun, the ingredients easy to understand, and the best part is that they uphold sustainable sourcing principles.
Why wait to experience the best-brewed coffee there is out there? Using the code Coffeebuddies on their website, you can get 5% off your purchase.
Brandtzaeg, P. ., & Heim, J. (2009). Why people use social networking sites. Online Communities, LNCS 5621, 143–152.
CURA weighted duvets from Sweden
Before CURA of Sweden approached us for a collaboration, I had never heard of a weighted duvet, let alone sleeping with one. As an avid researcher in human resources who had recently completed my PhD in employee well-being, I was more than intrigued by this phenomenon and couldn’t wait to try it out.
Sleep plays a vital role in our everyday lives. Baric et al. (2021) reported many daytime challenges because of poor sleep or lack of sleep, including “negative mood, irritability, self-injury, and aggression”.
Are you curious to know what a weighted duvet is? It is a “therapeutic blanket that includes weighted material designed to provide proprioceptive input to the body. Proprioceptive, sometimes called the ‘sixth sense’, is related to body position and movements” (Becklund et al., 2021, p. 130). The weighted duvet’s deep touch pressure stimulation provides psychological and physical benefits.
According to studies conducted by Becklund et al. (2021), deep pressure stimulation (DPS) affects one’s nervous system by increasing serotonin (the feel-good hormone) and melatonin (which helps to control your sleep cycle) while decreasing cortisol levels. This calming effect minimises stress, induces sleep, and increases well-being. Baric et al. (2021) found that weighted blankets reduce the body’s physiological arousal and anxiety levels, improving sleep quality.
The above research made a lot of sense to me. No matter how warm the temperatures are outside (or inside) or what season it might be, I always want “something” over me to fall asleep. My crazy sleeping ways always confused my husband. At last! I found a company like CURA that understood my sleeping behaviour and even backed it up with thorough research.
I agree with the findings of the weighted duvets theory. I experienced improved sleep quality and enhanced relaxation, and I woke up feeling revived the following day. At first, I found the duvet a bit unconformable to turn around because of the weight, but this was a good thing as it limited me from turning unnecessarily, often preventing me from falling into a deep sleep.
In conclusion, the duvet looks and feels luxurious. My only negative comment is that changing the cover on your own is rather challenging.
If you would like to know more about CURA’s weighted duvets, please click on the following link.
Reference list:
Baric, V. B., Skuthalla, S., Pettersson, M., Gustafsson, A., & Kjellberg, A. (2021). The effectiveness of weighted blankets on sleep and everyday activities: A retrospective follow-up study of children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and an autism spectrum disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1–11.
Becklund, A. L., Rapp-McCall, L., & Nudo, J. (2021). Using weighted blankets in an
inpatient mental health hospital to decrease anxiety. Journal of Integrative Medicine , 19, 129–134.
We engaged with Cura in a promotion for their weighted duvets. We created content with us using the weighted duvets in Instagram stories and posts.
Gin & Company, Casterbridge, White River, Mpumalanga
They say behind every successful woman is herself. This is precisely the case with Tanya Cruse, the founder of Gin & Co. and Safari African Gin. Tanya was raised in Skukuza in the Kruger National Park. Naturally, being an avid nature lover, she incorporated her passion for nature and conservation to create a successful business career while uplifting her community.
In 2021, she launched Safari African Gin which distils 12 exotic botanicals (such as African Potato Bush, Portulacaria Afra, African Wild Ginger, and Marula), interestingly, some of which grow wild under the blazing African sun.
We salute this powerful woman for the fantastic work she is doing! Moreover, we love the thought that while we are sipping on her Safari African Gin, we can delight in the knowledge that 10% of her company’s sales are donated to national parks and private game reserves to aid in funding anti-poaching and conservation projects in South Africa.
You, too, can enjoy the best of South African gin while contributing to a worthy cause.
Click on their website link (in the photo above) and receive a 5% discount on your online purchases by using our affiliation code GinBuddies in the “coupon code” field.
