Amanda Black founded The Solo Female Traveler Network (SoFe Travel), a global community of 560,000+ rad women who travel solo. She designs women-only trips to offbeat places like hot air balloons in Turkey and cliffside monasteries in Bhutan, night markets in Egypt and dawn deserts camelback in Morocco. Amanda also studies how strangers become friends, the idea at the heart of her TEDx talk on shared-first experiences. Her work spans three projects: SoFe Travel (immersive group trips), Kindred (a community-building project for women closer to home), and The SoFe Travel Collective (an artisan-driven store supporting women artisans worldwide). Across it all, her focus is the same: build spaces where women feel braver, less alone, and more connected to themselves, each other, and the world.

In episode 667 of the Fraternity Foodie Podcast, we find out why Amanda chose University of Cincinnati and joined Chi Omega, how being "the new person" shaped how she thinks about belonging today, what was the moment Amanda realized this was more than just a travel group, what exactly is "shared firsts", how to have deeper conversations in college, why people feel lonelier in college, what is a practical way someone listening today can deepen one relationship this week, what role vulnerability plays in building connection, why safety is such a key ingredient in connection, and what it takes to turn an idea into a global community. Enjoy!