Kim Hyojeong Travels Around the World Because ‘She Can’
Kim Hyojeong. Photograph courtesy of Cartier.
In an interview with Vogue Philippines, theNomadHer founder and 2026 Cartier Women’s Initiative fellow and Yanina Novitskaya, chief executive officer of Cartier Southeast Asia and Oceania, reflect on how a belief in what women can do can grow into a global community.
Kim Hyojeong receives and goes through hundreds of messages, recommendations, and stories daily. They may come through a comment left on her social media, an email, or a note on the app she founded; women who find a sense of community in what she has created. Open NomadHer and the invitation is simple: “Meet new friends, make spontaneous plans, and stay connected.”
The app quickly fills with the traces of women on the move: where they hiked, a hidden beach they discovered, or a first-ever yoga class. It shows potential travel buddies in a city and women-led experiences. When you sign up, another message appears: “This is a safe space for female travelers.”
The app started from Hyojeong’s own experience of being on the road alone. She fell in love with solo travel, not just because it gave her somewhere to go, but because it gave her a way to understand herself. In an interview with Vogue Philippines editor-in-chief Trickie Lopa, she shares her musings, travel experiences, and her work to build a community where women can travel anywhere.
“For me, and for many women out there, traveling solo is an
act of emancipation. It is a way of finding out who I truly am, what
I love and what I do not; what I am good at and what I am not.”
She has even learned a few things about herself along the way. “I am terrible at finding directions, but I am very good at finding hidden local restaurants,” she candidly shares. Her sense of discovery became the foundation for NomadHer, which Hyojeong started as a student in Paris with just USD 100 in her bank account. Nine years later, the community is approaching 600,000 women around the world. “For me, it meant a world where ‘She Can.’ She, can, travel, anywhere: all these four words held so much importance, as they meant ‘She Can’ if she wants.”
One of the reminders of that came in a message Hyojeong received from a woman in Afghanistan. With restrictions around her passport, visa, and the situation in her country, traveling abroad was difficult. But watching other women do it gave her something else: the ability to imagine. She also remembers another from a 72-year-old member in the Netherlands who had recently lost her husband. With her children grown and retirement ahead of her, the Dutch member decided to take her first solo European van trip, a childhood dream she had never pursued until then. “I love reading these stories. No matter your age or your nationality, everyone has a dream in their own heart,” she notes.
It is also a parallel to the Cartier Women’s Initiative, which marks 20 years of supporting women impact entrepreneurs under the theme “Women Lighting the Path.” For Yanina Novitskaya, chief executive officer of Cartier Southeast Asia and Oceania, leadership extends beyond individual achievement. “‘Women Lighting the Path’ is a reminder that leadership is about far more than individual achievement. It is about creating visibility, opportunity, and confidence for others,” she tells Lopa.
In June, 30 women entrepreneurs were recognized at the Cartier Women’s Initiative’s 20th anniversary awards ceremony in Bangkok, where NomadHer was named third place in the East Asia category. The ceremony brought together speakers including Sandi Toksvig, Amal Clooney, Nualphan Lamsam, Cyrille Vigneron, and Novitskaya herself.
Over two decades, the initiative has grown into a global community built around mentorship, learning, and support. But for Hyojeong, community is not an abstract idea. She discovered its importance when the pressure of running a company nearly pulled her away from the thing she had built. Last year, she experienced severe burnout. Comparing herself with entrepreneurs who had started at the same time made her question her own progress. Her answer was not another strategy session. She opened NomadHer.
She began meeting members in Bali, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris, and London, including women who told her that the app had helped them make friends for life. “Those moments reminded me: listen, a girl from Busan, South Korea, has now built a global community app where women from all over the world are connected through their shared passion for travel.”
NomadHer is also increasingly working with women in tourism and hospitality, from local surf business owners and guides to hotel managers, chefs, artists, and DJs. In Bali, for instance, she is developing a women’s surf travel program with a female surfer who owns a small local business. “When local women earn more revenue, it also contributes to the family she supports and is directly likely to be reinvested for her children’s education,” she shares. For Yanina, this connection between personal experience and community impact is characteristic of many of the women entrepreneurs supported by the Cartier Women’s Initiative. “Many are building solutions rooted in lived experience or a deep understanding of local needs, whether that is in healthcare, education, sustainability, or wellbeing.”
She continues, “Often, it is not one defining moment that changes someone’s path, but a conversation, an example or someone who helps them see what is possible.”
For Hyojeong, it is the same idea that has carried NomadHer from a personal love of solo travel into a community where one woman’s experience can become another woman’s possibility. And for Cartier, it is the thinking behind 20 years of supporting women impact entrepreneurs beyond recognizing their achievements, but giving more women the visibility, confidence, and opportunity to create what comes next.
For more information, visit the Cartier Women’s Initiative’s official website.