introducing Loán Lake

about Loán Lake

Loán Lake (pronounced Lo-An) is an accomplished communications professional, journalist, and published author who understands the importance of inclusive and diverse communications that create powerful narratives. Specializing in feature writing, public relations and multicultural communications, Lake’s recent work has focused on economic mobility and the arts sector.

Originally from St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands, Lake is passionate about tourism marketing and destination development. She understands the value of promoting a destination or attraction through engaging storytelling that attracts media attention and generates sales. She also provides communications and public relations strategies that enable clients to increase brand awareness and exposure. Her tourism industry experience includes leading marketing efforts for the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in Charlotte, NC; leading community engagement and public relations around a cruise port development project; and serving as the former director of sales for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism, where she led national business development efforts and transitioned a nationally disbursed team to remote operations.

Following the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, Lake advocated for the inclusion of the U.S. Virgin Islands in national media coverage as a U.S. territory. She is also the co-founder of the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Summit – an event that connected the U.S. Virgin Islands diaspora with elected officials and business opportunities in the local community. She is also the author of a profile series, Jewels of the Virgin Isles, through which she shared the stories of Virgin Islands professionals residing around the globe. Lake has a gift for capturing the essence of those she writes about, often generating feedback from her interviewees such as, “that doesn’t sound like me!” She also capitalizes on her experience as a journalist to develop lasting relationships with media representatives and provide timely and relevant story pitches that lead to media coverage for her clients.

Lake, a 2009 inductee into the Temple University’s Gallery of Success, holds a Masters in Tourism and Hospitality Management (MTHM) from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Maryland at College Park. She is a freelance writer for Q City Metro, The Virgin

Islands Source, Charlotte’s Got A Lot, Charlotte Magazine, and iPondr.com. In February 2021, Lake received honorable mention from the AVA Digital Awards for her article on natural hair bias in the workplace which was published in iPondr. She resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband.

Follow her newly launched brand, The Destination Coach, on Facebook (The Destination Coach By Loán Lake, MTHM) and Instagram (@the.destination.coach) for weekly tips and best practices on tourism marketing and tourism development.