Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Duleba.
Hi Sydney, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and I’ve always been creative, ambitious, and curious. I knew I wanted a big life; I just didn’t always know exactly what that meant for me.
I followed a fairly traditional path at first. I graduated high school, went to college, earned my degree, and started what I thought would be my “successful career” that I had always wanted. At the same time, I was working on passion projects on the side centered around travel, photography, and storytelling.
I’ve always been fascinated by the world around me. I loved seeing how other people lived, hearing stories from different cultures, and experiencing places I had previously only seen in photographs. You can only learn so much from a textbook, and I wanted to start creating my own stories and experiences from my own perspective.
That’s what led me to start my travel blog, Syd Abroad (which I started back in college), and begin sharing my travels and photography online. While I was working in the corporate world, I took every opportunity I could to travel, create content, and work with brands. What started as a passion project slowly became a small but really meaningful online community.
Then, about two years into my career, I had one of those moments where I thought, “Okay, I’ve achieved the thing I was working so hard for… now what?” I realized I didn’t want to ever wonder “What if?” So I left my corporate career and gave myself some sort of a “gap year” to travel and just figure out what was next.
That year completely changed my life. I traveled around the world, visited my 50th country at 25, worked with incredible travel brands and hotels, and photographed places I never could have imagined visiting when I was growing up. More importantly, I learned a lot about myself and what kind of life I actually wanted to build.
At the end of that year, instead of going back to Texas, I decided to move to Sydney, Australia.
Now I call Sydney and, of course, Austin, home. My career has done a pretty significant 180, and my “job title” is honestly a bit of a mixed bag. I’m a digital marketer, content creator, photographer, travel writer, and now a small business owner.
That last part is pretty exciting because I’m turning years of travel and photography into something tangible with The Vacay Deck. It’s a waterproof deck of playing cards featuring my original travel photography from around the world, designed to feel like having a little collection of travel memories in your pocket. It’s launching soon, and it feels like the perfect intersection of everything I’ve done up to this point: travel, photography, storytelling, creativity, and entrepreneurship.
Looking back, my career definitely doesn’t look like the linear path I imagined when I graduated college. But I think that’s one of the things I’ve come to appreciate most. Sometimes the life you end up creating is much more interesting than the one you originally planned.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Although it has been an amazing journey, it definitely has not been a smooth one. I’ve questioned my decisions plenty of times along the way, especially when I left a stable corporate career that I had worked really hard to build. There’s something scary about walking away from the path you’ve been told is the “right” one, particularly when you don’t have a perfectly mapped-out plan for what comes next.
Traveling and building a career around creativity also comes with a lot of uncertainty. There isn’t always a clear next step or someone telling you what you should be doing. I’ve had to learn how to create opportunities for myself, put myself out there, deal with rejection, and keep going when something doesn’t work out.
Solo travel is incredible, but it can also be lonely. Moving across the world sounds very glamorous until you’re apartment hunting in a new country, navigating visas, building an entirely new social circle, figuring out a different way of life, and realizing that when you’re homesick, you can’t just hop on a quick flight home. There have been plenty of moments when I’ve missed my family, friends, and the familiarity of Austin.
But those challenges have probably taught me more than anything else. I’ve become incredibly resourceful because I’ve had to figure things out for myself. I’ve learned to trust my own decisions, even when I’m not completely sure where they’re going to lead.
So no, it hasn’t always been easy. But I think there’s something really valuable about building a life that doesn’t come with a roadmap. The hard parts have made me more independent, adaptable, and comfortable with uncertainty. And ultimately, I’ve gotten to live a story I never could have written for myself.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My work is definitely a bit multifaceted. I’m a digital marketer, content creator, photographer, travel writer, and now a small business owner.
I specialize in travel, hotels, and hospitality, creating content and photography that captures not just what a place looks like, but what it feels like to actually be there. Through Syd Abroad, my travel platform, I share destination guides, travel tips, recommendations, photography, and inspiration to encourage people to get out and explore more of the world.
I’ve always loved the intersection of creativity and strategy. Photography and writing allow me to tell the story, while my digital marketing background has taught me how to think about the audience, the brand, and how that story actually reaches people.
More recently, I’ve taken that creativity one step further by creating my own product. The Vacay Deck is a waterproof deck of playing cards featuring 54 of my original travel photographs from around the world. It’s essentially a collection of bucket-list destinations that you can take with you anywhere.
I think what sets me apart is that I’ve never really wanted to put myself into one box or do things the “normal” way. I’m genuinely curious about a lot of different things, and I like figuring out how they can work together. My background in marketing influences my photography, my travel experiences influence my writing, and now all of those experiences are influencing the business I’m building.
What I’m most proud of is that I’ve backed myself enough to build a life that actually feels like mine. It’s easy to follow the traditional definition of success because it’s familiar and because everyone around you understands it. It takes a little more courage to say, “This is what I actually want,” and then build toward it.
I hope my work encourages people to do that in their own way. I want people to travel, try things, be curious, take the photo, start the business, change careers, move somewhere new, or just say yes to something that scares them a little. You learn an incredible amount by doing and experiencing life firsthand. There is so much world out there, and I think we should actually go experience it.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think the biggest shift we’re going to see over the next five to ten years is that the line between traditional marketing, content creation, and technology is going to continue to blur.
AI is obviously going to play a huge role. We’re already seeing how quickly technology can help with everything from editing and ideation to writing, research, and campaign strategy. I think that will ultimately make certain parts of content creation much faster and more accessible.
I think that will make genuine human perspective even more valuable. When everyone has access to the same tools, the thing that differentiates you is no longer just how quickly you can produce something; it’s your point of view, your experiences, and the story you’re able to tell.
Ultimately, I don’t think technology is going to make creativity less important. I think it’s going to raise the bar for what creativity means. When anyone can produce something quickly, the people who have a unique perspective, a strong personal voice, and something genuinely interesting to say will stand out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sydabroad.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sydabroad_/
- Other: https://thevacaydeck.com/
