The singer Marc Anthony is credited with saying “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” For Tarita Davenock that sentiment could be the anthem for her career.
Caring, empathic, indomitable, Tarita has overcome physical and emotional challenges that would have humbled others – turning life-altering hurdles into the focal point of her expanding career. Today, with a smile, a willingness to learn and a desire to make the world’s destinations accessible for everyone, she has become a leader in developing travel options for persons with physical limitations.
While a lover of travel from an early age, if not for changing physical circumstances, Tarita’s life would have evolved much differently. When she first launched her professional career her thoughts were not devoted to the far away, but to the immediate and now. A trained Social Worker specializing in assisting children and adults with special needs, she was successfully navigating a career path that would have carried her throughout her working life. She had a place, a conduit for her love of helping others, and a vision for how that journey would proceed. But that illusion of solidity was abruptly shattered when at 29 she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
This debilitating disease prevents parts of the nervous system from communicating properly which can limit the affected person’s ability to carry out even simple physical tasks.
“I can type on the computer, but sometimes I can’t even tie my shoes,” she said, while trying to explain how MS affects her. “It can be very frustrating when your body isn’t doing the things you want it to.”
As the impact of the disease grew it became increasingly apparent the physical and emotional demands of her Social Work career were becoming more than she could handle. That’s when her attentions and her boundless energy returned to her first love, those vistas of distant destinations she cherished since childhood. Tarita shifted gears and went from helping those with everyday problems to assisting others discover the world. Flash forward 17 years and she has become one of the premier providers of dream vacations: “for those who thought dream vacations were for other people!” as she likes to say.
A champion for the undervalued, a lover of travel and a capable business professional, Tarita Davenock is driven to bring the world within reach of everyone without compromise, or limitation.
