La Carmina Biography: TV presenter, fashion blogger, travel journalist (New York Times, etc)
SHORT BIOGRAPHY: La Carmina is a…
– leading alternative fashion, travel, food and culture blogger and TV host (Travel Channel, NBC, Food Network, National Geographic, Discovery)
– author of several books published by Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House
– award-winning travel journalist for The New York Times, Business Insider, Eater, Time Magazine, Travel + Leisure, National Geographic, Fodor’s, The Daily Beast and other global publications.
– La Carmina received the Best Blog of the Year award in 2017. Her travel writing won the Society of American Travel Writers Bronze prize in 2020.
She began her La Carmina travel & fashion blog a creative outlet during her studies at Yale Law. Since then, she has written several books for major publishers, hosted travel TV shows for major networks (including with Andrew Zimmern and William Shatner), won awards for her journalism (for publications like The New York Times), and explored over 70 countries for fashion and tourism projects. La Carmina’s worldwide adventures include speaking at NY Fashion Week, meeting the third gender in India, popping into Hobbit holes in New Zealand, dancing with drag queens in Israel, and volunteering with punk rockers in Burma.
La Carmina’s mission is to showcase underground and fringe subcultures in a positive light, and encourage meaningful, offbeat, alternative travel. Today, she pursues these passions through professional blogging and journalism, TV hosting and production.
See more details about La Carmina’s work and experience below. Contact her (gothiccarmina at gmail dotcom) for business inquiries.
♥ TV HOST FOR MAJOR NETWORKS: La Carmina has appeared on NBC “The Today Show”, ABC “Nightline” and CBS “The Doctors”. She co-hosted the Japan episode of “Bizarre Foods” with Andrew Zimmern for Travel Channel. She appeared on The Purge TV, and an NBC travel show with Star Trek’s Captain Kirk and Happy Days’ Fonz for “Better Late than Never.”
NHK Japan filmed two documentaries about her work, including “Kawaii TV” and “New York Wave.” Her TV presenting and production credits include Food Network “World’s Weirdest Restaurants”, Discovery Channel and TLC Asia’s “Oddities,” CNN, National Geographic “Taboo” and “Roam”, Canal Plus France “Toque a Tokyo”, Travel Channel’s “Could I Live There” and “No Reservations Anthony Bourdain” promo, multiple programs on top German network Pro Sieben (including Joko & Klaas, Offline, Schulz in a Box), Dutch Pepsi, Sony Australia, Norway TV (with Prince Ari Behn), and more.
View her presenting reels below and here. See full clips on her TV hosting and arranging site.
♥ TRAVEL SHOW SERIES: La Carmina and her professional film crew are constantly on the road, shooting episodes for her ongoing travel series about alt culture, underground fashion and trends. Episodes include Budapest, Abu Dhabi, South Africa, Israel, Slovenia, Hong Kong, Iceland. Her travel videos air on AOL / Huffington Post Travel, Yahoo Travel and Business Insider, where they reach an enormous travel audience (500,000+ views each).
♥ COOLHUNTER & TV PRODUCTION ARRANGER: La Carmina runs a consulting and television fixing / producing company, La Carmina & The Pirates. As Japan fixers, they’re arranged television episodes about bagelheads in Tokyo, blood drinking in Hong Kong, and lip sewing body modifications in Vancouver. (See her television resume and hire the Pirates.)
♥ AUTHOR & JOURNALIST: La Carmina wrote several books including The Little Book of Satanism (a handbook of Satanic culture and history – Simon & Schuster), Cute Yummy Time (based on the Japanese food decoration trend – Penguin USA) and Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo (lively stories of dining at weird theme cafes in Japan – Random House). She is represented by leading NY literary agency, Levine Greenberg Rostan (whose authors include Chuck Klosterman, Gillian Flynn, and Dan Ariely).
Carmina is an award-winning travel and culture journalist for major publications including: The New York Times, Travel + Leisure print magazine, National Geographic, Eater, AFAR, Sunday Times Travel, Business Insider, Time Magazine, The Daily Beast, Architectural Digest, Fodor’s Travel, CNN, Huffington Post, TravelAge West, BBC, various in-flight magazines (Hong Kong Airlines, Aeromexico) and more. She managed 200 writers and wrote 600+ articles for Google’s Touring Bird travel site. See her journalism clips here.
La Carmina was awarded Bronze in the 2020 SATW Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition. This prestigious annual award ceremony has been “recognizing excellence in travel journalism” since the early 1980s. La Carmina was also honored with the Auxiliary Blogger of the Year award.
♥ EDUCATION: Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, La Carmina is a Global Scholar / summa cum laude / Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Columbia University and Yale Law School.
♥ RECOGNITION & AWARDS: Her popular LaCarmina blog has been featured in major publications (The New Yorker, Washington Post, Vogue, LA Times). She has appeared as a guest expert and host on numerous TV shows, and on the cover of magazines (see press clippings). La Carmina has been invited on dozens of individualized press trips (Bangkok, Taipei, Maldives, Cape Town and more), and to speak / teach as a top blogger and digital influencer. Her travel journalism received a 2020 Bronze award from the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW).
Talks and appearances include: TEDx Vancouver, World Tourism Forum Turkey, Experience Romania conference, Luisaviaroma Italy, Pecha Kucha Tokyo, IFB conference, NY Fashion Week, Hong Kong Social Media Week, Mediabistro social curation summit, PRSA Travel and Tourism Conference.
Travel partners / sponsors include: Ritz-Carlton, Japan Rail Pass, LATAM Airlines, Fairmont Hotels, Eurail, Contiki, Travel Talk Tours, Royal Mansour Marrakesh, Gili Lankanfushi Maldives, Upper House Hong Kong, and dozens of tourism boards worldwide (Manchester, Israel, Cape Town, Thailand, Spain, New Orleans, Montreal, etc). She also collaborates with top fashion and beauty brands.
♥ FAQ: Where can I get your clothes?
I’m currently selling my fashion wardrobe on Depop – details here! These include rare Japanese Lolita, Goth, Alternative garments at low prices. La Carmina offers exact shipping and bundle discounts, and packages come with photos and personalized notes.
♥ FAQ: What camera does La Carmina use to take photos? She currently shoots with a Sony a7 IV mirrorless camera. Her travel videos are mostly filmed on a Canon 5D Mark II, which is also what many fashion bloggers use to take outfit post photos. Underwater footage is shot with a GoPro camera.
Got questions? Want to team up with La Carmina? Shoot her an email (gothiccarmina att gmail dotcom) and add her social networks (@lacarmina, linked on the right sidebar). She works consistently with international fashion brands, travel companies, TV shows, tours, hotels and more on blog and social media showcases, video, virtual reality, talks and more.
(Pictured above: shooting with Henry Winkler / The Fonz, for NBC’s Better Late than Never in Hong Kong.)
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LA CARMINA
