Leading with Purpose & Jayni Gudka: The 10 Women Who Inspire Us

Leading with Purpose in the World of Ethical Travel

When we travel, we often search for meaning — for stories, connections, and a deeper understanding of place. But true meaning, and true transformation, often come from those who lead with purpose. Few exemplify this more than Jayni Gudka (Jayni’s LinkedIn), CEO of Unseen Tours and founder of Sama Sama International, two powerful organizations grounded in the belief that tourism can be both inclusive and purposeful.

Jayni is not just redefining what it means to be a tourist — she’s reshaping how the industry itself can center dignity, equity, and justice. At the core of her work is a simple but radical idea: everyone deserves to be seen, and everyone deserves to tell their own story.

A Purposeful Path to Impact

Jayni’s journey began not with business plans or policy reforms, but with compassion. Years ago, she started having conversations with people experiencing homelessness in London. Over cups of coffee, she listened — not just to problems, but to insight, to experience, to stories that deserved to be heard.

Those early exchanges planted the seeds for what would become Unseen Tours — a social enterprise with a powerful dual purpose: to create meaningful work opportunities for people who have experienced homelessness and to give travelers a deeper, more honest view of the city they’re exploring.

Today, Unseen Tours offers award-winning walking experiences through London’s neighborhoods, each curated and led by guides who bring personal histories, local knowledge, and rich cultural layers to life.

Leading with Purpose: Reframing Homelessness and Tourism

Jayni has always led with clarity of purpose: to challenge assumptions, shift power, and center the stories that have long been excluded from mainstream tourism. Her academic background reflects this focus — with a Master’s in Responsible Tourism Management and another in Asian Politics, her research has spanned topics from ethical tour design to land rights in Myanmar.

But it’s her ability to combine research, empathy, and action that truly sets her apart.

She’s quick to point out how conventional tourism often glosses over — or actively hides — the presence of homelessness in urban spaces. Major public events like the London Olympics have historically pushed people out of sight, erasing their existence in the name of spectacle. But Jayni’s work turns that dynamic on its head: what if we centered the people usually pushed to the margins?

“Few people know a city better than those who’ve lived through its hardest moments,” she says.

And it’s not just about walking tours. It’s about dignity, training, visibility, and income — all structured around a deeper purpose to create long-term impact through ethical, community-driven work.

Expanding the Mission: Sama Sama and Global Purpose

In 2023, Jayni expanded her mission by founding Sama Sama International, a project that brings the Unseen Tours model to marginalized communities around the globe. From survivors of domestic violence in Mongolia to trans women in São Paulo, Sama Sama works alongside individuals to co-create storytelling experiences rooted in healing and ownership.

The name Sama Sama — meaning “together” in several languages — reflects Jayni’s collaborative ethos. She doesn’t position herself as the expert swooping in to “fix” something. Instead, she provides tools, frameworks, and guidance so that communities can create their own tours, in their own voices, with their own goals and boundaries.

This work is especially profound in contexts where trauma and exclusion are recent or ongoing. Through co-creation, Jayni helps ensure that storytelling isn’t extractive, but purpose-driven and consensual, supporting recovery and resilience.

Purpose and Perception: Changing the Narrative on Homelessness

Part of Jayni’s work involves challenging the stereotypes many people carry about homelessness. She emphasizes that homelessness is not a monolith. It includes everything from street sleeping to temporary shelters, car-sleeping, couch-surfing, and more. What unites these experiences is instability — and the precariousness of modern life that could put anyone just a few paychecks away from crisis.

There’s also a harmful myth that homelessness is always tied to addiction. While substance use may be one factor, Jayni points to a far wider array of systemic causes: job loss, trauma, housing shortages, immigration issues, and domestic violence.

By centering purpose in both storytelling and employment, Unseen Tours creates space for guides to share what they choose — and keep private what they don’t. That agency is everything.

A Model of Purposeful, Community-Led Travel

Jayni is a vocal advocate for slow, purpose-led travel. Her ideal? Small groups, led by local people with lived experience, exploring real stories beyond polished guidebooks. For tourists, it’s a chance to understand the deeper fabric of a place. For communities, it’s an opportunity for expression, employment, and recognition.

“Stories make a place memorable,” Jayni says. “And having a variety of stories in a variety of perspectives can only add to a destination’s story.”

Her belief in the power of story isn’t just poetic — it’s strategic. By shifting who gets to speak, and how, Jayni is transforming tourism from a one-way performance into a shared, transformative exchange.

The Road Ahead: Purpose as a Guiding Force

Jayni continues to evolve both Unseen Tours and Sama Sama International — developing new toolkits, forging international partnerships, and consulting on ethical tourism models around the world. But her north star remains unchanged: travel with purpose.

Whether she’s working in London or Mongolia, her focus remains on elevating unheard voices, offering platforms for meaningful engagement, and ensuring that the tourism industry becomes a place of possibility — not exclusion.

Her work reminds us that we all have a role to play in the future of ethical travel. Whether you’re booking a walking tour, collaborating with a community, or simply listening more deeply — purpose can lead the way.