Get to Know Marilyn
About Marilyn
Marilyn has been crowned with the title of “Creative Queen.” She loves crafting, entertaining, writing, photography, and thinking outside the box. She’s also something of a “travel goddess” - having owned a group travel company for nearly 40 years during which she dreamed up, delivered (and often was the tour leader) for amazing small-group journeys all over the planet. She called it the WOW! Travel Club - short for “Worlds of Wonder.”
Marilyn lives in southern California with her husband, Scott Gibb, and four black cats. She’s active in her spiritual community and with the nonprofit, Together Women Rise.
Traveler
When she was a little girl, growing up in the Sixties, when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, little Marilyn would say, “I want to be an airplane pilot, but I can’t because I’m a girl.” Although airplane pilot would, ultimately, be a career option - she found a better way to travel the world. As you’ll read in her memoir, “From Saginaw to Srinagar; My Journey from the Familiar to the Faraway,” her low-budget, solo backpack journey through Southeast Asia and India was the catalyst for a fun and fulfilling travel career that took her almost everywhere in the world. She might be retired from the business, but she’s not done traveling!
Writer
Teachers (mostly nuns) at St. Stephen’s Catholic School did not offer positive, encouraging feedback to their young students. But one teacher (not a nun!) wrote, “You’re a good writer!” in the margin of an essay Marilyn submitted in the 5th grade. She never forgot this tiny bit of inspiration - and has credited Mr. Richard Ward on page vii of her book!Throughout her travel career, Marilyn published a blog on her professional website called the (Sometimes) Weekly Wow. Her memoir took ten years to write, but she’s excited about the potential to inspire others (especially young people) to get off the “tourist track” to explore a deeper world - both within and without.
Philanthropist
As a young woman, Marilyn’s transformational travel experience through Asia and India created a deep respect for people who - by comparison - had few possessions but were infinitely rich in spirit.
Marilyn hosts monthly “potlucks for a purpose” to generate funds for international organizations that empower women and girls. Since 2010, her chapter of Together Women Rise has raised more than $70,000.
Additionally, Marilyn provides travel scholarships to students who volunteer with philanthropic projects in the developing world.
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“My deepest fear is not that I am inadequate. My deepest fear is that I am powerful beyond measure.”
—Marianne Williamson