About me

Welcome to The Shooting Star!

Hello. My name is Shivya Nath. I’ve been called a storyteller, writer, photographer, digital nomad, instagrammer, social entrepreneur, solo traveller, vegan and environmentalist. But in my heart, I’m just a girl who believes in the transformative power of travel.

In 2011, at age 23, I quit my 9-to-5 corporate job with a dream of travelling the world.

In 2013, I gave up my home, sold most of my belongings and began living nomadically.

In 2015, I turned vegan and decided to cut out all animal products from my diet and lifestyle, realizing that it’s better for the animals, the planet and my own body.

In 2018, I published a book – called The Shooting Star – about my personal journey and how my travels have shaped my life choices. I was overwhelmed when it became a national bestseller in just over a month of release! It’s currently in its fourth reprint.

In 2019, I released The Shooting Star Collection – sustainable travel-inspired clothing that raises funds to grow forests in Uttarakhand.

In 2020, I co-founded Voices of Rural India – a novel, not-for-profit platform that creates digital storytelling opportunities for rural communities affected by the tourism shutdown following Covid-19.

In 2022, I was invited to join the Work For Humankind project and spent a month on one of the world’s remotest islands – Isla Robinson Crusoe, 700 km off the coast of Chile – working on renewable energy, community farming and conservation storytelling projects, alongside the local community.

Soon after, I founded Climate Conscious Travel, an impact consultancy that works with destinations and businesses to integrate community-centric climate action in tourism offerings. We advise on developing carbon neutral trips, community-based carbon removal, climate change communication through tourism, and sustainability storytelling.

I’m currently also pursuing a Master’s Degree in Sustainability and Environmental Management from Harvard University (Division of continuing education), with a focus on how science-based tools can be applied to the tourism industry. In the coming years, I hope to play a bigger role towards a more sustainable and regenerative tourism industry, with bolder climate ambition.

As a traveller, I believe in slow, meaningful and sustainable travel, embracing local ways of life, spending time with local communities, exploring places off the beaten path, and minimizing my environmental impact.

Shivya Nath, indian travel bloggers — By the Mediterranean Sea in Ibiza!

My journey

I grew up in a protective Indian family in Dehradun, a valley at the base of the Himalayas, and spent my childhood wondering what lay beyond the mountains I could see from my rooftop. Upon finishing high school, I went to Singapore to study, with big dreams and a big student loan.

As luck would have it, I graduated in the middle of the financial recession of 2009, when most companies I wanted to work with had ceased hiring. I landed a job with the Singapore Tourism Board, where my experiments with social media began, and I first began following the journey of travel bloggers around the world.

It was impossible to tame my restless cubicle-bound soul, so in 2011, I took a 2 month sabbatical from work. I went flash-packing across Western Europe with a friend, and volunteer-travelled by myself in the high Himalayas of India.

In those two months, I saw, experienced and lived more than I ever had before, and decided to quit my first and only corporate job with a dream of travelling the world on my own terms.

In 2014, the story of how I quit my job to travel was featured on BBC Travel.

In 2017, I was featured on the cover of National Geographic Traveller India magazine!

In 2018, I was awarded silver for best writing in a travel blog at TBC Asia Awards.

In 2019, my work was featured on The Washington Post, among travellers changing the way we think of the world.

In 2020, I won gold for best communicator at the WTM Responsible Tourism Awards India.

In 2021, I was featured among 15 travel trailblazers by Travel + Leisure India and South Asia.

In 2022, I was named among 30 Global Champions of Environmental Sustainability in Hospitality and Tourism at the Global Hospitality Awards.

How I like to travel

I’m not a backpacker. While I carry a convertible backpack for convenience, I like to stay in experiential accommodations (Airbnbs, homestays), seek local experiences and don’t believe in counting every penny I spend. I like to go slow, get under the skin of a place, spend time with locals and experiment with the local cuisine; here’s how I survive and thrive as a vegan traveller. I mostly travel solo or with my partner; group travel with a fixed itinerary is just not for me.

I believe that our travel choices have an impact on the places we visit. On my part, I try to contribute to the local economy, prefer public transport, avoid plastic bottled water and other single-use plastic, say no to unethical animal attractions, consume no animal products, prefer to eat what grows in the region, ask for permission before photographing people and try to form my own opinions of the places I visit and the people I meet.

Shivya Nath, Shivya Canada — Sipping glacial water in Canada.

What I’m up to now

The on-going pandemic has brought the global tourism industry to a halt. In 2020, I was to speak at The Economic Times Women’s Forum in India and at an environmental conference in Uzbekistan. I had dreamt of going back to Iran and travelling overland to Azerbaijan. All my travel plans were cancelled – and I learnt to be grateful for the small joys life still affords us.

In 2021, I began to work with tourism businesses to measure their environmental impact and design community-led tourism projects, develop what I call ‘collaborative community storytelling’ (working with community members to co-tell travel stories), and further my knowledge and skills in sustainability and environmental management.

I’m currently looking for long term, slow travel assignments that allow to me to tell stories at the confluence of conservation, communities and climate change – as well as design impactful sustainable tourism initiatives.

You can join my adventures on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, or connect with me professionally on Linkedin.

Indian travel blogger, Shivya Nath — My office on the countryside of northern Thailand.

Do you dream of travelling the world too? Read these posts:

Central America travel blog — Writing by the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Panama.

Connect with me

If you are a tourism industry member interested in collaborating with me, please see my Work With Me page or email me at [email protected].

If you’re a fellow traveller or blogger and have questions that I haven’t yet answered on my blog, you can email me at [email protected]. I respond faster to comments on the blog / Instagram though.

Thanks for reading! I’m glad we’re connected.