Lebawit “Lily” Girma is a lawyer turned published travel writer and photographer. With four languages under her belt and three continents on her lived-in list — including Africa, Europe and the Americas — she calls herself a “culture-holic” with a passion for sharing and inspiring travel, through both word and images. Her images and articles have focused on all aspects of culture in the Caribbean and Central America — from people to landscape, music festivals and cuisine — as well as adventure.
Her work has appeared in various outlets, including BBC Travel, CNN Travel, New York Times Magazine, Lonely Planet Travel Magazine, Travel and Escape (Canada), UK Guardian, International Living Magazine, Matador Travel Network and travel guides including Schmapp! and Lonely Planet. Tourism boards have also commissioned her for shoots, including Grenada and Belize, as have resorts and attractions in the Caribbean for commercial, website and editorial uses.
Her travels have given her experience photographing large-scale cultural events as well as exclusive personalities — from public officials to recording artists — giving her a knack for environmental portrait photography.
In July 2011, Lily was selected and worked as an in-house writer and photographer for the Belize Tourism Board for three months – through a partnership with online and US-based MatadorU Media School. She wrote and photographed her way all across Belize, building an online following and producing over 100 blog posts, photo essays and articles – a couple of which were syndicated on CNN Travel and National Geographic’s Intelligent Travel.
In August of 2012, Lily was selected as the new author of the travel guidebook Moon Belize (10th Edition) for Moon Handbooks by Avalon Travel Publishing, a member of Perseus Books. She will be spending the next months in Belize, revising and writing the guidebook to reflect her vision of Belize. This tenth edition will be in bookstores in the Spring of 2013.
Whether capturing images or writing about places, Lily’s goal is to share and showcase cultural experiences – through people, landscape, food and music – in the most vibrant and authentic way possible.
***
Lily is available to travel for assignments around the world after March 2013. Editors/publications interested in receiving pitches related to Belize should feel free to contact her as she travels through the country through early Spring 2013 or thereafter.
For inquiries – whether writing, photography or other partnerships – please use the Contact page or email Lily directly at Lily_Girma@yahoo.com.
For updates on Lily’s current travels and photography/writing projects, please visit her award-winning blog, Sunshine and Stilettos.
