Isabel Novoa

Who I work with

If you're building social impact that has to ship at scale — this is for you.

Hospitality alliances

Sector bodies & multi-stakeholder coalitions

Operationalising sustainability commitments, building member programmes, mobilising the value chain across regions.

Governments & IGOs

Ministries, agencies & UN bodies

National sustainable-tourism strategies, accessibility frameworks, ethical-recruitment corridors, KPI design and Smart Destinations.

Corporates & operators

Hospitality groups, tour operators & consultancies

Inclusion strategy, workforce-development pipelines, certification, community-supplier integration, sustainable-procurement.

Education & academies

Schools, training institutions & academies

Inclusive curriculum design, Train-the-Trainers models, industry-endorsed sustainability upskilling, accessibility integration.

Foundations & donors

Philanthropic capital & impact funders

Programme design, monitoring & evaluation, donor pipeline architecture, scale-readiness across emerging markets.

Scaleups & SMEs

Inclusive-tourism founders & community operators

Access to finance, partnership architecture, certification pathways, capability-building for small and community-based suppliers.

01 The Story

Head of Global Social Empowerment · WSHA · Ex-President · ISTO

Purpose-driven executive in diversity, inclusion, ethical recruitment and workforce development. Spanish-Swiss, working across Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

From luxury craft to the scale of social impact.

I didn't start in social sustainability. I started in luxury craft — design leadership at SUÁREZ and Carrera y Carrera, then a decade at Novojet Chile turning a family tour operator into the country's first sustainability-certified operator.

From there: youngest president in the 60-year history of ISTO, the international body for social tourism. I led the Brussels Addendum — the first operational definition of Social Sustainability in Tourism — and reorganised the alliance's governance, growing membership 19% and securing financial viability through 2025.

Today I'm Head of Global Social Empowerment at the WSHA, leading inclusion strategy across the hospitality value chain — and designing, with the IOM, the first international ethical recruitment corridor in the sector.

The throughline is the same: turn high-level commitments into programmes that ship. Across countries, languages, partners and capital structures.

Feb 2025 – Present

Head of Global Social Empowerment · WSHA

Leading the Alliance's social-impact and inclusion strategy. Scaling the Employability Programme across India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Egypt and Africa. Designing the first international ethical recruitment corridor with the IOM.

WSHA
Jul 2020 – Feb 2025

President · International Social Tourism Organization (ISTO)

Youngest president in ISTO's 60-year history. Designed and negotiated the Brussels Addendum — first operational definition of Social Sustainability in Tourism. New governance model, 19% membership growth in 2023, financial viability secured through 2025.

ISTO
2024 – Feb 2025

Consultant · Impulsa Igualdad · Tour4All · Segittur

Accessibility-focused sustainability strategy for 286 entities representing 1.5M members. KPIs for social sustainability in Spain's Smart Destinations model (Ministry of Tourism).

SEG
2013 – 2024

Manager Corporate Affairs & Sustainability · Novojet Chile

Led social-tourism and inclusive-development strategy for Chile's leading family-owned sustainable tourism group. Designed capacity-building for micro and small tourism businesses. Public–private partnerships that improved access to credit. Novojet became the first Chilean tour operator to obtain the Sustainability Certificate.

NOV
2013 – 2018

Head of Consultancy · Alianza Creativa

Managed nine sustainable destination projects across Chile. Project teams, budgets, multi-stakeholder workshops, government roadmaps.

AC
2010 – 2013

Head of Corporate Affairs & Development · Iberojet

Reputation-building and loyalty programmes for suppliers and large clients in the Orizonia Tourism Group. Collaboration agreements for social-tourism impact studies.

IB
2003 – 2010

Senior Design Leadership · SUÁREZ · Carrera y Carrera

Senior design leadership in two of Spain's most prestigious luxury jewelry houses. International launches, team leadership, cross-department collaboration.

★

02 Practice

Four practices. One operating principle: make the strategy reach the people.

I↗

Social Impact Strategy

Turn commitments into programmes that ship.

From boardroom commitments to scaled delivery — programme architecture, KPI design, donor pipelines, monitoring & evaluation. The chain that connects strategy to people on the ground.

Strategy → delivery M&E frameworks Donor pipelines

II↗

Ethical Recruitment & Workforce

Fair hiring at the scale of a global value chain.

Designing recruitment corridors that protect vulnerable workers and supply talent the sector actually needs. Built with the IOM and private-sector partners — from policy to operational rollout.

Recruitment corridors IOM partnerships Workforce development

III↗

Inclusion & Accessibility

Disability inclusion is a market, not a checkbox.

Embedding accessibility into hospitality and tourism — from inclusive curriculum to destination strategy. Tour4All, Impulsa Igualdad, Smart Destinations: real frameworks that move adoption.

Inclusive hospitality Destination strategy Accessibility KPIs

IV↗

Multi-stakeholder Coalitions

Align governments, industry & communities — and ship.

The Brussels Addendum, ISTO's regional restructure, Chile's public–private roadmaps. Aligning EU bodies, ministries, operators, academia and indigenous communities around operational definitions and shared timelines.

Coalition design Policy influence Governance models

03 Impact

Outcomes — not activity.

52,000+

Academy licences

Distributed globally

GBP 7.9M

Donor pipeline

+50% donor growth YoY

760

Programme participants

Projected for 2026

286

Entities · 1.5M members

Accessibility strategy delivered

19%

ISTO membership growth

Under her presidency, 2023

1st

Chilean operator certified

Sustainability Certificate

04 Voices

What people who've worked with me actually say.

Communication & Innovation

Isabel's passion for creating positive change is contagious. She leads by example, inspiring her team to be innovative. Her ability to motivate and empower her colleagues has played a significant role in fostering a work environment that encourages creativity and collaboration. A driving force that can inspire others to join in creating responsible, transformative tourism.

Jessica Pool Márquez

Ex-Project Assistant · ISTO

Leadership & Project Management

I work regularly with Isabel and have come to appreciate: she steps back, looks at a problem and makes appropriate decisions. She knows how to develop a strategy and structure and implement it. In people management she knows how to manage, guide and motivate. And she knows what a business plan is — drawing it up and following.

Yves Godin

General Secretary · ISTO · Directeur Général Floréal Group

Advocacy & Mediation

I had the privilege of working with Isabel on several strategic consulting projects for the development of tourist destinations in Chile. Outstanding technical and management capacities, and leadership that allowed the successful development of each project. Her relationship with stakeholders — public and private, national and international — and her empathy with local communities turned out to be key to that success.

Germán Pino

Founder · TimeTraveler

05 Engage

Four ways to work together.

Programme Architecture

Design or scale a flagship social-impact programme.

12–18 weeks · Outcome-anchored

From diagnosis to operational architecture — programme design, KPIs, donor pipeline, partner activation and the operating cadence that takes it from launch to scale.

Diagnostic & strategy
Programme & M&E architecture
Donor & partner activation

Outcome-anchored Enquire →

Coalition & Policy

Build the coalition that gets the strategy approved.

Multi-stakeholder mandates · 6–12 months

Mediating across governments, industry, academia and communities to align on operational definitions, shared roadmaps and decisions that hold under scrutiny.

Stakeholder mapping & negotiation
Operational definitions & frameworks
Governance & communication design

Mediation-led Enquire →

Advisory Retainer

Strategic counsel on inclusion, ESG and social impact.

Quarterly · Monthly cadence · Direct line

Confidential advisory for executives, boards and programme leads on social-sustainability strategy, accessibility, ethical recruitment and the politics of multi-stakeholder delivery.

Working sessions
On-call between sessions
Board-ready outputs

6-month minimum Enquire →

Keynotes & Teaching

Speak, teach or moderate on social sustainability.

Single sessions · Recurring programmes

Boardrooms, conferences, university programmes and executive education. Social tourism, ethical recruitment, accessibility, inclusion economics, multi-stakeholder design.

Keynote: 45–60 min
Workshop: half / full day
Available globally

Travel-dependent Enquire →

Building inclusion at the scale
hospitality actually needs.

If you're building social impact that has to ship at scale — this is for you.

Sector bodies & multi-stakeholder coalitions

Ministries, agencies & UN bodies

Hospitality groups, tour operators & consultancies

Schools, training institutions & academies

Philanthropic capital & impact funders

Inclusive-tourism founders & community operators

Isabel Novoa

From luxury craft to the scale of social impact.

Four practices. One operating principle: make the strategy reach the people.

Turn commitments into programmes that ship.

Fair hiring at the scale of a global value chain.

Disability inclusion is a market, not a checkbox.

Align governments, industry & communities — and ship.

Outcomes — not activity.

What people who've worked with me actually say.

Four ways to work together.

Design or scale a flagship social-impact programme.

Build the coalition that gets the strategy approved.

Strategic counsel on inclusion, ESG and social impact.

Speak, teach or moderate on social sustainability.

Have a programme that needs to reach the people?

Building inclusion at the scale hospitality actually needs.

If you're building social impact that has to ship at scale — this is for you.

Sector bodies & multi-stakeholder coalitions

Ministries, agencies & UN bodies

Hospitality groups, tour operators & consultancies

Schools, training institutions & academies

Philanthropic capital & impact funders

Inclusive-tourism founders & community operators

Isabel Novoa

From luxury craft to the scale of social impact.

Four practices. One operating principle: make the strategy reach the people.

Turn commitments into programmes that ship.

Fair hiring at the scale of a global value chain.

Disability inclusion is a market, not a checkbox.

Align governments, industry & communities — and ship.

Outcomes — not activity.

What people who've worked with me actually say.

Four ways to work together.

Design or scale a flagship social-impact programme.

Build the coalition that gets the strategy approved.

Strategic counsel on inclusion, ESG and social impact.

Speak, teach or moderate on social sustainability.

Have a programme that needs to reach the people?

Building inclusion at the scale
hospitality actually needs.