OurScene TV – life/style tv for the LGBTQ community

Sweet is a different kind of lesbian travel company. While others offer airfare and accommodations, Sweet offers cruises and travel packages that include live entertainment, workshops, wellness programs and their signature concept, community volunteerism.

OURsceneTV talked to Sweet co-founder, Shannon Wentworth, about the company's unique approach to vacationing, her passion for the environment, and how small, dedicated groups of lesbian travelers can change the world, one trip at a time.

OURsceneTV: What makes Sweet different?
Shannon Wentworth: A lot of people are looking for more out of their vacations. In addition to offering the best destinations, live entertainment and fun activities. We're trying to add a "giving back" element. It gives people a way to make the world a better place and add some meaning to their vacations.

OSTV: How does it work?
SW: For our Caribbean cruise on November 8-15, we're going to have fabulous performers – seven comedians, four musical artists, top DJs – but we're also doing two or three projects in the ports, with the help of people from the ship, to give back to the community. Those projects will run like an excursion: You can go on a catamaran party cruise, you can swim with the dolphins, or you can help paint a children's library in Belize. You have choices.

OSTV: This concept is so unique. What inspired you?
SW: [Co-founder] Jen Rainin and I were thinking about how we could combine all of our passions into a company. Jen is an ardent philanthropist and traveler, and I travel, too. At the time, I was
working at Care2, a really cool online community of people who care about the environment. I was inspired to marry these ideas together and that's how Sweet was born. The name evolved from the conversations about what we were going to do. Everything became "Sweet" and "that's sweet." As it happens, that name wasn't trademarked in travel, so that became our name.

OSTV: It's a great name. What other fun things can people expect from the Caribbean cruise?
SW:. We're starting out of New Orleans, and doing an LGBT city tour and a Creole cooking class. Once at sea, we have all our live entertainment, plus Shawnee Harkins from the "Dr. Phil Show" running her boot camp, and the creators of "Itty Bitty Titty Committee" and "A Marine Story" are going be on board. We're bringing on lesbian-owned vendors, too. It'll be like a big lesbian mall, augmenting what the ship carries.

OSTV: Are any of the volunteer projects going to be for the LGBT communities in the ports of call?
SW: No, but a big point of why we're doing what we're doing is to raise the profile of lesbians in these communities  – to show the communities who we are, as people. I'm really excited about our parks restoration project, working hand-in-hand with people from Cozumel. The people probably don't think they've ever met a lesbian before. I don't think that hate can exist if we're actually having contact with each other.

OSTV: Who is Sweet’s target market?
SW: Sweet is for women who work hard and play hard and want to make a difference in their lives.There are nine million adult lesbians in the US. Of those, 100,000 have been on a lesbian vacation. There are still 8,900,000 lesbians who have not gone on a lesbian vacation. We intend
to take them.