Imagine your primary job being traveling the world on the train.
That’s the reality for Milwaukee native and travel influencer Sojourner White.
She shows thousands of people across her social media platforms that trains can take you through scenic routes from New York to Montreal, and to expeditions in India.
Viewers have dubbed White the “Train Travel Queen.”
It has been her full-time job for the past year and a half.
"Before this I was a social worker, but I worked on the research side for about five years before transitioning full-time into content creation," White says. "'Cause it’s not like you have a viral video and all of a sudden you can leave your 9-to-5. That’s not how this works normally. I know that’s kind of the understanding, but for me in particular, I didn’t really plan on leaving. It wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to do full-time until I realized I was already putting in a lot of hours for it."
White formerly worked with Ubuntu Research & Evaluation, a Milwaukee-based, Black woman-led consulting organization, founded by Dr. Monique Liston.
Liston, someone who White says has always been like a big sister, offered White a job at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; which happened to be when White graduated with a master’s in international social work. Her job prospects had fallen through.
"It was a great experience to prepare me to be an entrepreneur, because consulting is essentially what you kinda do as a creator," says White. "You’re just consulting for multiple brands across projects; for me it’s like tourism in different cities, and countries and you know, companies and whatnot. So, I did that for five years, and then I said, 'You know what, I think I’ve done what I wanted to do, at least for the most part. Let me go and do this thing that’s kind of always been there.'"
The “thing” was Sojournies, White’s travel brand. It’s been around since 2017.
Learning about the world and history by train
White has been to California, New York, India, Italy, Alaska, and many more destinations, all by train. And she’s doing it solo.
"One thing I'm always telling people too is treat train tickets like flights, honey," says White. "The price is not going to go down...Don't wait until the day before to think that you're going to get like a $10 train ticket, baby. And then budgeting too. Like I talk about the roomettes, and they are pricey...I say do it once. You don't have to do it all the time. I'm on the train because it's part of my job. But I think figuring out what makes sense for you."
White has partnered with travel brands like Trip Advisor, Visit Milwaukee, and Explore Georgia.
She says her travels have been eye-opening in many ways.
"I've learned so much about the U.S. and also other countries by riding the trains. Especially in the U.S.," White says. "My godmother passed away in 2024, but I learned that her father was a waiter on the train. And so, then I got into the history of like the Pullman porters and learning about the Black history behind train travel and how we made it a luxury experience, because the Pullman porters and maids were serving people on the train and all that stuff. I just kept learning about how trains really did shape the U.S. and kind of where Black folks ended up. Like, that's how people migrated during the Great Migration."
White says for her, trains have become, literally, a different vehicle to her understanding this country’s history.
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