Luxury traveller. Designer fashionista. Humanitarian. For many, a desire to be all these things, only ever remains a desire, one that reaches its quota by living vicariously through Instagram Bloggers like Naomi-Jane Adams. Whether you know her as one of the first Instagram Blogger who introduced the world to Greek infinity pools, or for her attendance at the top fashion shows, Naomi’s travel Instagram account has created a template that travel influencers aspire to. But cherishing her audience of 794K followers, Naomi also uses her platform to urge social, environmental, political and welfare change. She is the definition of traveller, fashionista, and humanitarian.

In an age of algorithms, social media nowadays is frustratingly difficult to grow. Consequently, there’s a collective impression that Instagram Bloggers are the lucky ‘chosen ones’ of the modern age. Speaking with Naomi, luck quite obviously has nothing to do with it, but patience, knowledge, diligence and perspicacity are the key components to her success. Only 12 years ago did Naomi transition from taking bookings for hotels and offering business services to clients, to then introducing the Greek travel industry to the marketing power of Facebook and writing blogs for the Greek Tourism Board, to now becoming “The Premier Influencer of Greece”.

At this time, Naomi started pushing her own content but despite growing quickly to 100K followers, she wasn’t seeking to earn her living as an influencer, explaining “there was no money in it. I was instead taking commissions on villa sales”. But all of a sudden, she started getting offers. First from companies she had little interest in, to the Dubai Tourism Board, who asked her to post a photo and caption of theirs on her Instagram page. When asked how this evolved in less than a decade, into the glamorous and uber-successful career she’s living now, the answer lay in the realm of being open to opportunities, taking chances, consistency and determination.

Being one of only a handful influencers at the time, she started posting daily, using hashtags, learning about tagging, shaping her aesthetic niche, and deciding to divert from the standard travel blogger. Leaving the writing to others, Naomi courageously focused on travel photography, calling herself a micro blogger, clarifying that there’s still a lot of description, advertising and information that comes from photo posts. Like any who put their minds to it, Naomi’s stratagem made a name for herself, and her Instagram strategies have become trends travel influencers of today embrace.

Beyond her role as one of the earliest Instagram Bloggers, what sets Naomi apart from other travel influencers is her niche for and definition of luxury travel. While many influencers create content for backpackers or budget travel, Naomi prefers “nice showers and spas”. She sees luxury as islands, the sea, and infinity pools; a niche that certainly encompasses her bright, energetic and vibrant Instagram feed. When asked how she goes about picking her locations, she, of course, imagines the spa and excellent service but says she’s also searching for “a view, calm, and an ambience” as she’s “always looking for something new and different to try and share”.

Naomi states that she said to Greece “you need to highlight the blues and hotels with infinity pools”, and one such property that features heavily on her Instagram is Charisma Suites Santorini. According to Naomi, this hotel has “the best and endless views, especially at sunset”. For those seeking a bespoke Santorini experience, Naomi can’t recommend the Charisma Cave Pool Suite enough. Its spacious king-sized bed, walk-in closet and private cave plunge pool is only surpassed in perfection by its pristine views of the dramatic volcano and sparkling Aegean Sea.

With properties like Charisma Suites it’s no wonder over 1 million Instagram hashtags now relate to Greek infinity pools, going some way to showing Naomi’s foresight and deep-rooted comprehension of the travel industry and its trends. Indeed, her long working history in the travel industry has made her a godmother figure, waving her wand of wisdom and reassurance during the Covid pandemic. Hotels, PR companies, tourism boards, other influencers and concerned travellers turned to her for legal advice, flying advice, insurance, etc. It’s not just her passion for luxury travel, but her skill at handling the industry that makes people comfortable in following her advice. It is unsurprising then that Naomi not only receives tons of thanks and praise for her recommendations but has also won The Best Luxury Travel Influencer at Forbes World Blogger Awards, Cannes Film Festival.

Although most know Naomi-Jane Adam for her travel photos and attending fashion shows or for promoting designers and products, her passion project happens off camera. Preserving natural ecosystems, protecting endangered species and land, minimising plastic waste and reducing her carbon footprint are just the top points of a very long list that Naomi hopes to raise awareness of. Sustainable travel is extremely important to her and for this reason she repeatedly promotes Banyan Tree hotels and destinations like Seychelles, as both have “amazing sustainability programmes, as they grow everything organically, collect water from mountains, and there’s no plastic in sight”. Indeed, if anything is covered with plastic, Naomi immediately challenges the brand, strenuously trying to achieve the removal of it.

Her ethos is also encapsulated in her desire to encourage her loyal followers to try single destination travel. For Naomi, she achieves this by staying in one location, usually Greece, for all the summer months in an attempt to reduce her carbon footprint. However, understanding that this is not always possible, Naomi goes above and beyond to advise on alternative methods. She suggests travellers should organise trips based on geography, for example highlighting how she attended New York Fashion Week before vacationing in the Caribbean, rather than dotting around the globe.

Seeing such an important issue as sustainable travel as her duty to speak out, she also uses her platform to spotlight her humanitarian work and politics. Knowing that other influencers won’t touch upon these issues, Naomi never hides how’s she’s feeling. If angry with the latest Trump calamity, she’ll share her thoughts and when social issues arise, she again uses her voice to raise awareness, saying “this is one thing I can do, use my platform to speak. I think if I have an audience, it is my duty to speak up and say things”. Unconcerned with whether her honesty offends or loses her followers, Naomi continues to use her platform to secure a better tomorrow. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, she’s posting videos and photos promoting, for one, black owned brands. This is yet another thing that sets her apart from other Instagram Bloggers and travel influencers.

Her unique position as one of the first Instagram Bloggers sets Naomi apart from other travel influencers. Her stylish and vivacious photos (@naomijaneadams) coupled with her long history in the travel industry provide in-depth, assuring and accurate advice to those looking for their next holiday destination. Her widespread success is more than about winning awards but is about using her platform to spark much needed environmental, social and political change. As someone devoted to helping travellers, the world, and those without a voice, Naomi-Jane Adams is someone we should all be looking to for inspiration.