Nina Ruggiero Nina Ruggiero is Travel + Leisure's digital editorial director. She is also the co-founder of Be A Travel Writer, an online course for the next generation of travel journalists. A New Yorker based in Los Angeles, Nina has a special interest in beach destinations, outdoor adventures, unique hotels, pet-friendly travel with her golden retriever, @travelswithcali, and all things Italy. Nina has studied Italian in Rome and Sicily, taken the world's longest flight to Singapore (twice in four days), driven a canal barge through Wales, and been stung by one of Marlon Brando's bees on the island of Tetiaroa. Nina graduated from the University of Miami with honors in news journalism. It was during this period that she launched a new local newspaper for the community of Coconut Grove, FL, and began her travel journalism career as a contributor to the Miami Herald's International Edition, covering emerging artists across Latin America and the Caribbean. In the past 12 years, she has covered topics ranging from fashion and wellness to crime and politics. Nina has appeared as a travel expert on the Today show, Fox & Friends, Yahoo! Finance, and more. A safari is at the top of her to-do list. About Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure, a Dotdash Meredith Brand, is a top travel media brand with a mission to inform and inspire passionate travelers. Our expert team includes a network of hundreds of writers and photographers across the globe, all providing a local eye on the best places to stay, eat, and explore. We reach an audience that takes 76 million round trips annually, offering valuable travel tips, ideas and inspiration, and products you need to get you to your destination — whether it’s a small town or big city, beach or lake, national park or theme park, road trip, cruise, or long-haul flight, and everything in between. Learn more about us and our editorial process