Doctor Kiona
the Bikini Ph.D.
Academic. Serial entrepreneur. Media mastermind. Travel expert. Do gooder. Nail conoisseur.
SAY HELLO
“The world is so abundant—and we can all win.”
An academic turned serial entrepreneur, Doctor Kiona’s career shatters traditional business models and cultural barriers. Impacting clients across six continents, her work explores education through travel, focusing on community building and feel-good results. With perfectly-manicured fingers, her signature sass, and an awards shelf stacked like her boyfriends roster, she believes—and is on a mission to ensure—that education should be accessible to all.
After earning four degrees by age 27, Doctor Kiona founded the ground-breaking and award-winning decentralized travel university, Reroot, taught by 100+ academic experts throughout the Americas and Pacific. Her award-winning blog, How Not to Travel Like a Basic Bitch, inspired tens of thousands of weekly readers to travel more ethically and sustainably. Her podcast, How Not to Travel, hit the #1 spot in 13 countries, while her free influencer program reaches 3M weekly views. Her diverse upbringing coupled with her academic accomplishments led organizations such as the Smithsonian Smithsonian Institute, Anheuser Busch, and World Travel Market to tap her for her research.
Always one to have a twist up her fashionable sleeve, Doctor Kiona continuously proves she will never fit within someone else’s box.
As an influencer
She foregoes sponsored posts in favor of media campaigns where every dollar remains within highlighted communities.
As an entrepreneur
She encourages all employees to launch their own projects and pursuits.
As an academic
She left traditional classrooms to teach in a bikini on a beach.
As a statistician
She believes her greatest achievements are those that can never be calculated, instead seen within every life she touches.
As a daughter of immigrants
Raised below the poverty line, she chooses an abundance mindset.
Building businesses
A regenerative model
A serial entrepreneur across real estate, beauty, travel, and ecommerce, Doctor Kiona brings a unique approach to business that is both empowering and profitable. Learn more about her regenerative business strategies and how she values both qualitative and quantitative results.
ADVOCATING FOR DISAGREGGATION
Academic research
A Ph.D., biracial Korean-American, daughter of immigrants, and founder of a decentralized university, Doctor Kiona experienced the harm of traditional academia and aggregated statistics in her personal and professional life. Her research themes include disaggregated data and cultural dissonance on a molecular level. Check out her programs, DEI initiatives, and academic curriculum vitae.
Media production
A CULTURALLY-RELEVANT APPROACH
A top-rated podcaster, author, and travel influencer, Doctor Kiona produces and creative directs commercials through a cultural lens. Actors, makeup artists, costumes, music, and props are 100% sourced from the community, feeding directly into the local economy. See her portfolio of work and how to get in touch.
LISTEN TO THE #1 TRAVEL PODCAST
How not to travel like a basic b—.
How Not to Travel is Doctor Kiona’s top-rated podcasthitting the #1 spot in thirteen countries. Reaching #36 in Culture & Society in the United States (just behind Oprah!), the podcast uncovers all nuances of travel. Each 20-minute episode explores themes including, “What is a local?” “Is Airbnb ethical?” to help listeners become more educated travelers.
Learn to become an ethically-sustainable property owner.
READ THE BOOK
Property ownership is a proven avenue to building generational wealth—but how can one own property in the most ethically way possible? Tales of Horror & Happiness in Hospitality, by Doctor Kiona and Maria Gangat, explores how short-term leasing can provide financial security while peacefully transcending cultural barriers. Kiona and Gangat share their personal hosting stories while offering tips on ethical leasing, profitability, and ultimately, how to be a welcoming host.
check the receipts
Kiona’s flex:
#1
Travel podcast, How Not to Travel, hitting the top spot in 13 countries.
$600,000
Raised for local communities through give-back programs.
37,000
Weekly visitors to her top travel blog, How Not to Travel Like a Basic Bitch which has been archived to make way for the Reroot travel blog.
4
Degrees earned before age 27.
3M
Weekly views on Instagram, @DoctorKiona.
1,300+
Students learning through Reroot, a decentralized university.
Hear her speak
Embrace nuance and transcend cultural barriers.
Doctor Kiona’s upbringing instilled a unique perspective, allowing her to oscillate between class and cultures. As a Ph.D. who grew up beneath the poverty line, a daughter of immigrants from East and West, raised on the most diverse island in the world, Doctor Kiona brings unrivaled nuance to education, travel, and business.
Signature workshops:
Black and Asian Solidarity in History
AAPI Issues
Advocating for Disaggregated Data
Grad School for People of Color
Building Regenerative Companies
Female and Minority Entrepreneurship
Why Traditional Classrooms Don't Work
Nuances In Ethical Travel
...And many more