Today we’d like to introduce you to Barry Shainker and Matthew Silverstein.
Hi Barry can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been interested in traveling, and in particular for some strange reason in planes and flying. I vaguely remember flying from New York to Los Angeles as a small child several times to visit family and friends. Eventually, our family vacations become weekend roadtrips, so the exotic destinations got pushed to the back burner. But in the summer before I turned 14, I had the opportunity to travel with a teen tour to Europe; following that experience I was hooked on travel. Further summer trips in high school and college deepened that love.
When I first met my husband, who was a lifelong Disney fan, he surprised me with a Disney trip to celebrate my completion of a Master’s degree. During that long weekend, our love blossomed and so did my love of the resort. I was hooked. Together in the months and years that followed, we visited new destinations and tried new modes of travel With each trip, I would research in great detail everything from aircraft types to restaurants to hotel rooms to promotions in order to get us the best bang for our buck. Eventually, I started doing the same for friends and soon realized that was acting like a travel agent. When the opportunity to join Magic Vacations came up in 2019, I jumped at the chance!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Like many, my journey was heavily interrupted by the Covid pandemic. Joining my organization in the summer of 2019, I was just starting to get my sea legs as I finished the training courses six months later when Covid really started to affect travel. In fairness, I was not keen on traveling much myself until I was vaccinated, so it was challenging to try and sell something that I could not personally stand behind.
But on the other hand, during those initial shutdowns in the spring of 2020, I had the opportunity to meet fellow agents in my organization on a weekly Zoom happy hour that allowed me to bounce ideas off people and build connections with other agents who have their own specialties.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
White glove concierge service, holding my client’s hands from start to finish.
Contact Info:
- Email: barry.shainker@magicvacations.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barrys_magicvacationsplanner/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BarrySMVP
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/barrysmvp
Image Credits
Barry Shainker
Matthew Silverstein
