Where This Comes From
By Ishini Weerasinghe, Founder
I have always believed that the world is worth exploring. That the act of a woman moving through it, freely, curiously, on her own terms, is one of the most powerful things she can do.
I also know what it feels like when that freedom is taken from you.
I am a sexual assault survivor. Years ago, I made the decision to share my story publicly, not because it was easy, but because I believed that silence protects the wrong people. What happened next changed my life. Fifteen other survivors of the same man came forward. Women who had been carrying the same secret alone found each other. We were believed. We were brave. We did everything right.
And the system still failed us.
I learned something from that, something I have never stopped carrying. That the world is not safe for women. That institutions do not always protect us. And that when systems fail, women need each other.
Women's Travel Shield was born from that truth.
I built this platform because I love to travel and I refuse to let fear win. But I also built it because I know that somewhere right now, there is a woman on the other side of the world who doesn't know her rights, doesn't know who to call, doesn't know if what is happening to her is legal or illegal in the country she is standing in. And she is alone in that moment in a way that no woman should ever have to be.
Safety information should never be behind a paywall. No woman should have to afford the knowledge that keeps her safe. That is not a feature of this platform. It is the foundation of it.
This is not just an app. It is what I decided to build from the hardest years of my life. It is my belief that one woman's experience, when turned outward, can protect another. It is proof that surviving something does not have to be the end of the story.
It can be exactly where the real work begins.
Women's Travel Shield. Free, verified safety information for women travelling the world.