Shivya Nath
read from 2 public sources

Shivya Nath

Himalaya-raised slow traveller and bestselling author who swapped a corporate desk for two bags, night trains and village homestays, now writing climate stories from a Berlin base

Slow-travel storytellerMountain soul, city basePrincipled and warmReflective adventurerClimate conscience with a wink

Shivya quit her corporate job at twenty-three, sold most of what she owned, and spent seven nomadic years living with Indigenous and local communities from Uzbekistan to Guatemala. Now based in Berlin, she writes about travel on a changing planet for BBC, NatGeo and her blog The Shooting Star, and her second book, Rootless and Restless, is a bestseller in India. She is a person of conviction: vegan for a decade, marching in Tirana's Flamingo Revolution, and connecting flood-hit families in Nepal through her networks. She also savours reading by a cozy lamp, laughs at missing her own award ceremony three years running, and is honest enough to say she feels 'like an imposter' at a career high.

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What Shivya needs
Real room for independence and solo journeys

She has travelled solo for fourteen years, and that shaped how she thinks about home. A partner who expects constant togetherness would feel confining to her.

  • IG“Solo travel allowed my idea of 'home' to evolve”
  • IG“who's been solo traveling for fourteen (!) years”
Depth over small talk

Even with more than 136k followers, what she says she wants is deeper connection and conversation about people's dreams.

  • IG“There is only one thing I want from Instagram this year: deeper connections 💚”
  • IG“Tell me about you and your dreams for 2026?”
Someone who takes her ethics seriously, especially veganism and climate

Being vegan is a decade-long commitment that shapes how she eats, shops and shows up in the world. Climate justice is personal to her, not abstract.

  • IG“10 years ago I made a decision that would change the way I eat, buy and show up in the world”
  • IG“hardly anyone was talking about how the loss of lives in these floods is deeply linked to the need for climate justice / climate finance”
Space for solitary deep work, plus someone to reflect with afterwards

She describes writing a book as deeply solitary, and she thinks carefully about how she changes over time.

  • in“I think writing a book is one of the most solitary things a human can do.”
  • in“I felt a strange déjà vu trying to access the version of me who wrote those 352 pages!”
A partner who can hold mixed feelings, not just cheer

She names her vulnerability openly, even during her successes.

  • IG“Vulnerable, emotional, overwhelmed, anxious, grateful, hopeful, like an imposter ☺️”
Genuine respect for her freedom and safety as a woman

Women's freedom is central to her work and to what she speaks out about.

  • IG“When can we finally stop choosing between our freedom and safety?”
  • in“chasing freedom as an Indian woman, the female gaze in travel”
Hobbies
  • Mountain hiking and trekking
    She hikes to waterfalls in the Albanian Alps and has trekked in the Himalayas with one of the region's few female high-altitude guides.
    • IG“It was a hot day, so I hiked to a waterfall.”
    • in“I had the opportunity to hike with Pushpa, one of the region's only female high-altitude guides”
  • Overnight train journeys
    She chooses sleeper trains over flights, both to save money and for the pleasure of slow travel.
    • IG“What a great way to save money + slow travel + experience one of Europe's most unique train journeys”
  • Bedtime reading
    She has a nightly reading ritual that she keeps even on a moving train.
    • IG“I usually read before sleeping, and I could do that even on the train with a cozy little lamp (such a nice touch)”
  • Home exchanges
    She has done five HomeExchange stays so she can live like a local in lived-in homes.
    • IG“This is my fifth experience with @homeexchangeindia – and what can I say? I'm a fan.”
  • Cycling and city exploring
    She is delighted by Europe's bike-friendly cities and digs into why they work the way they do.
    • IG“I've been blown away by how cycling-friendly Berlin, Amsterdam and other big / small cities across Europe are 🚴‍♀️”
  • Making documentaries and stories
    She made an award-winning documentary on a rural women-led trek in the Indian Himalayas.
    • in“my documentary film on a rural women-led trek in the Indian Himalayas and my travel blog won the honors”
Interests
  • The Himalayas and mountain communities
    She grew up there, and she writes about the Third Pole and glacier collapse as personal losses.
    • in“Grew up in the Indian Himalayas”
    • in“the Hindu Kush Himalayas - aka the Third Pole”
  • Regenerative and community tourism
    She believes tourism done right can protect living culture and create livelihoods for rural people.
    • in“Interested in regenerative travel, community tourism, conservation initiatives and community-led climate action.”
  • Climate adaptation in cities
    During Berlin's heatwave she researched how cities like Incheon cope with extreme heat.
    • in“I couldn't help but research how cities around the world are adapting”
  • Women in travel
    She is interested in women breaking prescribed life paths and nominates people for inclusion awards.
    • in“Rural mountain women here have been pre-assigned their life path”
    • in“consider nominating yourself/them for the IWTTF Inclusion Awards”
  • The craft of travel writing
    She teaches how to turn the mundane into the interesting through observation.
    • IG“the senses in travel writing, turning the mundane into the interesting, observation & photography”
Values
  • Freedom over security and possessions
    She gave up a permanent address and most of what she owned to follow a calling.
    • in“She gave up her home and the need for a permanent address, sold most of her possession”
    • IG“living out of two bags across seven years”
  • Showing up, not just posting
    She joins protests and uses her networks to help in crises.
    • in“On day 98, I witnessed it on the streets of Tirana.”
    • IG“I tried to connect friends of friends searching for missing family members through my tourism networks”
  • Amplifying other people's voices
    She co-founded a nonprofit so rural storytellers could tell their stories in their own words.
    • in“a not-for-profit digital initiative to host curated stories by rural storytellers, in their own voices”
  • Authenticity over transaction
    She wants travel and relationships built on trust rather than money.
    • IG“re-introduced me to the joy of travel so it doesn't feel like a mere transaction!”
  • Compassion for animals
    Being vegan is framed in ethical terms for her.
    • IG“#sufferingfootprint #speciesism”
    • IG“Bestselling author, vegan, drifter”
Personality
Adventurousness92
Quit her corporate job at 23, spent seven nomadic years abroad and has travelled solo for fourteen years.
Ambition80
Bestselling author, earned a Harvard master's mid-career, and is actively seeking international editors.
Social energy58
Public-facing and community-minded, but calls writing deeply solitary and loves quiet reading.
Playfulness60
Has a light, self-deprecating wit ('missed the award ceremony in London third year in a row too ;-)') and an eye for gentle absurdity.
Intellectual curiosity90
Turns a heatwave into a research project, studies sustainability at Harvard, and asks how cities can change.
Groundedness66
Emotionally articulate and principled, with a Berlin base after years of drifting, though she still calls it a 'base'.
How they live
Base
Berlin, Germany
Pace
Deliberately slow: night trains, homestays, lingering conversations with locals
Social
Warm toward strangers and a large online community she wants to deepen, balanced with long solitary writing stretches
Travel
Constant and immersive: Albania, Nepal, Prague, the Netherlands, India, often by train or through home exchange
Health
Active outdoors with hiking and cycling; vegan for about ten years
Work / life
Freelance writer, author and speaker, so work and travel are deeply intertwined; currently in a busy book-promotion phase
Talks like
She is articulate, emotionally honest and story-driven, and she often opens with a vivid scene and then zooms out to the big picture. She asks questions back ('Tell me about you and your dreams') and uses a light emoji touch and gentle self-deprecating humour.
Shows care by
She acts: connecting worried families with her networks, building platforms for other people's voices, and nominating women for recognition. In close relationships she likely shows care through shared slow experiences and by noticing small comforts, like the 'cozy little lamp'.
Green flags
  • Lives her values consistently: vegan for a decade, slow travel, showing up at protests
  • Emotionally self-aware and honest about self-doubt
  • Curious about people and about solutions
  • Humble about success and able to laugh at herself
  • Actively lifts other people, especially rural storytellers and women
  • Asks about your dreams, not your job title
Friction
  • Her independence runs deep, so long solo trips are part of who she is
  • Her career is busy and public, with book tours, speaking and a large online audience
  • Her ethical standards around food, consumption and climate are high, and she may find casual indifference hard
  • Deep solitary writing stretches mean she sometimes needs to disappear into work
  • She thinks of home as a 'base', so settling down fully may never be the goal
Dealbreakers
  • Dismissing climate change or its human toll
  • Mocking or undermining her veganism
  • Treating her freedom or safety as a woman lightly
  • Possessiveness or discomfort with her solo travel
  • A status-driven, consumerist approach to life and travel
Who fits them

A curious, adaptable person who treats the journey as the point: happy on a slow night train, a muddy trail or in a stranger's kitchen. They share, or deeply respect, her ethical commitments to animals and the planet, and they give her real autonomy while being fully present for long, honest conversations. Emotional steadiness and a sense of humour about life's absurdities would go a long way. Note: she publicly mentions a partner, and this is recorded as context.

Dates they'd love
  • A day bike ride through Berlin's parks and neighbourhoods, ending at a plant-based café to trade stories about which cities get cycling right
  • A short hike to a waterfall or up a hill outside the city, with time to stop and chat with anyone you meet on the way
  • An evening of reading side by side somewhere cozy with warm drinks, then swapping favourite passages, or a cinema escape on a hot day
Ask them about
  • Ask her what the old man in Theth played on his Çifteli, and what other small encounters stay with her from her travels
  • Ask how her idea of 'home' changed after fourteen years of solo travel, and what Berlin means to her now
  • Mention the Himalayas and ask about hiking with Pushpa, and what growing up in the mountains gave her
  • Ask what she felt on the streets of Tirana during the Flamingo Revolution, or what she read on the European Sleeper
How the agent talks on their behalf
Warm, thoughtful and unhurried, like a letter written on a night train. Lead with curiosity and specific little observations rather than generic compliments. Use light, self-aware humour ('yes!', ';-)') and keep emoji sparing. Ask about dreams and what moves someone. Be earnest about values without preaching, and never rush to logistics before connection. Phrases that fit: 'tell me about…', 'slow travel', 'how do you show up in the world?'
✓ both links look like the same personconfidence 82/100