Tour guide Kaitlin Calogera bringing marginalized history to life
Kaitlin Calogera was a Washington, D.C. tour guide for five years but said she saw a need for tours centered on telling the stories of notable figures who don’t have a statue on the National Mall.
In 2018, Calogera started A Tour Of Her Own, the first tourism company in D.C. to focus on women’s history. “Our tours are different than other tours, because we don’t only point out what’s right in front of you,” she said. “We also help you unlearn history and show you what’s not there.” The tours A Tour of Her Own offers range from personal to private and even virtual tours.
The public tour program entitled, “The Lineup”, includes four women’s history and culture events per month. According to Calogera, a lot of tour guides are trained to shy away from talking about political topics to avoid offending anyone in the group.
However, Calogera says that at A Tour of Her Own they lean into politics and current events, without particularly “choosing sides.” “What we try to do is share relevant, historical stories and then open it up for conversation so that the people in the group have a voice,” she said. “It is their tour as much as it is ours.” In a recent tour, Calogera said she encountered a protest about reproductive rights between a religious and queer group.
