Meet Sydney Waters | Founder of The Waters Edit

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sydney Waters and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sydney, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
Starting The Waters Edit was something I had always dreamed about doing, but I never really thought it would succeed. That all changed when I was seventeen years old. After graduating high school early, I moved to Paris for four months by myself and wanted to be able to show my experiences to my family and friends half way across the world. I started an Instagram called “Waters Travel” for people to keep up with my day to day life abroad. Within a week, I was receiving questions about the best hotels in Paris, the best restaurants to eat at while in Rome or even what the best day of the week is to book a flight.

The ideas for my business sparked instantly. I had never come across a platform that offered me all this information in one place. I wanted to create a space for people to explore and to discover with me.

The intention of The Waters Edit is to sit in your sweatpants and dream of your next trip, your next amazing meal, or the next occasion to have a nice bottle of wine. Everyone has a dream of going somewhere, and the goal of The Waters Edit is to help make it easier and more fun.

If I inspire one person to travel to a new place, I’ve done my job.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
From an outside perspective, it may just look like a couple Instagram and blog posts here and there, but creating The Waters Edit was not as simple as it looks. I started heavily traveling in my late teens and began to curate lists and gather photos of all my travels. When the world stopped in 2020, so did my content. In a way, I think this break is exactly what my brand needed: time. I was able to reassess what I really wanted out of this. I used this time period to research, write and plan, and I knew that if I was going to be successful, I needed to dive deep into what made each place I visited so special.

Two years later, I officially launched The Waters Edit to the world. With time, I’ve learned that in order to grow my business, my followers need to trust me. Whether it’s a restaurant, a hotel, or a bottle of wine, its important for my followers to know exactly what they’re signing up for.

Every day I am asked new questions and every day I become more motivated to deliver the most authentic and raw answers.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Lets pretend I’m planning your next girls weekend getaway to Dallas-Fort Worth. We’d stay at Hotel ZaZa, a cool, contemporary hotel with one of my favorite cocktail bars Dragonfly. We’d hop over to downtown for an amazing sushi dinner at Kessaku. Of course, a girls weekend wouldn’t be complete without a little shopping. Highland Park Village has all the retail hotspots, and once we get tired, we can enjoy a nice lunch at Bistro 31. It’s not a complete visit without heading over to the Fort Worth Stockyards for some nighttime fun at Billy Bob’s. I’d also probably drag you to Hotel Drover, Autograph Collection to admire the beautiful hotel which is also one of my favorites. At the end of our trip, we’d squeeze in one more brunch at District before heading to the airport.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents are the biggest inspiration behind The Waters Edit. Growing up, they always pushed me to be independent and open-minded. Because of their fearlessness and hard work, I was blessed with opportunities and experiences that people dream about. I can never repay them for the lessons they have taught me, but I know sharing my knowledge of the world through The Waters Edit is a way to give back to them.

Website: thewatersedit.com

Instagram: @thewatersedit

Other: Email: sydneyewaters@gmail.com