about painted dog travel

Founder of Painted Dog Travel & Travel Designer

For the last two decades, Darcie Smith has been immersed in adventure and wildlife travel across continents and disciplines, building a massive network of industry relationships and destination expertise. Her career experience includes over a decade of customized nature and adventure travel sales where she grew from director of sales into business ownership. Her travel industry history has also included guiding and escorting over 55 group tours to worldwide destinations including India, Botswana, Zambia, Fiji, and Mexico.

Darcie brings versatility and breadth of interest to her travel design. She enjoys mixing travel styles and activities to create a symphony of experience. Careful to balance quality and cost, and knowing that travel style is tremendously subjective, Darcie is motivated by travel design that sets the stage for meaningful milestones and leaves a lasting positive impact on both the traveler and the communities they visit. Her travel passion is rooted in a love of the natural world and the magnificence of human civilizations, both of which are most enriching when paired with top quality guiding and local connection.

Darcie's double bachelor's degree in Art History and Marketing from the University of Colorado with an emphasis in International Business is perfectly utilized in the travel industry. She is also a landscape painter, an avid scuba diver, hiker, mountain biker, and safari enthusiast. 

Darcie was featured in ‘U.S. News’ article as an expert on Solo Travel for Women

Social Media & Operations

Nicole Baksa is the ultimate project manager. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Advertising from the University of Colorado and went on to start her own wedding planning business, which she ran successfully in Savannah, Georgia for fifteen years as her family grew. Since moving back to Colorado, Nicole has been a full time mother of four sons who are keeping her on her organizational toes. Her skills with creating celebratory experiences blend perfectly with the organizational needs of operations and marketing to provide careful attention to travel detail and special experiences.