Welcome to Ecotravel Adventures

Ashley Hartzler, Owner and Founder of Ecotravel Adventures, is an ASU graduate, with degrees in Communications and Business. She is a multi-industry professional, an avid world traveler, and an animal and human rights activist.

As a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and a PADI certified advanced open water diver, she is also heavily involved with coastal and marine ecosystem awareness and conservation projects.

Ashley began her career with a public relations firm in London, where she lived and worked until moving into business management with a Dutch record label. She spent 2 years in Amsterdam before moving on to Croatia to oversee operations for a hospitality company in Dubrovnik. After a short stint on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea and a lengthy solo-backpacking trip she finally returned to the States landing in South Florida as the Director of Operations for a Florida-based animal rights and maritime law firm.

After spending roughly a decade in entertainment, media and law, Ashley decided to combine her professional experience, passion for travel, adventurous spirit, and desire to make an impact, to develop a new project… Ecotravel Adventures.

Erica Freedman is a tenured communications professional who has worked in a variety of industries. She is a graduate of Fordham University with degrees in Communications and English Literature. Since graduating from Fordham, she has held positions in literacy, diversity, equity and inclusion. She interned at large-scale news organizations, working with Dan Rather and at Men’s and Women’s Health, but found her heart belongs in advocacy. Erica began her career helping children grades K-8 achieve literate lives. She has dedicated her communications and marketing talents to a multitude of nonprofits. She helped launch the HerStory Campaign, presented in conjunction with the United Nations Summit for Gender Equity. She has also built over 50 websites and two online DEI courses. 

She was thrilled to join the team at Ecotravel Adventures as the Communications Director, where she continues to make a real difference. She is an adventurer that is passionate about our environment and the impacts we make as travelers and hopes to utilize her professional experiences in communications and community engagement to bring conservation awarness to the forefront of global tourism.

Wendy Hartzler is a graduate of University of Maryland and an avid world traveler. Her adventures have taken her around the world from the Far East to Europe, the African Continent and throughout the Americas. Her love of nature and animals has been a focus throughout her personal and professional life.

With 30 years of experience in sales and marketing Wendy is a welcome addition and excellent resource for Ecotravel Adventures. Her expertise and experience combined with her passion for travel and conservation continues to assist ETA in preserving the planet through conscious tourism in the corporate sector.

Susan Estrella, owner of Cactus Design & Art, graduated with a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and has been an acclaimed graphic designer for over 4 decades. She worked for several advertising agencies before branching out to start her own company in 1983. After 22 years of professional success in Washington, DC, she relocated to the calming shores of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. After 2 decades in OBX she continued down the coast to a new home in the luxurious scenery of South Florida.

Her clients have included national and international art associations, suburban hospitals, and a variety of non-profit and retail clients. She has over four decades of experience in graphic design and marketing, extensive knowledge of publication design and production, and has won numerous awards for advertising, publications, and logo design.


An artist since she was a toddler, Estrella has recently branched out into jewelry design and mixed media art. As she explains it, “working in three-dimensions is so different than working as a two-dimensional artist and it has been quite a challenge.” Her expertise in graphics, color, production, and marketing shows across all her mediums and she utilizes her ingenuity to create incredibly unique and inspirational designs for Ecotravel Adventures.


Susan has been an avid traveler since her early 20s and says she gets much of her inspiration from the natural world. She describes herself as a spiritual being, a lover of animals, and an artist at heart who regularly participates in charity and non-profit events where she donates her art to support their causes.