A Journey of a Dreamer who touched the sky from a yacht!

Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it.

Marcela Royer

Your Life Story

I am originally from Guatemala, I always had big dreams and at 17 I moved out of home alone looking for adventure to France where I learned French and Italian and then got a scholarship at IUM in Monaco where I did my bachelor studies and met my now-husband. I graduated with a Finance degree and wanted to start working in private banking but I didn’t have a working visa. My first challenge was to find a way to stay to live and work in Europe which was not an easy one. Long story short, I was registered as an auto-entrepreneur in France and started working as a sales rep for a yachting company in Antibes. I worked day and night and learned all I could until I got promoted to a senior position (I was only 21) then I got head hunted by a yacht management company in Monaco.

I founded the Young Professionals in Yachting Association in Monaco because I wanted to build a network and learn from others. At 27 years old I wanted to get an MBA from an american university, I worked hard to get a scholarship and a visa and I moved to Boston. After my MBA I had my quarter-life crisis (wink:)) got a burn out and long story short I came back to Monaco and married my college sweetheart. I opened a consulting company in Monaco called Onboard (onboard.mc) and started doing social media when nobody took social media seriously. I built a powerful community online with my blog and channels. (@onboard.mc and @onboardwithmarcela) I was doing the business development of a big shipyard in The Netherlands, and now I am consulting marinas, shipyards, brokers and yacht clubs.

I wrote the first textbook ever written about the superyacht industry (www.thesuperyachtindustry.com) and now I founded the first Yachting Materclass in the world, where we teach yachting principles at the Yacht Club de Monaco.

My passion is teaching, yachting and entertaining (creating content for social media)

I am blessed with a beautiful, happy and healthy family, a supportive husband and a little baby daughter who is the joy of my life. “

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

Ability to eat and drink all I want without getting fat (joking)

I would love the ability to do it all. As a woman, it is hard to be a good business woman, a mom, a wife, entrepreneur, fit, beautiful, and on top of everything be “relaxed” , balanced and in peace.

Your biggest fear during Yachting

When I joined I was very young and had a lot of Fear of rejection, Fear of not being liked, Fear of belonging, and not knowing. However I worked through my fears and learned how to socialize, be confident in myself and study and invest in knowledge so that I knew my profession in and out.

Is there something that you’ve dreamt of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

To be brutally honest, I’m in that phase of life where I reached the top of the mountain. I have achieved all my goals, and now I am sitting there thinking ” and now what?” I guess it is time to set new goals and find new mountains.

Your Passion project

I recently wrote, “Sail Away with Anna Cabanna” which is a sailing book for children teaching the basics of sailing through storytelling, combined with treasured life values and respect for the sea. It is definitely the project I’ve done with the most passion.

Your favorite memory during Yachting

Building a 68 meter ice breaking explorer vessel.

What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

Professionally speaking, starting my own business, writing a massive book, starting the yachting academy, doing an MBA in the US, learning 6 languages. Personally, my daughter and I are building the life of our dreams together with my husband.

If not Yachting then what

I’ve always been in the yachting industry, I don’t see myself in another industry (at least not now) in the future I hope to give back and be in philanthropy.

Describe a perfect day in Your life

A real day or an ideal fantasy one? Currently a day in my life consists of bringing my daughter to school, going to office, having lunch meetings at the yacht club, doing emails and computer work, creating content for social media, attending events, going on yachts, boat shows, seminars, etc. At night I work on creative projects like my books, masterclass, blogs etc. An ideal dream day would include doing more sports, going to pilates, meeting my girlfriends for brunch, working less, having more time with my family, more time in nature, learning about spirituality, meditation and sociology. I love books, I buy a lot of books and never read them ( I have a serious problem) . I buy a lot because I love them but never have time. I would love to spend my days doing sports, eating healthy and reading books.

Your role model

Powerful women, women that have break the ceiling, who have conquered their fears, who don’t give up, who maange to have a good life, work, family balance.Famous people, I admire Michelle Obama, Arianna Huffington, Ellen de Generes, Sophia Vergara, Amal Clooney the reasons being they have a good sense of humor and are able to be funny and professional at the same time. Down to earth, kind to people and professional and competent. I don’t like women who are disrespectful, arrogant or think they have to act like a B*** to get respect.

Your message to the aspiring Yachters

For people starting to work in the yachting industry I invite them to learn as much as possible. When I started there were no tools, I created the tools I wished I had when I first started in this industry. For young ambitious people aspiring to be yacht owners, I want to inspire them to have the holiday of their dreams chartering a yacht and eventually working hard to one day buy a yacht and feel true freedom.