A better yachting industry for everyone

Back in 2018, Jenny Matthews had just passed her OOW (officer of the watch) certification, when it struck her that she had never worked with another female. “I felt the need to reach out and connect with other women who were on the same journey as I was,” explains Matthews. “I had amazing male peers but I felt that female connection was missing. The response when I asked who was out there was incredible.” Thanks to the overwhelming feedback, Matthews was compelled to launch She of the Sea, an online community intended to connect women working in the industry.

Beyond connecting the female community, She of the Sea quickly also got involved with additional issues such as visual representation in the superyacht industry. “If you looked through social media and on the internet back then, there wasn’t any representation of women at sea in non-traditional roles – so we started the hashtag #sheofthesea on Instagram and it prompted this really organic library of real women working in the industry.”

The organisation’s mission has snowballed since those early days – and what started off as a conversation purely about gender has evolved beyond recognition. “We went on an educational journey,” explains Matthews, “and started to learn about social impact, diversity and inclusion – and the role that people have in everything we do – right down to the talent line. So we started as a community of females but we have now evolved into a social impact platform.” The mission of She of the Sea now is simply to see the industry at its best.

There have been numerous milestones since the launch – not least a personal letter of support from Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand (where Matthews is from) – but the diversity and inclusion pledge is perhaps one of the most significant, signed by yachting giants such as Dutch shipbuilder Amels. “We launched the pledge just as covid started, so we were a little unsure of how ready the industry would be to talk about diversity and inclusion, given that the world had turned upside-down,” says Matthews, “but it attracted over 30 signatories and the same number of supporting organisations [non-profits or less than 5 employees].”

The pledge includes a number of resolutions covering data sharing, visual representation and more. “Companies must commit to assigning a senior staff member to champion the pledge,” explains Matthews. “They must also commit to contributing data for future research concerning diversity. Nobody knew what was happening before, because nobody had any statistics, so this is very important.” There is also a pledge to use more neutral language and imagery across the board, and a pledge to create a more diverse talent pipeline. “We want companies to commit to policies and practices that ensure a diverse range of candidates are getting opportunities and being promoted throughout the industry,” says Matthews.

The organisation has transformed and evolved so much that She of the Sea is now launching a new arm, called LegaSea. “We know that diversity inclusion is much bigger than just gender so we’re actually moving all of our research, our pledge, and other activities under the new name,” says Matthews. LegaSea will be the industry’s social impact space, while She of the Sea will continue to act as a uniting community for women.

Already, under LegaSea, Matthews has spearheaded the first industry-wide mentoring programme for yachting professionals of all ages, genders and departments. “We wanted to provide career-focused yacht crew from all backgrounds with every opportunity to succeed should they want to,” she explains. Mentors include esteemed captains such as Dean Pilati and Sally-Ann Konigkramer.

Next up, the team is launching a fully integrated education platform called the LegaSea Impact Programme – where people can come and learn about social impact, diversity, unconscious bias, and other topics. “It’s an e-learning platform for people who want to do this seriously and make it more than just a tick box exercise,” explains Matthews.

The results of Matthew’s efforts will hopefully start to show in years to come when data can prove beyond doubt that the industry has evolved and changed for the better. The signs until that day are encouraging. “When we started in 2018 we looked at the MCA [superyacht training certification] data and we found that only 60 women had ever been certified as masters or officers. Today, we have a WhatsApp group with 67 masters and officers in it – and another group with the same number again about to get those certifications. So it looks like there are a lot more women coming in and moving up the ranks.

“We are incredibly proud of the milestones we’ve hit so far – they show us that the superyachting industry is ready to have this conversation.”