Charting a Course Beyond Fear:

In the rarefied world of luxury yachting, the difference between a polished sales pitch and a credible authority often comes down to lived experience. Beneath the polished decks of Monaco’s harbor and the gleaming hulls moored in St. Barth lies a market where competence, trust, and adaptability are as critical as aesthetics.

Michelle Pritts did not arrive here through a linear career path. Her trajectory, spanning fashion modeling, software, nonprofit work and entrepreneurial ventures, might appear unconventional. In fact, it reflects a growing truth about competitive industries. Diversity of experience can be a strategic asset that produces the kind of cross-disciplinary insight traditional résumés rarely deliver.

From San Francisco Bay to Puerto Rican Waters

Michelle’s first lessons in seamanship came not in calm Mediterranean coves but in the bracing winds of San Francisco Bay. The early days taught her that yachting rewards preparation, patience, and persistence. Later, managing her own boat in Puerto Rico, she faced the kind of operational realities often hidden from glossy brochures: crew mismanagement, financial setbacks, and the daily problem-solving required to keep a vessel running.

Those experiences formed an education no classroom could replicate. Technical skill alone is not enough in the yacht industry. Resilience, decisiveness, and the ability to make high-stakes calls under pressure distinguish the professionals clients trust.

Royal Yacht International: A Global Platform

Now Michelle works with Royal Yacht International (RYI), one of the fastest-growing players in global yacht brokerage. Headquartered in Monaco, often considered the symbolic and practical epicenter of the luxury yachting market, RYI operates full-time offices in Miami, Dubai and St. Barth. This geographic spread is not cosmetic. It represents a deliberate strategy to cover both established and emerging hubs in the global charter and sales network.

The company’s competitive edge lies in two pillars: technology and client service. In an industry still dominated by relationship-driven sales, RYI invests heavily in digital tools to refine the browsing experience, enhance decision-making, and strengthen post-sale support. Whether dealing with seasoned yacht owners or first-time charter clients, the process is guided by data-backed recommendations and meticulous human oversight.

Breaking the One-Identity Rule

Unlike many corporate environments, RYI did not ask Pritts to choose between her modeling career and her role in yachting. This flexibility is more than a cultural perk. It reflects an understanding that authentic personal branding can reinforce corporate credibility.

In luxury markets, where perception often precedes performance, allowing team members to bring their full identities to the table can be a differentiator. For clients, it signals that the company values originality over conformity, a trait increasingly prized in high-trust transactions.

Why Monaco Is the Market Test

Operating out of Monaco is not simply about prestige. The Principality functions as a market stress test for luxury businesses. Here, competition is immediate, client expectations are elevated, and mistakes are magnified. Success in Monaco is rarely accidental. It demands speed of execution, faultless service standards, and an ability to anticipate needs before they are voiced.

RYI’s presence in this environment, and its growth despite these pressures, serves as validation of its strategy. For Michelle, it provides both a vantage point on the industry’s most sophisticated clientele and a proving ground for the skills she has developed over years of adaptation with a focus on bringing US clients access to global markets and destinations.

The Human Factor in High-Value Transactions

While yachting is grounded in engineering and design, at the point of sale it becomes a trust-based transaction. Clients are not simply purchasing a vessel; they are investing in an experience, a lifestyle, and a relationship with the broker. Michelle’s approach draws on a broader understanding of decision psychology, shaped in part by her own life transitions.

Her personal history includes restarting her career in her mid-20s after a traumatic life event. That process required letting go of fear, seeking out new environments, and in a way, restarting her life. It is precisely this experience that informs her empathy for clients making high-stakes decisions. She understands both the risk of change and the reward of committing to it.

Lessons for an Industry in Transition

The luxury yacht market, like much of the high-net-worth services sector, is shifting. Clients are younger, more global, and more technologically fluent than in past decades. They expect frictionless digital experiences without sacrificing the white-glove service that has long defined the industry.

RYI’s model anticipates this. By pairing state-of-the-art digital interfaces with a network of certified brokers offering in-person expertise, it operates in both the precision-driven and relationship-driven spheres. For professionals like Pritts, the hybrid model is a natural fit: high-touch service backed by high-tech infrastructure.

Beyond the Comfort Zone

For Pritts, the most transferable lesson from her own journey is that self-imposed limits are often more restrictive than external barriers. Breaking into yachting without a traditional pedigree was not about ignoring the industry’s gatekeepers, but about showing that expertise can be built through hands-on immersion and relentless learning.

Her message, especially to women considering entry into male-dominated sectors, is direct: “Once you stop listening to the voices telling you what you cannot do, you will realize the doors were never really locked.” In business terms, this is the principle of opportunity recognition: the awareness that markets reward those willing to act before certainty is guaranteed.

The Broader Implication

In industries where brand narratives dominate, there is a tendency to sanitize the journey. Pritts’ path, however, underscores a market reality. Authentic stories resonate because they reflect the same risk-reward equation clients face in their own investments.

Her progression from novice sailor to a key player in a Monaco-based firm is not just a personal success story. It is a case study in strategic reinvention. It illustrates that in high-value markets, the ability to navigate uncertainty may be as important as the technical product being sold.

In the end, the open water offers a perfect metaphor for modern career building and business strategy alike. Conditions change without warning, forecasts are imperfect, and progress depends on constant adjustments. For Michelle Pritts, the course forward is set not by fear of the unknown, but by confidence in her ability to adapt and in the industry she now helps shape.

In Monaco’s harbor, where reputations are built and tested daily, that confidence is more than a personal trait. It is a competitive advantage.

Credits

Photographer : Ivan Genasi

Ph. Assistant : Matteo Triola

Makeup Artist : Silvia Dell’Orto

Hair Stylist : Pedro Pianto

Stylist : Mirko De Propris

Stylist Assistant. : Edoardo Mariani Model : Michelle Pritts @infinito.management Location : Grand Hotel Menaggio Production : Mariano Fabrizi, Ivan Genasi