“In 2021 Emma set up her own company to provide consultancy services across the maritime and marine sectors, THE OM is a platform to spread awareness of her work and highlight the initiatives and organisations with whom she partners, collaborates and supports. Developingsolutions for superyacht crew to achieve success within their professional lives; whilst working with the industry to develop new strategies to evolve and grow, towards an innovative, sustainable and equitable future. Focusing on the key themes of Innovate, Advocate, Collaborate, Educate she enjoys the opportunity to work across a wide range of specialisations to achieve one common goal.

Emma spent 12 years working at sea, initially as a yacht skipper and instructor, working her way up through the sail training and superyacht fleets both sail and power. She is known for the development and delivery of pioneering industry-led, superyacht crew training solutions. She was responsible for developing and delivering the first MCA approved Superyacht Deck Cadetship, which she ran for over ten years, following with Superyacht Interior and award-winning Superyacht Chef training programmes.

She has developed and co-written two HNC/FdSc Degree programs in collaboration with industry, Plymouth University and Falmouth Marine School, in Operational Yacht Science and Superyacht Engineering, and is currently developing new training and career routes for the sector with the aim of taking a new approach to educating crew to meet the future technical needs of the sector.

Emma passionately believes in the advantages of professional development and lifelong learning and has collaborated with award winning MLA College to support and spread awareness of distance learning professional development programs for superyacht crew at BSc/MSc level in Sustainable Maritime Operations. Encouraging crew to be at the forefront of the drive towards sustainability in our industry and the value of studying beyond your CoC’s.

Emma is an experienced business and strategic development specialist, with a broad range of strategic partnerships across the superyacht sector, marine technology and marine sustainability projects, specialising in ideas and vision, working to identify and connect individuals and organisations for mutual business benefit, supporting them to develop innovative, collaborative solutions.

At the heart of Emma’s work is the belief of the value of maintaining supportive professional relationships with superyacht crew throughout their career, she has personally trained over three thousand crew and placed over one thousand individuals into the industry over the course of her career. She acts as a mentor to over 200 superyacht professionals, from guidance into and through the industry, to providing critical career, business, and life after yachting, support and advice. In return they allow her a unique and powerful insight into the day to day impact to crew of operational demands, changing legislation and technologies of the sector.

Emma partners with a number of initiatives to offer crew advice and help and is an advocate for the importance of valuing and supporting crew throughout their careers and continues to be driven by a personal interest in removing financial and social barriers to enable young people to access careers at sea.

She supports the ground-breaking work of IAMI as the Chair of the IAMI GUEST Program, the superyacht industry’s leading body for Non-Mandatory Training, Education and Professional Development for crew across all departments. Emma is a member of the Superyacht Technical Council.

Emma currently works with a number of voluntary workgroups to report, and support change in the sector in regard to poor or unprofessional practices, supporting the value of crew welfare and reform. She is a passionate believer in the value of good leadership and professional conduct onboard and will continue to work with like-minded individuals and organisations to give a voice and push for accountability in the sector.”

Emma Baggett