Below Deck’s Adrienne Gang joined author Julie Perry in Indianapolis recently for The Insiders’ Guide to Becoming a Yacht Stewardess press tour. Here is their interview with WTHR’s Anne Marie Tiernon about Julie’s book and its connection to Adrienne and her BRAVO show, “Below Deck.”
Transcript from the Interview
WTHR Channel 13’s Anne Marie Tiernon with author Julie Perry and “Below Deck” chief stewardess, Adrienne Gang, discussing the 2nd edition release of “The Insiders’ Guide to Becoming a Yacht Stewardess.”
August 19, 2013, WTHR Channel 13 (NBC Affiliate), Indianapolis
Anne Marie Tiernon: Today we get an inside peek at the life of the elite. I am very interested in this. Those who are wealthy enough to own their own yachts and then travel around and see the world. Our guest today is Indy native Julie Perry. She worked as a yacht stewardess…and then wrote about it with her first book. Then she wrote a second edition that just came out August 1st. And also joining us today is Adrienne Gang, who is star of the Bravo reality show called Below Deck. So you guys know what it’s like to work on these fancy yachts. And there are probably a lot of things that are not exactly what we would expect. So tell us, Julie, what’s it like?
Julie Perry >> It’s a brilliant education. I say working on a luxury yacht as crew is a career move that can not only grow your bank account, because it is good money, but it can enlarge your worldview as well. I mean, it’s about travel, it’s about providing service….
Adrienne Gang >> It’s also about hard work.
Julie Perry >> And it’s also about hard work, yes.
Anne Marie Tiernon >> Right, and if you’re not willing to work hard then you’re not going to last, right Adrienne?
Adrienne Gang >> No definitely not.
Anne Marie Tiernon >> So tell me, where are you based out of and what do you do right now? Because if people haven’t been watching, we’re almost coming up on the finale of your show, no?
Adrienne Gang >> Tampa is home base. I’m here visiting to help Julie promote the book. And I actually wrote the Foreword for the 2nd Edition. So we’re signing books tonight at Barnes & Noble in…?
Julie Perry >> Keystone. At the Shops at the River Crossing.
Adrienne Gang >> But, I have actually gone back to being a chef on boats. Which is my primary job. I took this role of chief stew on the show, which is not actually my typical role on the boat. It was a challenge. It was interesting.
Julie Perry >> She did a great job.
Anne Marie Tiernon >> Well tell me, what are some of the things we might not expect.
Julie Perry >> Well, as an entry-level stew, they need to be ready just to do laundry and what we call “heads and beds.” Heads on boats are the bathrooms. So you’re cleaning toilets, basically. But you’re also serving food. You’re ironing. There’s lot of laundry.
Adrienne Gang >> Right, and a lot of the things you are doing are not very glamorous jobs. It looks very glamorous on T.V. sometimes. But it’s definitely not, when you get into it, the most glamorous position. But then again, we get to go to some really amazing places and meet a lot of interesting people.
Julie Perry >> And they need American stewardesses, too. So that’s something: American flagged vessels need to only hire American crew. So, American stewardesses are hard to come by, so that’s one of the reasons the book will help anyone to get started in the industry. But it’s also part travelogue. So there are also a lot of fun stories. On my website, WorkOnAYacht.com, people can actually download chapter one for free. And it will tell everyone all about those interesting things: Like what kind of superyachts there are in the world. How big they are. Who owns them. Who travels aboard. How much they cost. How much a chartering fee is. I mean some of these yachts – I know Steven Spielberg’s yacht is, I think, $2 million dollars a week to charter? [Correction: Steven Spielberg’s yacht, M/Y “Seven Seas,” is actually only $1.3 Million per week to charter. It is M/Y “Eclipse,” owned by globally renowned Russian tycoon, Roman Abramovich, that has a $2 million dollar per week charter fee.]
Adrienne Gang >> Yes.
Julie Perry >>So that’s a mind boggling fact. There’s a lot of stuff about the superyacht industry that is absolutely fascinating, to me, and I lived and work aboard. And I still find it fascinating.
Anne Marie Tiernon >> Well, I know Adrienne says your first book is the bible. And that’s pretty high accolades from her.
Adrienne Gang >> Absolutely. I’ve used that and have given that book to everybody who’s tried to work on a boat.
Julie Perry >> And Kat Held, the other stew, the 2nd stewardess, on the show has told me (I learned through Twitter right when the show launched) that she got into the industry reading my book. She’s been out there Tweeting about it.
What inspired me to leave everything behind and find an AMAZING job in yachting ??? Check this book http://t.co/JJrEZRl3Kz ! You’ll b amazed
— Kathleen Held (@KatOState) August 1, 2013
It’s been great. I had no idea. I mean, it was all a surprise to me, so I was glad I had this waiting in the wings to come out. Because then Adrienne got in touch and said, “Can I write the Foreword?” and here we are…
Anne Marie Tiernon >> And here we are. Today She’s in Indy!
Julie Perry >> So Barnes & Noble. And we’re doing a viewing party at Ale Emporium tonight at 8:30. So fans of the show come out, join us, and meet Adrienne, and watch Below Deck.
Author Julie Perry and Below Deck’s Adrienne Gang on WTHR Channel 13 in Indianapolis to discuss Julie’s yacht stewardess book.
Thanks again to WTHR and Anne Marie Tiernon for helping Julie and Adrienne get the word out to future yachties in her hometown of Indianapolis (and beyond!). We were thrilled to have Adrienne Gang here in Indy for several days.
Continue here for more about The Insiders’ Guide’s connection to Bravo’s Below Deck, and how it came to be…
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