Janet Bava has always been a little unconventional. For her 15th birthday, she opted to skip the traditional quinceañera party that’s common for Latin American teen girls. She decided to take her friends and family on a weeklong cruise instead. She didn’t know it at the time, but that unorthodox choice would lay the groundwork for the rest of her life.
Throughout her successful career, Bava has worked for an array of top travel brands—many of them in the cruise industry. Today, she is the chief commercial officer for Windstar Cruises, a small-ship luxury line that sails around the world, whisking travelers to various destinations in the South Pacific, Europe, the Caribbean, New England, Eastern Canada, South America and beyond.
Bava’s start in the cruise industry
“I took my first cruise and realized, ‘I want to do something in travel,’” says 46-year-old Bava, who was born in Cuba but grew up in Miami. “When I got off that ship, I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I would totally work here. I would love to work for a cruise company.’ You do your research. You go to all these career fairs, and you put two and two together. Miami is the cruise capital of the world—there has to be something out there for me in this industry.”
Thinking outside the box has continued to serve her well in an industry rooted in innovation. At Windstar, she’s helping chart the path forward during a period of unprecedented growth. The company recently announced that it’s adding two new ships to its existing six-vessel fleet—an expansion of nearly 33%. As the new ships come online in 2025 and 2026, Bava will be there every step of the way, making key decisions about where they’ll sail, how they’ll be marketed and more.
With her creative spirit and her belief in travel as a force for good, she’s poised to help the company sail into the future.
“The organization’s vision is to innovate and grow and do things ‘180 degrees from ordinary,’” she says, referring to the company’s tagline. “I feel as if I am beyond ordinary as a human being, and I want to work for a company that values people who are different.”
“You have to work really hard”
Travel has always played a big role in Bava’s life. Not long after she was born, her family fled communist Cuba. They left behind everything and everyone they’d ever known to start over in America.
Bava was just 2 years old when they arrived in Miami. She grew up watching her parents work hard to provide for her and her older sister—her dad as a mechanic and her mom doing odd jobs like cleaning houses. Those early experiences shaped Bava’s tireless work ethic.
“My father instilled in us the idea that we had the opportunity to do whatever we wanted to do and be whoever we wanted to be,” Bava says. “That’s why he sacrificed his country and being with his friends and his family—because he wanted to make sure me and my sister did what we wanted to do in life. He always said, ‘You want to be happy, but you have to work really hard. Don’t ever let anyone tell you you can’t do something—you just have to work really hard and be a good person.’”
Bava’s career beginnings
Bava put herself through college by working a variety of jobs. During this time, she also earned a marketing and international business degree from Florida International University. Already fluent in English and Spanish, Bava picked up a third language by studying Italian. She then met the man who would ultimately become her husband on a trip to Italy while she was in college. Today, they’ve been married for nearly 20 years and have two teenage sons.
“I always say I believe in love at first sight and long-distance relationships because my unconventional self-made it all work,” she says. “When [my husband and I] put our heads together, no one can tell us we’re not going to do it. If we’re convinced, we can get it done, we’ll make it work.”
Personal growth and mentorship
Ever since taking that first cruise as a teenager, Bava had dreamed of working for a global cruise brand. After she graduated from college, she applied to as many cruise lines as she could. Bava landed a job in direct marketing and customer experience communications at Royal Caribbean and “never looked back,” she says.
Since then, she’s risen through the ranks within the travel industry, taking on roles with more and more responsibility. Before landing at Windstar, she worked as director of customer engagement for NBCUniversal’s Universal Parks and Resort in Orlando, vice president of marketing for the Americas for Silversea Cruises and chief marketing officer for AmaWaterways. Every career move has helped her stretch and broaden her skill set in some way.
“I’m always looking for personal growth,” she says. “For every position, I was at a stage in my career that I had accomplished something and was ready for the next step. And the next opportunity offered something much greater.”
Bava’s successful career in the cruise industry
Bava attributes much of her career success to establishing strong relationships with professional mentors—many of them women. She’s made a point of staying in touch with those people throughout her career. And because of that, whenever a fitting opportunity arose, they mentioned her name.
For example, during her time at Royal Caribbean, Bava worked under then–senior vice president of marketing Betsy O’Rourke. Later, O’Rourke became Windstar’s chief commercial officer—and when O’Rourke decided to leave that role to become a consultant, she recommended that the company hire Bava as her replacement.
“No matter where you’re going, don’t burn your bridges,” Bava says. “But more than that, build a strong relationship and keep that for many years to come. Even after you leave, because those relationships will help you in the long run, and they will go a long way.…Don’t just use people. Truly build a strong relationship. You learn so much from different people at different stages of your life.”
Beyond that, her mentors have all imparted important lessons she still carries with her to this day. That’s something she keeps top of mind now as she begins to mentor the next generation of industry leaders.
“They may go off to work for another brand; they may get a better job or a better role,” she says. “But whatever it is they’re learning from me, they may go apply that. And that, to me, is incredibly fulfilling.”
Representation in the cruise industry
More broadly, Bava also hopes to serve as a source of inspiration for other women—especially those from historically underrepresented groups. Like many other fields, the cruise industry has been taking steps to become more diverse and inclusive. And those efforts seem to be paying off. Today, “roughly 40% of senior leadership roles at cruise companies are held by women,” according to the latest figures from the Cruise Lines International Association, the world’s largest cruise industry trade group.
More work needs to be done, but Bava is proud to be part of that change. “More and more, the cruise industry—and all industries—are embracing females, period, and more females who are diverse in their backgrounds and upbringings and cultures and languages,” she says. “To me, it’s not about, ‘Well, there’s not enough women in the C-suite.’ There’s a lot more than there was, and that’s a huge step forward. I hope I can help pave the way for many, many others to come.”
This article appears in the September/October 2024 issue of Success Magazine. Photo courtesy of Windstar Cruises.
