LADY MONIKA BACARDI
THE ART OF SAVOIRE VIVRE, SAVOIRE FAIRE
AND
A NAME WITH FLAVORS AND FRAGRANCES
Maybe she is too fashionable.
Maybe she is too visible and too glamorous.
Maybe she is much too rich.
What can we blame Lady Monika Bacardi of?
She is incessantly in the spot light.
She is incessantly on the red carpet.
She is always attractive and too sophisticated elegant.
| have to confess:
| am not very interested in the woman from the glossy stories.
| am interested only in the woman, the person behind the fashionable image and who is much too stylishly presented by the mass media.
Yes, Monika has a name predestined to romantic stories sold so well in the media space.
How can you behave like a usual person, when you are blond, charming, intelligent and you have the elegant and medieval name as if from Alberto Moravia's novels: Monika Gomez del
Campo Bacardi, Lady of Bayfield Hall.
Yes, from this name that entered the legendary world of international jet set begins the story of this gorgeous woman in whom we can hardly discover the young Italian, studying Arts and Literature of old times, who has maybe not even imagined what part she would play in the world of cinema, fine arts and charity.
Yes, Monika, the daughter from a good family, raised with a fine education, could as well have find a good match.
But nobody and nothing can open ways, dreams or accomplishments and desires, but destiny itself.
Luis Adalberto Facundo Gomez del Campo Bacardi, the billionaire inheriting the Bacardi empire, a bohemian Cuban soul, a poet, charmeur, wonderful character of high culture and connoisseur of all love stories, is starting the golden page of his life, forgetting the armor of the wandering and conquering knight.
Meeting young Monika, their love explodes in a cocktail of all flavors and fragrances.
Since then and up to now, books can be written about what Lady Monika Bacardi stands for.
People say that everybody needs a guide or a mentor.
Lord Luis was surely the Pygmalion of this young woman.
Becoming his wife and especially the mother of his only child, the daughter Maria Luisa, she really started to enter a world in the spot light.
Maybe there are too many comments about her, maybe the glossy press pictures her too much, but in spite of all these, the ardent and ambitious Italian overcame everything and her romantic name got not only the flavor of Cuban cocktail, but also elegance and why not … maybe more noblesse than ever.
Because nowadays Bacardi means especially ART AND CHARITY.
In a noisy world, crazy about publicity media explosions that are more or less interesting.
| am fascinated by human soul more than anything else …
And this is how my dialogue with Lady Bacardi starts:
Lady Bacardi how do you find the time to watch into our own soul? But | think it’s too early for this question right now.
Lady Bacardi, for the media you are a woman with all ingredients of a movie star- how do you describe yourself?
l’m a woman with many faces: a mother, a business woman, an art lover.
| tend to trust my intuition all the time. | would say l'M someone who is modest, hard-working and consistently sets firm goals for myself.
Then, once l’ve defined my benchmarks, | take the necessary steps to achieve those milestones. One of my strengths is that l’m someone who is able to control a situation rather than allow a
situation to control me.
What is the difference between the woman Monika from today and that Monika who once studied Art?
Monika from today is stronger, with more self-confidence and full of new ideas. l’m'hhaving a larger vision of the world today and | really know what is important in life.
Do you see yourself as an artist or Art promoter?
Cinema, modern art and photography have always moved me forward. My sensibility and my creativity should have made me an artist, but | chose to help other artists instead.
| cannot see myself as an artist neither as an art promoter but we never know.
For me, art is essential. Art gives us meaning in our pragmatically lives. There are things that cannot be understood with pure reason—like love and beauty. Art helps me understand the world.
We have to create, to express, to give life to the ideas inside us.
You live your life in the totally spotlight? Is fame important?
My life is very dynamic as l'm working in different areas: art, charity and cinema. Fame is important for business. It's just a big part of the business and the professional network.
“Fame is very big and very visible professional success. It is the key to the good side of life’s velvet ropes. For those who win it, society will grant them wealth, power, access, recognition, and other tools to live an extraordinary life.” —Jay Jessup
We are living in a very controversial world- what is better for a woman to be feminine or feminist ?
The two can actually often be in opposition of each other.
A feminine woman is one who spends most of her time in her feminine energy which means she is a receiver of attention and help.
She is in touch with her feelings and values.
The feminist woman embraces the idea that men and women are equal and can do the same things.
The feminist woman embraces masculine energy. She is doing, conquering, moving up the career ladder.
For me | can say that l’m very feminine in my personal life but l’m a real feminist in the professional area. | love my work and l'm working as much as my colleagues who are 90% men.
In which colors do you see your life until now?
My life is like a rainbow, very dynamic. | love red as it's the color of energy, passion, action, ambition and determination. Also blue, as it is the color of trust and peace. White is also very important as its most complete and pure, the color of perfection. The color meaning
of white is purity, innocence, wholeness and completion.
What was the most important moment in your life ?
It depends how you understand «important». If you mean happiest moment in my world then it will be the day when my only daughter Maria Luisa was born. This moment cannot be described in words as there is a very strong emotion.
By "important" | suppose one means not necessarily the happiest, but the one that played a fundamental role in shaping ones life from then on. It was the day that | realized what death means if there's no afterlife. | spent some very difficult years during my late husband's sickness, one of the most important and defining periods of my life.
When did you start your carrier as Art collector, humanitarian and charity activity and film industry? How do you match all this totally different things under one umbrella ?
l’'m a dynamic woman, working in several fields, and a mother.
| worked hard in order to earn the combined reputation of a businesswoman, an active philanthropist and a mother.
| became a successful entrepreneur, in cinema and art, and l’m also actively involved in several causes and | undertake gestures of solidarity to raise funds and awareness in favor of the social issues that are dear to my heart. Being a Mom is also one of the greatest achievements in my life. It's not easy but it’s an amazing feeling.
How did motherhood change you?
You cannot be selfish and be a good mother. | did not even realize how selfish | was, until motherhood showed me how selfless | can be.
This is not to say that you need to forget about yourself, it just means that the needs of your children cause you to re-prioritize things that you may have thought were very important, at one time, before motherhood.
Motherhood has changed my perspective and thought processes.
| have worked harder to be more patient, thoughtful, caring and gentle. | am not always successful at those, but | am better than | used to be. Truly, | cannot imagine what my life would be like had | NOT had a child. It is the most rewarding, beautiful, heartbreaking, awesome thing imaginable in this world.
What is your wish for your daughter Luisa?
My wishes for my daughter is that before everything else she keeps being a human being with a strong personality and a big heart.
| wish her to see the world not through pictures but through her own eyes. | really hope that when she grows up, she will choose to love someone who loves her to the moon and back.
l’m trying to make her understand that if we try hard enough we always get what we want. Also | tried to make her believe that she needs to have a zero-tolerance policy for people who disrespect her.
How do you describe the Art-World of our times? Could Art be a product? It is good to be commercial? Is not too much media and publicity?
Art is generally understood as any activity or product done by people with a communicative or aesthetic purpose something that expresses an idea, an emotion or, more generally, a world view.
Many argue that art cannot be defined. We could go about this in several ways. Art is often considered the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions.
l’m totally fascinated with the evolution of art and how the movements tied into technological inventions, architectural movements, fashion and popular culture.
Today's art movements are becoming apparent, we're now talking about visual arts.
It’s true that with all the medias some art activities or art fairs are getting very commercial. But the best thing with art is that it shows someone’s talent. | always find it fascinating to try to understand somebody's talent.
You speak fluently many languages and you are a very popular figure on the international red carpet - what is more important - education or beauty?
Education is the most important element. Beauty is just external and can help in different situations but without good education you cannot achieve anything.
Speaking different languages is extremely important to me.
It's also necessary for my businesses. Learning a foreign language is an incredibly rewarding experience and a serious confidence booster.
You’Il get to overcome some of your fears and doubts, learn more about yourself, meet new people, and perhaps travel to places you would've never dared to visit before.
Learning a foreign language and getting soaked into an entirely new culture and world view is the surest way to become an open-minded, understanding individual, and that is, | would argue, absolutely priceless.
What makes you happy and what makes you unhappy ?
My family and my friends' smiles make me happy. Being with my beloved ones is making me happy. Work achievements also make me happy.
Unhappiness comes in many shades of gray.
Worry creates inner turmoil. |It’s like a rocking chair moving feverishly, but going nowhere. Worrying doesn’t create action, it freezes you so you are unable to think clearly and make changes to ensure the negative outcome never happens.
Having lofty goals are great. But when you tie your happiness to future successes that may or may not happen, you never find joy in the life you live today. Find things that thrill you today, and let tomorrow surprise you.
What is your new aspiration for the future?
A lot of new inspirations for the future. In the cinema, we’re producing plenty of new films with my business partner and AMBI Group.
We organized an amazing charity event for a second time called AMBI Gala: Cinema to Help the World. It took place on 7th September in Toronto, Canada. Our aim is to use the AMBI Gala as a platform for a medley of social causes, and using film as an instrument to help the people of the world. It is our intention to host galas in cities around the world where AMBI makes films. It has been a great pleasure to organize an own charity event. | got fully involved in the organization of the event and hopefully the results are amazing!
The most recent artistic project in the art area that we currently realized with my business partner is our brand new PHOTO House in Brussels.
This is still a part of the development of PHOTO Magazine.
Our PHOTO House is a very spiritual place with a special meaning to me. At this PHOTO House we”re often organizing exhibitions, meetings, cocktails with different artistes
Born in Merano in a high influential family, after studying art and literature in Bologna and Trieste, the young Monika became over the years Lady Bacardi: investor in arts, producer, philantropist, vart collector, involved in several humanitarian and charity activities in the principality of Monaco and worldwide. In fact she is just a woman.
What makes her special? Her colourful and elegantly noisy personality with a big portion of glam. Yes, she is a public figure , a flamboyant presence, a mixture of cultivated extravagance, flavors, fragrances but more than anything else, sharp intellect and esprit gifted with savoire vivre, savoire faire.
She can understand subjects like cinema or photography.
But she can understand very well also the fight against cancer, autism or children education.
Looking at her i remember suddenly the words of the amazing MAE WEST:
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
Monica Mergiu
ROYAL ARTS VISIONS: LADY MONIKA BACARDI