SOS Ambassador, SKAL International Koh Samui Secretary, Founder of mate.travel, Mum, Daughter, Sister, Quiz Master and dear friend – this is how you may know Sandy Cacchione, but there are some surprising things about Sandy you may not know – until today!
Our little Mermaid, although her Mermaid status would come further along, was born in 1984 in the Swiss town of Basel. A child of the 80’s if you ask her mum Maya, Sandy was a spirited child. Sandy led the way for her brother who came along 18 months later, but she was indeed the one who tested Maya’s patience. Her parents went their separate ways when she was 15, and both parents would have a big impact on her first learning and career moves.
At 16, Sandy chose the fast track to the professional world, entering a Swiss commercial college (HMS) to specialize in business and languages. Her father was a banker, and it wasn’t long before the apple proved it hadn’t fallen far from the tree.
Sandy shares that at a young age she was too empathetic to be a nurse or teacher, as she would take on the problems and woes people had, being a sensitive soul, she knew she was not fit for these style roles as a career. She had also crunched the numbers on working in banking and saw that the income was a good incentive to join this industry $$ = TRAVEL and this was her passion.
She had completed an internship with a bank while studying so Banking was her target focus – but difficult to get into. So she was applying for other jobs, and for the job she really wanted, would see her get down to the last two applicants for the role, but inside favouritism meant she was not to get this job when it was given to the MD’s niece – her first taste of rejection, which was hard to swallow, but would work out in her favour.
So, for the next few months Sandy held temp roles selling telephone contracts door to door, selling insurance contracts, and at the airport looking at data from the planes. All made a dollar, but she knew it was not career stuff.
Finally, Credit Suisse in Basel had an opening, and at age 18 she was offered the job as a Bank Teller, which was not normally the role a ‘freshie’ would get, but something about Sandy clearly made an impression, and she earned the thumbs up to become quite literally the ‘window of the bank.’
Side note – you might want to know that the niece who got the role over Sandy at the other firm – the role didn’t work out for her and she would last only two months. Sandy was called back and offered the job, but by then she had already accepted the position at Credit Suisse, so it all worked out exactly as it was meant to.
This new Bank Teller was no wall flower. Sandy after 1.5 years in the role, was promoted to Assistant Relationship Manager, then about two years on in this role found herself feeling unchallenged, so she took up language courses, Guitar lessons and got a library pass to read as much as she could. Her boss felt she was restless and offered her the chance to study through the employer at the Höhere Fachschule (HF) Banking and Finance – a Swiss college of higher vocational education specialising in banking. Sounds like a mouthful, but this was a real coup and feather in Sandy’s hat and career.
Sandy loved this learning, and while her boss said she could cut back working hours by 20% to study, Sandy crunched the numbers and said ‘hell no’, she would work full time, study as much as she could and the three years of studying paid off; even before graduating she was promoted to Relationship Manager, a financial advisor for clients with assets up to a million.
But then the Lehman Brothers crash happened and even the Credit Suisse Basel branch was affected. A restructure took place, and Sandy kind of got overlooked for a remodelled portfolio like everyone else was facing. She asked the people at the top ‘what’s next’, and got a call from Credit Suisse Zurich offering a role for High Wealth Clients (who lived in the UK and Netherlands), and whilst the role had massive appeal, the travel to Zurich daily, and or a move to Zurich meant leaving behind her three flat mates and had much less lust for this fun loving 25 year old. Yet she kind of had to accept as there was nothing else on the table…. but then as she had just said Yes, a job came up in Basel, which ticked all the boxes – salary, opportunity, and growth.
So, you may be wondering – Banker to Mermaid – where, how and when? Well Sandy’s first time on a dive (aka Mermaid) would be in Phuket in 2008 – and she was hooked.
In 2009 she would take another dive trip, this time to Koh Tao, and there she would meet Gio – her Italian cupid. Coconut palm trees, diving, sunsets and the start of a love story.
But she would then have to return to Basel and work three months in the Zurich role to fulfil her contract before she could start the new role with Credit Suisse in Basel. Many long two-way train rides were spent dreaming of that little island, diving and her Italian flame.
Sandy shares that timing has not always been her friend and yet everything works out for a good reason, this happens time and time again to her all through her life. Here is the next story of timing in her life that throws everything upside down.
Sandy had a goal in Private Banking – to reach Assistant Vice President (AVP), and she did this at the age of 26. She had a new flat, had set it up beautifully with furniture, fittings and decorations. She was looking forward to her Yoga Teacher Training in the Maldives, which was something she had wanted to do for a long time. There was just one problem: taking 5 weeks of leave for this would mean not being able to take time off to see Gio in London or spend time with him when he was visiting. So, she made the decision to not become a Yoga Teacher and give the relationship with Gio a real shot.
So here she is, doing so well in her role in Private Banking as AVP, Gio has returned to London where he continued his diving career (yes, you can dive in the UK!), also dreaming of the blonde Mermaid he met on a tiny island known as ‘Turtle Island’ in the South of Thailand, Both knowing they want to leave but not sure where to, how and when. Over a year of long-distance dating later the decision suddenly came easy: Gio was offered a role as Dive Instructor back in Koh Tao, and his boss offered that Sandy could join too.
Leaving her Banking career behind, half of Sandy’s friends said she was a very brave and amazing 27-year-old and the other half including her boss thought she was a little crazy and throwing something amazing away. Sandy’s outlook was, I am going to go and give it a try, if it fails, I can always come back to banking. Even her boss’s farewell speech remarked that she was welcome back if island life failed (which he was sure it would). Sandy sold up, packed up and in August 2011 they booked a one-way ticket back to Koh Tao.
Gio and Sandy leaving for Thailand with one-way tickets and a big dream
Mermaid Sandy – Koh Tao underwater videographer
2011 – in love on Koh Tao
Life on Koh Tao was happy, first starting as underwater videographer, but it was low pay for a lot of work. Sandy then got into teaching and eventually became a Master Scuba Diving Instructor (MSDT), and Gio the manager of the dive center. In 2014 Gio accepted the job as PADI’s Regional Manager for Thailand, so Sandy and her brother-in-law Silvano took over the management of Coral Grand Divers. Silvano took care of the dive operations and Sandy the rooms, reservations and bookings. The days and nights on Koh Tao were fulfilling, carefree and before they knew it, it was 2016.
Flip Flops and Wet hair for Mermaid life
Life on Koh Tao
After 5 years of a free-spirited life on Koh Tao, the couple started to think about having a family, and Koh Samui made sense with access to Hospitals, Schools and there they could lay some roots. So at the end of 2016 they island hopped to Koh Samui. The plan to start a family took time, once again it felt like time was not on her side, but it was beautifully timed in the end. Sandy was able to tell Gio she was pregnant on their anniversary in May 2019 and then was able to tell her Mum, Maya, when she arrived back to Koh Samui, this time to stay permanently with her brother in tow in June 2019. We think it was a little bit of mum’s intuition on Maya’s part with all the timing working out so nicely for her move to be an Island grandmother, and Cecilia was born in January 2020 at Bangkok Hospital Samui.
Sandy’s Mermaid connection continued as she ran her own Dive Website to support Coral Grand Divers and Gio continued to work remotely for PADI, the largest diving certification agency in the world.
Sandy’s first intro to Sisters on Samui was through the ‘blonde hair wizard’ of the island Candice, and for a long time this SOS Monthly lunch was Sandy’s main social connection. The move from Koh Tao, where the social scene and sense of family was huge but always a bit transient, was different to life on Koh Samui.
Life on Koh Tao was with no shoes, and always wet hair for years – it was here that the Mermaid nickname stuck. Sandy’s record of lost Havaiana flip flops was five pairs in two weeks, which led to her no shoe policy. Back then everyone on Koh Tao took off their shoes to enter restaurants, cafes, dive shops and even 7- Elevens.
Samui was a different world, and arriving with no social network, a husband who travelled a lot for work, and only four rescue dogs for company, SOS was a big relief in those early days. She still maintains to this day that when you land on Samui, SOS is your greatest connection and resource. Sandy joined Sisters on Samui in November 2020 in a Board role as Treasurer. Her background in finance assisted greatly in setting up the Foundation’s bookkeeping, which is still used today.
What does Sandy miss from Switzerland – the seasons, Fall Fairs, festive markets at Christmas time, friends and her father and brother. In a perfect world she would fly Business Class 3 times a year back to be able to join friends’ weddings and milestone events.
Her latest venture mate.travel came from living on Samui and not being able to access information about how to, where to, and when to. Be you a traveller, solo, family, couple, or a digital nomad this platform is for the transients and for the island residents alike. What started as an information guide is, after three years of hard work, evolving into a booking hub and a bridge into the island’s real community. Socials like Facebook have become a minefield for those who ask questions in groups, they often receive negative remarks that are very unfair, be it a local, a newbie or a future traveller asking a simple question. Sandy wanted to change that, to create a space where questions are welcomed and local knowledge is shared freely, and to give the local business owners and managers a place to showcase the offers they put so much effort into creating. Her goal has always been to share the Samui she knows and loves, so that anyone who lands on this island, or has called it home for years, gets to find their Samui and experience the best of it.
Sandy today is a woman of many hats, all worn with the same “spirited” energy her mum Maya noted back in 1984. Whether she is representing the Sisters on Samui as an Ambassador, keeping things organised as the SKAL International Koh Samui Secretary, or helping both newcomers and residents find their way through mate.travel, she is always about supporting the community. She also runs evening quizzes at a few local establishments, famous for her SOS Quiz nights which always include the best name for that song segment and of course dancing! She loves a dance, is always about supporting female entrepreneurs and raising women up to enjoy their best life, and helping you find your tribe.
When she’s not quizzing or dancing, you’ll likely find her in the kitchen or around a table with good wine, great food, and even better company – which, when you think about it, is exactly what finding your tribe looks like. Ask Sandy for a book recommendation and she’ll hand you The Alchemist, not because it’s the best book ever written, but because of the core message that life keeps pointing you where you’re meant to go… and her own story is proof of it.
