Antony, a native of Marseille, France, has woven a tapestry of experiences that span the globe. Now residing in Panama, he has lived a life colored by diverse cultures and a spirit of adventure. Married for over 10 years and a proud father of two boys, he balances his love for family with his enthusiasm for outdoor pursuits, sports, and a deep appreciation for various cuisines.
Antony’s wanderlust ignited at the tender age of 10 when he could rattle off every capital city on the map. So, after obtaining his international business management degree between France and England, he naturally embarked on a globetrotting journey that led him through more than 50 countries to date. Yet he remains steadfast in his belief that the Mediterranean holds the title of the world’s most mesmerizing destination.
With over a decade in the travel industry and customer success management, Antony’s professional journey mirrors his personal odyssey, enriching lives and inspiring memorable journeys for others. At THIRDHOME, Antony is not just a guide; he’s an ambassador of exploration and a testament to the beauty of embracing every moment.
Bettina was born and raised in Hamburg. She comes from a shipping family and discovered her passion for traveling and foreign countries at an early age. After graduating as a foreign language correspondent, she decided to do an additional apprenticeship as a travel agent with Hapag-Lloyd Travel. Shortly after graduating with honors, she took over the responsibility for the business travel center in Stuttgart; later, she changed to American Express Business Travel and moved to Munich. Bettina looks back on 25 years in the international business travel industry, where she had a successful career up to Regional Manager in Southern Germany.
For personal and family reasons, Bettina moved to Marbella in 2013. This had always been her second home since her parents bought a house in the 70s. Here Bettina has worked mainly in Property Management, Real Estate, Tourism, and Sales & Marketing. Together with her partner, she founded a marketing agency.
Her passion for traveling and foreign countries and her aim to work again in an international team led her to THIRDHOME.
Bettina’s list of travel destinations includes the US with California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Florida, Alaska, New York, Chicago, and the Bahamas, as well as Canada, Martinique, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Italy, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, Portugal and of course Spain. On her bucket list, you will always find Hamburg, the Netherlands, and South Africa to visit family and friends.
In her free time, Bettina enjoys spending time with her partner and friends and being outdoors—hiking, skiing, taking long walks on the beach, swimming, cooking, and photography.
Valerio was born and raised in Italy Novara, a small town just one hour’s drive from the Alps, where he spent most of his childhood. He discovered his passion for travel and new cultures, so he studied tourism at the university. Valerio served several years as a volunteer in the Italian Red Cross, where he grew up dedicating his free time to help in his town emergencies on the streets.
When he was 21 years old, he took the opportunity to manage his travel agency and collaborate with some Italian tour operators. This collaboration allows him to travel periodically to Sharm El Sheikh, Kenia, and Zanzibar, where he falls in love with the local mentality and culture.
In 2008 he decided to move to Spain in search of a better place to live and grow, starting a new life. From zero, he started to make new friends and learn Spanish. He worked for three years in an entertainment company; he then moved to SIXT Rent a Car and joined Marriott Vacation Club International for six years, where he worked in the marketing and administration departments.
After this experience, he decided to have something new. He created his Vacation rental society named “Enjoy Estepona Holiday Rentals” and his restaurant called “El Rustico.” He always dedicates his free time to cultivating hobbies like playing the Drumm and going karting.
Valerio is excited to bring his experience and “positive mental attitude” to ThirdHome, where he can work daily in an international environment and create the content of our stunning properties.
An Irish native from Dublin, Michelle had the travel and adventure bug from the age of 21. Traveling to Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, LA, and settling in New York for 2 years as an events coordinator opened up a whole new world of opportunities. On return to Dublin at 23 years-old, Michelle studied Business/Events and Marketing at Dublin Business School, which resulted in an amazing job offer back in Manhattan, New York as Sales/Event Manager, where she enjoyed seven fantastic years working with Corporate and Leisure clients. She highlights hosting SuperBowl with Budweiser each year and enjoying the Rooftop space with views of the Empire State Building as her office.
Michelle moved back to Dublin in 2017 after her twin boys were born: it was time for a change and she was lucky to land a fantastic role as Sales Manager at Dylan Hotel, a 5-Star Boutique hotel in Dublin. Michelle enjoyed building great working relationships with her accounts including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Linkedin and Accenture.
Michelle’s next career move was to Marbella in September 2021. She says, “Dublin was my first home, New York my second home, and now I have found my THIRDHOME both personally and professionally in Marbella. I feel very grateful.”
Michelle is looking forward to exploring Spain, visiting new cities around the world with her family, and enjoying the simple pleasures of living in the sunshine with her husband and twins.
Maria was born and raised in Marbella. She studied Tourism in Málaga, and after that she did a postgraduate in Hospitality Management at Les Roches Swiss School.
She has been always very passionate about tourism, so she decided to do an internship in Lanzarote (Canary Islands) with one of the top hotel chains worldwide. Living afterwards in Berlin and London for a few years, she had the opportunity to work in Sales & Marketing department for top brands’ hotels.
Missing the good weather, she moved back home and stablished herself in Costa del Sol again. There she was working during more than 10 years as business development, rentals, and revenue manager for one of the top largest timeshare companies.
Maria has accumulated more than 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry and she is now part of THIRDHOME family, where she is very excited to assist developing THIRDHOME Rentals.
An Alabama native, Courtney graduated from Auburn University (War Eagle!) and was living in Birmingham when, on a whim, she decided to move to New York City. That move ended up making New York her home for fifteen years. While in New York her career path took some adventurous turns from working in local television as a writer/producer, to advertising sales, catering and events, food styling for a cookbook, student travel sales and tour guiding, and as an actor and singer doing musical theatre and cabaret shows.
On another whim she moved to Los Angeles where she acted onscreen with some familiar faces like John Travolta, Amy Poehler, Nathan Lane, and David Schwimmer, and worked in marketing for a ghost kitchen startup doing community engagement and events.
Now based in Nashville, Courtney spends her free time hiking and camping, learning to play guitar, and searching all of the dog rescue sites looking to adopt a furry friend to accompany her on outdoor adventures.
Traveling is a passion and Courtney has been to Paris, London, several trips to Germany, Belgium, and Brazil. One of her favorite trips was driving Route 66 from California to Chicago and seeing the heartland of the United States. Iceland, Italy, and South Africa are on her short list of next destinations she wants to visit.
Courtney is excited to be part of the ThirdHOME team as a Relationship Manger helping our valued members take advantage of the amazing travel benefits our club offers as they plan their next dream vacation.
Carissa graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia with a degree in Public Relations/Communications and a minor in Public Health. After graduating in 2016, she worked as a pharmacy technician until her passion for writing led her to a digital marketing specialist role where she spearheaded content marketing campaigns for various Fortune 1000 brands.
Originally a Syracuse, NY native, Carissa escaped the cold and snowy winters to settle down in Nashville, TN. She began her journey with ThirdHome as a content editor, creating property exposures and producing engaging content to showcase ThirdHome’s diverse portfolio. In May 2022, Carissa joined the marketing department as Marketing Manager to oversee marketing campaigns, manage content, design creative, support PR initiatives, and promote ThirdHome across multiple platforms.
She has been fortunate enough to cruise the Western Caribbean (Costa Maya, Cozumel, Honduras, and Belize) and the Bahamas, as well as visit Greece and several states within the U.S., including an extraordinary trip to Alaska. She hopes to cross more destinations off her bucket list, like Italy and Egypt, sometime in the future.
Benjamin was born and raised in the lovely French region after which his family was named, Brittany, knowing soon that he wanted to learn languages to travel the world and discover new cultures. For this reason, he moved to Rennes, the capital of his region, where he studied English, Italian and Spanish and earned his degree as a tour guide and interpreter and immediately got hired by a travel agency to organize visits for foreign tourists. As he always works with passion for his job and customer service, he loved to highlight the beauties of the cities, monuments and landscapes of his region.
Following his dream, he decided to travel the world and entered the cruise ship industry, in which he worked for six years aboard Costa Cruises and MSC Cruises ships as an International Ambassador and explored over 50 countries, especially because he was given the opportunity to take part of the first world cruise of the company in 2019. In addition, thanks to his experience and values, he lately got promoted to represent the MSC Foundation for the first time abord the company’s ships and developed the communication and the activities related to the environmental and humanitarian projects created in collaboration with other associations and foundations.
Benjamin is absolutely excited to bring his experience and language skills to THIRDHOME to assist and adapt the communication to our international members and to create the content of our stunning properties.
Blessed with Asian roots, a Spanish name, and Dutch roots and work ethics, Charo feels that she’s a true Citizen of the World. Her parents were both born in Indonesia (her mother in Java and her father in Borneo) and immigrated to the Netherlands during wartime. Charo’s dream was to live and work in a sunny place, preferably somewhere in the South of Europe. At age 26, she followed her dream and drove alone to Andalucia, Málaga with no job prospects, no home, and no ability to speak Spanish. There, she started a new life from scratch.
Charo has mainly worked in hospitality, tourism, real estate, and property management. She spent almost eight years as Event and Office Manager at ABN AMRO Private Banking International, and most recently as a fundraiser for The Butterfly Children Charity, where she still serves as an ambassador in her spare time.
Charo’s world travels have included visits to China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Bali, Lombok, The Philippines, Dubai, Indonesia, and Hawaii, as well as city trips to Shanghai, Tokyo, and New York. Traveling makes her happy! She is also a feeder and a foodie who loves to bake, cook, and feed her tribe.
Gena Kay likes mixing travel with humanitarian efforts. This allows her to see different parts of the world through the lives of the people who live there. She calls them her “vacations with a purpose.” She has built a Habitat for Humanity house in Belfast, N. Ireland, helped rebuild a school in the Dominican Republic, traveled to Africa with World Vision to scout areas for development of a World Vision Village and met with faculty and students at Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan to help them raise money and awareness in the United States.
Gena Kay spent more than 25 years as a corporate trainer and performance management consultant working with clients such as Coco-Cola, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Kimberly-Clark, the FAA, Delta Airlines, AT&T, United Healthcare and Arthur Anderson. Her focus was on customer service and improving employee performance through effective management and leadership. She has also worked with several chambers of commerce in developing community leadership programs.
In April 2019, Gena Kay moved to Nashville, where she joined her brother, Wade Shealy, THIRDHOME Founder, Chairman, and CEO in the business. With her years of training and consulting with organizations on Human Resource and Leadership related topics, she brings her expertise to assisting the company in Human Resource tasks. While providing a smooth transition for new employees as well as supporting the managers through the hiring process she helps to promote a positive work environment for all employees.
Taylor, a Nashville native, works on THIRDHOME’s Member Experience team, helping members discover their next great home exchange. After interning for Walt Disney Resorts, where she worked in Merchandising for Disney’s Animal Kingdom, she decided to return to her home roots in Nashville for a fresh start in a familiar city. While at Disney, she had the opportunity to meet many amazing and talented people in the hospitality space, and explore all that the parks and resorts had to offer, but realized the magic wasn’t worth staying in the constant heat wave that is Orlando.
During her college years, at Lee University, she channeled her interpersonal skills by becoming a brand ambassador and sales associate in the apparel industry and interned for her college town’s radio station. Before graduating from Lee University, while pursuing her degree in Communications, she traveled abroad for the first time to Sydney and Cairns, Australia, as well as Auckland, New Zealand, which sparked her love of travel. She is passionate about people, comedy, music, and attends live shows whenever possible. Her next bucket list travel destinations are Amsterdam, Ireland, and Rome. She’s eager to continue traveling, and help others see the world along the way.
Stephen’s love of travel and experiencing new places is what eventually led him to Nashville and his position with the Member Experience Team at THIRDHOME. After graduating from the University of Tampa in Florida with a degree in Communications, Stephen spent time living on both coasts. He first traveled to Los Angeles, California where his love of music helped him land a job working in the music video industry, and then to New York City producing shows at MTV Networks for VH1, VH1 Classic and FUSE. But it was his first trip to Europe, where he spent a month backpacking through England, Italy, and France, where he got the travel bug that opened his eyes to the beauty of the world. Suddenly, a new-found passion was born and trips to Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Hawaii were added to the list. When Stephen isn’t traveling or helping members travel, you can usually find him enjoying one of his hobbies like photography, playing guitar, or paddle boarding.