“In Mauritius, people are kind, maybe too much so, and naïve,” Sylvia Sermenghi says on her native island nation in the Indian Ocean. “So I learned to be tough.”
Sylvia moved to Monaco in 1980 and admits that it was “not easy to make your mark”. In the reign of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, “Monaco was a different scene but maybe the whole world was different then.”
At age 20, Sylvia worked at the hotel Loews Monte Carlo (the Fairmont Monte Carlo today). After the birth of her son, she decided to be a stay-at-home mom until he started school and it was during that period she worked in fashion, first as a model in Paris, and after on the business side. She set up her own company, Gloria Prod and organised event launches in Monaco – the Dresdner Bank inauguration with Prince Albert and the opening of Zelo’s nightclub (now Twiga) – and in France, like the fundraising Par Coeur Gala hosted by French NBA basketball player, Tony Parker.
In 2012, Sylvia created her fashion label, Legends Monaco. “Two years later we were in the Haute Couture Week calendar, putting on fashion shows twice a year in Paris alongside Dior, and Chanel.” Today the brand offers tailor-made clothes to a private clientele.
Yet for as long as she can remember, animals have played the biggest role in her life. One reason, she says, is because growing up on an island you are “very close to nature and its creatures”. As Sylvia describes, “I was a wild child, climbing trees to pick fruit and bringing home abandoned dogs on the way home from school. We had a farm behind our house with all kinds of animals.”
Another big factor though was her father. “His passion for animals became mine when he died at a very young age.” Over the years, Sylvia has channelled this passion into benevolence. “As an adult, my first dog was an abandoned Dachshund I brought back from Corsica. During the ferry crossing back to Nice, I was so worried he would be frightened that I slept – if you can call it that! – with him in the hold all night.”
For Sylvia, a dog, or a cat, is our friend, our guardian and also our children. “They can’t speak our language, but they know very well to speak to our heart. I have always thought that animals bring out the best in us, the part of our original deep nature which is made up of the good and not so good. For me, it is very simple: I can talk with them, and I can feel instantly when they have a problem. This, I think, is love.”
Sylvia, who volunteers with the not-for-profit Jeune J’Écoute Monaco to help with PR, says the Monaco community love their dogs and that the mentality has become more open towards adopting abandoned dogs.
She created Rokethon Monaco., an association calling for responsible animal ownership and to raise awareness about dog abandonment. Rokethon – the name stems from the Creole word roqué, rock, as the Patron Saint of the dogs is St Roch – is a walk/run that will take place for dogs and their humans on October 5th, 10am, at the Chapiteau de Fontvieille.
Registration (by donation) is at the entry and only one dog per person can sign up. Fifty percent of registrant donations will go to the Société Protectrice des Animaux (SPA) in Monaco and the other half to associations supporting animal causes.
“When I adopted my three dogs, Roquette, Sunshine and Tough, from Ukraine last year they came from bombs of the war and minus 40 degrees in winter to join my six adopted dogs, my horses and my goats. I decided I could do better, for all families, young and old, with their doggies on a leash. They can come run or walk but let’s all get together for the animal cause – adopt don’t shop!”
There will also be a “Village Rokethon” with entertainment for young and less young with pets, animal art, dog communicators, agility therapists, and a Brigitte Bardot fashion show with abandoned dogs to adopt.
“In France, the Assembly National reports 12 domestic animals are abandoned every hour. In my opinion, and what should be everyone’s opinion, this is way too much and this is why I’m hoping many people will come out to support this cause and, why not, adopt one of our little hearts looking for home and family.”
For more information about Rokethon, see the website or email Sylvia Sermenghi .
Article first published September 13, 2024. Feature photos: Lacey Da Costa.
