Captain Sandy Brings Yacht Life Home

When Captain Sandra “Sandy” Yawn takes the stage at the Minneapolis Home + Garden Show, she won’t be delivering a scripted keynote or a polished monologue. Instead, the “Below Deck” star is coming ready for conversation shaped as much by leadership at sea, sobriety and the very real lessons she and her wife, Leah, learned while rebuilding their lives and their home.

“I don’t know. What do they want?” Sandy says with a laugh when asked what audiences can expect from her appearance. 

Her speaker slot at the show will take the form of a fireside chat, a format she prefers precisely because it’s unscripted and takes questions from the audience.That flexibility and desire to meet people where they’re at has become her signature, whether she’s navigating the open ocean or a room full of curious fans. While leadership is often the entry point for her public speaking, she knows the conversation rarely stays there. 

“They usually want to know about ‘Below Deck,’” she says.

Yet, what grounds her perspective (and gives her something deeper to share in Minneapolis) is the life she and Leah have built off-camera. Sandy’s appearance is rooted in a love of design and innovation, but it’s also informed by a deeply human story: a dream home derailed by fraud, rebuilt through persistence, and ultimately shaped by trust, resilience and a whole lot of learning along the way.

From Browsing to Partnering

Leah admits their connection to home shows began almost accidentally. 

“I didn’t even really know about it […] and then we went to the one here in Jacksonville, and it was amazing,” she says.

What started as a casual visit quickly turned into something more. 

“We got to know the people that were in charge of it and just hit it off right away,” Leah says. “It was just a perfect fit, so we partnered.”

For Sandy, the appeal was simple, if not a little frustrating. 

“I wanted to walk around it, but it was very difficult because obviously I’m on television,” she says. “I just wanted to see everything. They have some cool stuff there.”

“We wanted to shop,” Leah adds with a chuckle. “It was hard!”

Their enthusiasm for design and innovation hasn’t faded. If anything, it’s been sharpened by experience, even after the couple’s own renovation journey took a devastating turn.

A Dream Home and a Nightmare

While building their dream home, Sandy and Leah discovered they were among at least a dozen others in their Florida community defrauded by builder Spencer Calvert. The experience left them navigating legal action and emotional fallout. Calvert is now facing charges of misapplication of construction funds, organized scheme to defraud and grand theft in excess of $100,000.

“We got robbed. Straight up, robbed,” Leah says plainly. “We were paying cash, and he took the cash and didn’t use it towards our house.”

The warning signs didn’t appear all at once. Leah recalls knowing something was wrong “when the tiles were on the roof for three years.” 

“It looked like the movie ‘Beauty and the Beast’ before the Beast turned into a prince,” she adds. “It looked like a rundown property with weeds and grass.”

For Sandy, concern turned into certainty after a call from family. 

“My sister was like, ‘There’s nothing happening here, Sandy. You guys need to come here,’” she says. 

At the time, the couple was living in Colorado. Despite the anger and stress, neither Sandy nor Leah frames the experience as defining their lives. 

“At the end of the day, we made a beautiful home, and we’ve had parties and celebrated birthdays, and life’s short,” Leah says. “So hopefully we get something back.”

That ability to acknowledge pain without being consumed by it echoes a philosophy Sandy has carried with her long before reality television.

Lessons from the Job Site

For fans of “Below Deck,” Sandy’s calm-under-pressure leadership style is familiar. But she’s quick to point out that it didn’t come from television or from being on the bridge of a yacht. She credits getting sober and working the 12-step program as the foundation for how she approaches problems.

Those principles guide her daily life. 

“The first reaction is really not the one you should go with; it should always be the second one or maybe the third,” she explains, sharing the example of wanting to snap back at comments on social media or in an email.

That mindset shaped how the couple navigated their renovation crisis and how they continue to share decision-making at home.

“She’s the boss,” Sandy jokes, nodding toward Leah.

“Not true!” Leah immediately counters.

Their dynamic is affectionate and complementary. 

“We have completely different styles,” Leah says. “She’s very colorful, and I’m very boring. I love beige. She loves color.”

Despite those differences, Sandy says conflict was never part of the process. 

“There were never any arguments or disagreements,” Sandy says, crediting Leah’s background in design. “I love our house. I just want more art on the walls. Colorful art.”

Leah ultimately took the lead on finishing the house, overseeing contractors and refusing to settle for subpar work. 

“You have to oversee it and not settle for mediocre work and stand up for yourself,” she says. “They underestimate the mind of women who have lived a full life and are smarter than they think.”

For homeowners attending the Minneapolis Home + Garden Show, their advice is simple but firm: stay involved. 

“Pay attention to every aspect,” Leah says. “It’s a big babysitting job.”

Bringing Yacht Life Home

Audience members watching Sandy on stage at the Minneapolis Home + Garden show shouldn’t be surprised if she explores how yacht design principles can translate to everyday living (without requiring a superyacht budget). That includes sound insulation, lighting systems and thoughtful organization.

“On a boat, when your door closes, you don’t want to hear the sound of the engines,” Sandy explains. “So the insulation’s really big.”

Leah says she learned from Sandy that everything has a place. Although she jokes that she’s struggling with organizing all of her makeup.

Sandy teases her about needing to help her and buying organizational trays before sharing where that instinct comes from. 

“In training, we’re taught if there’s a fire, you better know where [the hose] is,” she recalls. “So if I don’t put the hose back where it belongs and it’s blackout and I can’t see and I go to reach for the hose, I’m not going to find it.”

They also acknowledge that some luxury upgrades can be smaller and surprisingly accessible (like heated toilets!), but ultimately, quality is a key decision driver in home design.

“What you pay for is what you get. I really believe that,” Sandy adds. “You pay cheap, you pay twice.”

A Larger Mission

While design brought Sandy to the Home + Garden Show, a bigger purpose currently drives much of her work.

Through her organization, Captain Sandy’s Charities, she’s helped develop middle and high school programs to spark interest and highlight industry careers both on land and at sea.

“I didn’t have that opportunity until I was 25,” she says. “I didn’t know about it.”

Her goal is to expand access, particularly for students who may not see themselves reflected in traditional career pipelines. 

“People like me; people who have come from the school of hard knocks,” she says. “Because we find ways, because you have to think outside the box a lot.”

Beyond technical skills, the program emphasizes life skills essential for long-term success.

“You’re learning people skills, you’re learning service, but you’re also learning how to show up,” Sandy says. “It’s going to teach them how to respect each other and themselves first, how to trust and also how to follow direction. And when you learn all those skills, then you become a leader.”

At the core of that philosophy is humility. 

“It didn’t make me less than the client,” she says of cleaning a guest’s shoes as a captain. “I’m just serving because that’s my job.”

Centered, Together

As the couple balances new ventures (including a new charter business and Leah’s upcoming skincare line), they keep returning to the same foundation.

“Just staying solid with each other and putting each other first,” Leah says. “And starting the day off mentally healthy.”

That grounding shows up in small moments: reciting the 12-step prayer, calls with overseas partners or shared dinners at home. It’s a reminder that even amid ambition, visibility and pressure, what matters most remains simple.

When Sandy takes the stage in Minneapolis, audiences may arrive curious about yachts or television fame. What they’ll likely leave with is something more lasting: a reminder that the most meaningful builds are the ones that happen slowly, intentionally and together.

The Minneapolis Home + Garden Show returns from February 25 to March 1. For more information or to buy tickets, visit homeandgardenshow.com.