Today we’d like to introduce you to Shenandoah Nieuwsma.
Hi Shenandoah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a weirdo in several ways, I think! I’m from Virginia, only two hours from here, but I never came this way. I had been a lifelong academic before making the very drastic shift into real estate. I got my BA in Philosophy in Indiana, then moved out west to Wyoming with my husband. After two somewhat boring years as an office assistant, I got my MA in American Studies at the University of Wyoming.
There I dabbled in Religious Studies and applied to a Ph.D. program at my first choice school, UNC. I got in! Then another surprise hit me in my first year: I was pregnant. Although it was incredibly alienating to be pregnant and then the mother of a baby in graduate school, I did it. Two years later, I had another baby. It was a long haul, but I graduated from the department with a Ph.D. in hand, the first woman in the history of the department to have had two babies during coursework.
I had experience teaching at Elon, UNC, and Duke, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after I graduated. The academic job market was nearly nonexistent, and becoming an academic administrator wasn’t appealing to me. I wanted to be at the bus stop at 3 pm, and a job that allowed some flexibility. I knew I’d have to switch gears. A neighbor had suggested that I try real estate. I laughed hard for about two weeks and then, one September evening, I signed up for my first class. I had no business background at all but had always had an entrepreneurial inkling. The learning curb was very steep. I wove my academic background and research experience into my branding, offering clients great data and sound logic so they could make the best decisions possible.
Fast-forward five years, and I’m growing a team. I have a relationship with the Frank Gallery in Chapel Hill and love to work with local artists to stage homes that I sell. It thrills me to promote local art and artists and make my client’s houses beautiful at the same time! My business experienced over 70% growth from last year, and Shenandoah Realty is becoming a recognized business in the Triangle area! I don’t think I could have ever envisioned that I’d own a growing business, learn from other amazing entrepreneurs, and indulge in passion projects like my work with the Frank Gallery, too.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There’s no such thing as a smooth road when you’re learning to do something completely different. At first, the greatest challenge for me was the identity shift required in doing something so different. I had to, internally in some sense, go from “academic” to “realtor.” I lost sleep for a few weeks over that and over having to tell my academic colleagues that I was doing something far afield.
The next challenge was just learning a new trade. You have to surround yourself with different people, you have different tools, you have to absorb different information. Even though I’ve enjoyed learning something new, it’s a challenge because you face a new set of fears. The expertise you developed in a different area doesn’t have much relevance or clout in the new area. You have to find a way to be competitive again in unfamiliar territory.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a kid, I was dragged to art museums in every city we visited.
Now, I’m very proud to say that I’m the only realtor in the Triangle (that I know of) who stages homes with gallery art. I’ve been collaborating for a few years now with the Frank Gallery in Chapel Hill to stage homes with their works. It brings me so much joy to be able to hang gorgeous art in homes and promote local artists while raising the look and feel of my client’s homes and ultimately netting them more money.
The efficiency of all of this thrills me, but I’ve also rediscovered a passion for art and I love infusing that into my business. I see houses as my canvas, and I deeply enjoy working with textures and colors to curate the kind of mood in houses I’m selling that buyers are looking for. I feel so lucky to be able to wed my creative passions with my business in a way that expands both!
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
It is hard to choose just one lesson, but if I had to, I’d say that the most important lesson I’ve learned (and continue to learn) is that people mirror your energy. If you put out to the world anxiety and a lack of confidence in what you’re doing, people will read you like that.
It sounds simple enough, but especially when you’re doing something new and you don’t have a lot of confidence, you’ve got to find some positive, forward-facing energy and emotion from somewhere. And when you do, people will be behind you, cheering you on.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: shenrealestate.com
- Instagram: @drshenandoah
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014404572396
Image Credits
Jennifer Mendoza and Chris Cherry
