I was working with my uncles in the Jura region of France, helping them distribute their line of snowboards throughout the world. It was important to me since my grandfather was a ski-maker and we wanted this family business to strive. I came to New York in 1997 to learn English and planned to return to France afterward to be a better asset to the business. Unfortunately, their business collapsed while I was in New York, and their company got acquired by Rossignol, a leader in the ski industry, for just 1 French Franc at the time! (This was before the Euro). Luckily my uncles managed to rebound after over 10 years of success and 600,000 boards produced, and I managed to rebounded myself in Real Estate after finding and completing an internship in the city.

I realized how much I loved working with people, and I was always interested in architecture and design, so it was probably a good road to take!

I went through a lot! As a boss running a company, it was making decisions as far as how many agents I hire, whether I take an employee on payroll, what direction do I want the company to take in the near future, should I join a bigger company, and a super-team, etc.

Then of course the industry always goes through ups and downs. We managed to survive the sub-prime crisis in 2008 by diversifying our revenue stream. We started managing properties for individuals who own apartments and need someone to take care of it, and we started offering interior design and staging services. During Covid, I think it helped that my operating costs as an independent company were limited and I had multiple revenue streams thanks to diversifying into property management, and I was able to keep my team in place. But it was very tough. I also managed to keep the office that we had just redesigned before Covid. We added a salon/barbershop booth for fun since I cut my own hair and a few friends' hair... I've since given a real haircut to a good client who embraced my initial concept of 'buy an apartment, get a free haircut', probably a first in NYC! We are pros but always have fun in everything we do!

I have worked with 2 different brokerages before I went on my own and created HarmoNYCity in 2004.

My first brokerage was New York Habitat in Manhattan from 1997-1999. I was tasked with creating and developing the roommate/shares business. It was very challenging and hard because you not only needed people to like the apartment (and their room) but also their future roommates. And I convinced people to rent rooms over the phone without seeing any pictures (sending pictures was slow with dial-up internet), let alone an in-person visit! I learned so much as far as convincing people and being a salesperson, even though it was difficult to share accurate information about the properties

In 1999, I followed the top agent at New York Habitat, who left to start her own company. The founder was the best salesperson ever; she started out working at a department store's cosmetics counter. I will always be amazed at her capacity to sell over the phone and solve any issues. I would even say that might be the most important skill I took from her, and that has helped me immensely when dealing with my agents, owners, clients, etc. But the brokerage wouldn't trust me to handle a sale, so I left in 2004 to prove them wrong!

Since 2004, I have been with the company I created, HarmoNYCity.

I never really got any official awards, but I will always remember important milestones in my career (first sale, first property management mandate, dealing with very successful people/celebrities, first sale sight unseen, highest sale, first staging, etc., but to me, the best reward is always when you get a nice referral from an existing client. I remember one I got from a lawyer who I helped find a temporary rental, who then referred me to one of my biggest investor clients, from Rome, Italy.

You also always remember the cruelest transactions that never happened. It's a tough business and sometimes it hurts. But my successes keep me going. Right now, my dream would be to help an NYC-based professional basketball player find the right accommodation, as I'm a big basketball fan.

My biggest accomplishment overall is maybe staying in the business after 9/11, and keeping HarmoNYCity alive throughout the years (2008, Sandy, and now Covid)! You really need to be NY tough if you want to make it here!

Well, we are salespeople, so I would say my proudest moment was a big sale, we're not going to lie! It was when a foreign investor arrived in NYC just one weekend, wanting to purchase one property, and I ended up selling him two properties! One in a prewar landmark building in Brooklyn previously called the Williamsburg Bank Building and one in a luxury building in the Financial District. From the balcony of his property in FiDi, he could see his other property across the river in Brooklyn! I offered the client a framed vintage photograph of the Williamsburg Bank Building that we placed next to the window of the FiDi apartment next to a Le Corbusier LC4 chaise-longue. I realized that day that I had to be a good broker, that there was a reason a very successful businessman put his money in my hands, and that I had been able to gain his trust! I was really proud of myself for having organized everything very well during that weekend. With the broker fees from those two purchases, I almost bought a fancy car, but reason won out and I used it to pay down my mortgage. I still treated myself with a fancy watch though!

I learned real estate the old-school way, selling through the phone so I appreciate new tools, such as virtual tours, 3-D renderings, etc. but I always tell my agents to pick up the phone and engage in a conversation. Lately, we have been taking a lot of real-time videos that we send through to clients. It's been helpful throughout the pandemic, as many of our overseas clients cannot visit NYC. We communicate with our clients through multiple channels: email, phone, and Whatsapp/group texts. When we visit a property on behalf of a client who cannot see it in person, we take a video of the visit, and offer our candid impressions, as that's the closest the client can come to see the apartment and surroundings, and the clients have come to trust my opinions.

Group chats also allowed me to involve my tenants in a lighting redesign project, giving them access to the designer and the contractors, when the previous track lighting system in their apartment gave out. That's a small way to improve everyone's experience and make everybody feel involved. We want our clients to be fully satisfied, we never rush anything, them happy in 6 months is us happy in 6 months.

When we list a property, we'd rather show it in person because like I was previously saying, it's a complex process to rent or buy here, and you really do need to see the place and walk in it to get a true feel for the space. Even if I put a virtual tour in my listing, I prefer to get the client to see the place in person. Speaking of technology that could help show properties in a new light, if we were outside of New York we would definitely Invest in drone technology to film the surroundings, but it's complicated here.

Good online reviews are beneficial, for sure.

We aim to put great effort to satisfy our clientele, and we get the majority of our new business from client/partner referrals and word of mouth.

I think our main advantage when it comes to prospective buyers is that we are very patient because we are used to educating clients. There are so many elements to take into consideration when you're looking for a home to buy: neighborhoods, the notion of maintenance fees, RET, board packages, etc. It's a lot and you don't see such complexity in other markets, so you really have a lot to explain. Our clients feel this, and it's the reason we've been around for 17 years and counting as a boutique Real Estate firm. We even made it through the pandemic. We act as the between small landlords who are our clients, and their tenants. During the pandemic, we spent considerable time negotiating with both parties to help find solutions for the tenants to stay.

When we represent sellers, I definitely think our major advantage is our passion for interior design and staging. We stage their properties for free and don't ask for compensation upon closing as most competitors do. We just take pleasure in helping our sellers show the full potential of their home to buyers, and take care of all of the logistics and details for staging and then for showings. We know that when a buyer sees the home for the first time, it's their impression after the first 10 seconds that counts, and they may remember a unique artwork we hung or a piece of furniture that caught their eye. We work with local artists and vendors of vintage furniture and decor when we complete a staging.

On top of this, we have developed a network of general and specialized contractors, with whom I've completed extensive renovations, both for myself and on behalf of my clients. From all my experience working with contractors, I've become quite a good project/site manager. Since a good project manager makes a big difference for large and small renovations, I feel this is worth mentioning!