Ugly Duckling to Model Beauty to Real Estate

Anna May was born in Taiwan and came to the United States as an infant. She grew up in a blue collar family in the city of Hayward, CA where growing up was not always easy.  Her family lived in a small house in an average neighborhood, where she would take the car on the weekends and drive to open houses to see how other people lived.  Anna knew what she wanted from the beginning. She wanted to run a restaurant and be involved in real estate, and she did both.

Anna’s work/life balance was shaped at the early age of 16.  She modeled, traveled the world, earned her high school degree and eventually was hired as a loan officer where she was recognized as a top producer twice in her six months of employment.  Eventually Anna got married and ended up running a small chain of restaurants in the Bay area. She used her real estate skills to negotiate leases, and to negotiate construction sites. She never lost those skills just kept honing them into different aspects.  From loans to retail leasing to construction management, it was all related.

Today, Anna has a fulfilling work/life in real estate but continues to model, act and gives back to her community every way she can.  Everything she does in her life from her business to the charities she supports to the organizations she serves on, everything is connected.  She’s always looking for ways to support her real estate business in addition to supporting each of these non-profits and her community.

What to listen for in this episode:

• Owning restaurants and real estate has fulfilled a very basic need that people have, food and shelter.  

• Real estate is the craft of serving people.

• No matter how old or how young you are put yourself out there and do something different even if it's painful.