Talisha has had a 17-year career in financial services, top executive C-Suite Search, and in the commercial real estate industry, where she uses her lending knowledge to help grow portfolios and build family wealth at SVN Commercial Partners. She is a proud Rotarian and enjoys speaking to up-and-coming advisors as a guest panelist at commercial real estate conferences, trainings, and mentorship opportunities. She serves on the Board of Directors for Our Mother’s Home, a local non-profit that provides a safe and nurturing environment for young moms in foster care and their babies, and has been a “Dress for Success” speaker and mentor for many women. Talisha is a Junior Achievement Hall of Fame Advisory board member and recently was a recipient of the prestigious Woman of Distinction award for her acts of kindness over the years.

Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Grew up extremely poor and learned quickly that I needed to be the hardest worker in the room. After 13 years in the banking world as a business banker, Commercial Lender, Private client manager, Branch manager, and teller, I was laid off at the young age of 45. Talk about starting over. For many years I was offered sales jobs because of my community involvement and my reputation. I finally had no choice and my goodness, am I thankful. I quickly jumped in head first, got my real estate license and started learning the market and industry from the Commercial side. Turns out, having lending knowledge is a true asset to clients and investors and with my reputation as a prior highly regarded banker, I am able to collaborate with other partners to provide full-service expert advice to my clients. I am not afraid to bring the retail, land, or multifamily power team to the table for my client, which is unusual in this industry, especially as one of the few female commercial real estate advisors. Collaboration and clapping for my team along with building a strong understanding for my clients is my focus.

What was the “Aha Moment” that led to the creation of your current company?
Careers don’t exist. Interests exist, pursue those and dive deep. You will see the seed you sow, it may take years, maybe even close to 50 like it did with me, but you will see the growth. Because you pursued an interest, it will be much more enjoyable and fun. Some of my favorite moments are when I have a client say, “Talisha, you helped me create a family legacy.” That legacy is forever. Seriously, what a beautiful picture that is, and those are the moments I’m in pursuit of. That’s not a career, that’s a love affair.

What do you think makes your company stand out?
It’s an untold story in CRE, but people don’t like to share commissions. I know, shocker. SVN prides itself on Co-broking, and although it’s not a popular idea in most of the industry, it helps clients get the best asset for their portfolio and, ultimately a greater return on their investment. No egos and no jerks allowed, only white glove VIP service with a deliberately different approach to advising with the highest level of market knowledge and experience. The “Good ole boys” days of Commercial real estate are done, and with less than 30% women in most brokerages, SVN Commercial Partners has more than 50% women, with many of those women being in this industry for 20-plus years. Let’s collaborate and work together, trust me, it works!

What has been your favorite moment in your career so far?
Ironically, I would say the smaller moments are generally my favorite. Celebrating with a client that is now a cancer survivor, seeing my children learn to shake hands and carry a conversation with a prestigious person in our community, or watching a new foster care mom learn a skill that will open the door for her and the children she cares for, to me, that is living. After Hurricane Ian, my views have changed, understandably. Feeding 3000 plus hurricane survivors was a huge honor, and to see my team of women that I have served on boards with and had as clients in the past rally together to deliver hot meals was probably one of my favorites thus far, along with winning the prestigious woman of distinction award for my years of spreading kindness around South Florida. Moments like those are so fleeting that I just keep trying to recreate them and hope that as a community advocate, I can. That’s my wish.

What measure do you use to determine success?
I would say who did I inspire today? That would be a successful day. Otherwise, raising decent, beautiful humans that have a heart for the community and have a hustle that fires them up would be a big win as well as a Mom. Maybe, just maybe, I show the world you can be kind and be a badass in an industry that doesn’t play small. Success is a moving target, no doubt,

What piece of advice has impacted you the most?
I know this is probably a shocker to most, but nobody really has all of this figured out. You are supposed to learn daily, make mistakes and apologize when necessary. Give grace and keep it moving!

What message would you like to give to anybody who has a plan of creating something of their own and making a living through it?
Be smarter than average, much smarter. Make people want to know you. Learning the industry is about effort, learning the market is about discipline, and learning about your client’s needs is about your heart to help. Money is never a good motivator to start and don’t expect to make money if you don’t put in the work, and I mean a lot of work. Admit you are unsure when necessary and come back with the knowledge to answer. No one is looking for perfection, they are looking for an advisor who cares about their family enough to make a strong case to sell or buy. It’s someone’s life savings, it’s a non-profit’s attempts at saving a teenage mom, or it’s a father’s gift to his grandchildren. This is powerful, do the work to be the best and call a mentor when you get discouraged. You got this!

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