At Inman Connect Las Vegas, July 30-Aug. 1, 2024, the noise and misinformation will be banished, all your big questions will be answered, and new business opportunities will be revealed. Join us.
Young women who become mothers as teenagers face stark odds.
Just 38 percent of girls who have a child before they turn 18 get their high school diplomas by the age of 22, according to the Urban Institute. Two-thirds of teen mothers who decide to move out of their family home live in poverty.
Sharelle Rosado, broker and CEO of Allure Realty, faced those odds and beat them.
After becoming a mother during her final year of high school in rural Alabama, Rosado quickly learned how important it was to support herself and her baby — and the only way she would be able to do that was through hard work and dedication.
“I knew growing up that I wanted the best,” Rosado told Inman. “As I got older, I wanted to have a better life. But I did hit some obstacles.”
Humble beginnings
Rosado grew up in Phenix City, Alabama, just on the border between Alabama and Georgia.
Her single mom raised Rosado and her two siblings on her own, keeping them involved in the local church community. Rosado was very competitive as a child and loved to participate in all kinds of sports. She appreciated all that her mom did for her and her siblings, but still dreamed of something bigger.
“My mom worked very hard for us, but I didn’t have the best upbringing that most people who become business owners have,” Rosado said.
When she became pregnant as a senior in high school, Rosado’s mindset shifted because she suddenly had another life to take care of. Her goals were now oriented toward providing security for her child and herself.
Building a military career
Rosado’s plans to go to college were upended by her pregnancy, so she sought out other opportunities to find stability and a path forward.
She decided to join the U.S. Army, not really knowing where it would lead, but realizing the benefits would be just what her small family needed.
“Going into the military, I didn’t have a plan,” Rosado explained. “I just knew I wanted benefits.”
For the next 13 years, Rosado worked for the military, completing two tours in Afghanistan.
Following those tours, Rosado was slated for assignment in Germany. At the time, however, she was going through a divorce and thought upending her life through a move to Europe would make her situation even more challenging. What she really wanted was to start fresh in a place that had always attracted her: Florida.
“So I called my branch manager and I was like, ‘Are there any positions in Florida?’ It’s an ongoing joke — I was like, ‘I’m trying to meet my future husband, Ochocinco,’ which is funny because I didn’t know him [at the time]; he was always my celebrity crush.”
Rosado is now engaged to Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, who was previously a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Rosado’s manager didn’t have any positions available in Miami at that time, where Johnson was located, but he did in Tampa, so Rosado made the move to the Gulf Coast city.
Finding real estate
Once settled in Florida, Rosado had started to consider a career outside of the military. She recalled the interaction she had with her real estate agent when purchasing her first home, which stuck with her.
“Going out looking at homes, I loved it,” Rosado said. “The broker at the time was like, ‘You would be very successful at this — you’re a people person, you seem like you have a passion for homes.’ And that always stuck in my head.”
Rosado’s new position in the military was a bit less taxing, so she decided to pursue her real estate license while continuing to work full-time. She eventually started practicing on the weekends and was gaining momentum as a leading agent in the area, despite only practicing part-time.
That seemed like a clear sign to transition to real estate as a full-time gig. So, Rosado gained experience with RE/MAX for two years and then decided she was ready to get licensed as a broker and launch her own firm, Allure Realty, in 2019.
Growing pains and reality TV
Launching her own brokerage shortly into starting her own real estate career was a challenge for Rosado.
“I went through a lot of ups and downs,” the broker told Inman. “I thought all it took was marketing. With marketing came great things, and we ended up having a show on Netflix, but then I didn’t have the foundation for my brokerage.”
Rosado learned that she had to invest in training for her agents so that they could build a successful foundation for their careers. She ended up partnering with various real estate coaches and trainers who specialize in different areas so that her agents could get regular training throughout the year. Rosado also recently teamed up with white-label firm LPT Realty, which also allows her to take a back seat when it comes to organizing training and coaching for agents so that she can focus on other aspects of the business.
When reality TV producers started approaching Rosado to highlight them in a series, she realized that she could only go into such a project knowing that she had responsible partners who would show the firm in its best light. She ended up reaching out to Netflix producers herself with a pitch, and they were interested. The streaming network decided to highlight Allure Realty and its agents as they navigated Tampa’s luxury waterfront market in a show called Selling Tampa.
Season 1 of Selling Tampa was filmed during the pandemic, which became very challenging, but Rosado said it was all worth it.
“People didn’t want cameras and a lot of people in their homes,” she explained. “It was very difficult for us, but we made it work, and we created something that was never seen on TV, with a group of Black women who dabble into the luxury [market].”
“It was an amazing experience,” she added.
There’s no plan in the works for a Season 2 of Selling Tampa, but Rosado is currently filming for a completely separate project. Unfortunately, she couldn’t reveal many details.
“You may see a lot of development; you may see a lot of real estate,” she teased.
Social media and future plans
Since she launched her brokerage in 2019, Rosado has found niches in the luxury, new development, military relocation and government contract spaces. Those niches naturally evolved from her own lived experience and the strengths of the markets in which she operates. Allure Realty now services Tampa, Miami and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Next, Rosado will be partnering with a development company to build affordable housing in Tampa.
“The prices here are crazy,” Rosado said. “So your middle class can’t afford a nice home without paying crazy money. We want to change that.”
As an Inman Influencer, Rosado also uses social media to level up her business. Specifically, Rosado uses the tool to give potential clients a glimpse into her lifestyle and personality so that they’re more likely to feel comfortable choosing her as their agent.
“Most of my clients love who I am and they feel like they can relate to me, especially athlete-wise, because of the lifestyle I live,” Rosado said. “I don’t want to overfeed them with just real estate stuff. People don’t want to see that. They want to see what you’re doing, how you’re living, where you eat, where you shop, where you hang out.”
She also uses social media to keep up on trends that her daughter may be into, or simply to try and brighten someone else’s day.
“It’s so serious in the world today,” Rosado said. “I definitely try to use it to make funny little Reels or keep up with trends with my daughter.”
Coming full circle
Rosado hopes that if people learn something from her story, it’s that anything is possible.
“Don’t ever think that you can’t do it,” she told Inman. “I grew up in a small, little town and I never would have thought that I would be where I’m at today. If you dream something, no matter how big it is, go for it. Don’t let anybody or anything stop you. You fall, get back up and keep trying.”
Rosado told Inman that when she first launched her brokerage, she had to largely rely on her own gumption and determination to get her business off the ground.
But she actually did have a mentor whom she learned from and looked up to — although he was completely unaware of his influence on Rosado.
“What’s crazy is, before I opened up my brokerage, I learned from Ryan Serhant,” Rosado revealed. “He doesn’t know this, but he was a big mentor for me. I signed up for his Mastermind class, and I just used to take everything that he put out there. I definitely looked up to him as a young agent first starting off in this industry, and still do to this day.”
The difference is that today, Rosado can call herself Serhant’s peer because, in what can only be described as a full-circle moment, Rosado now finds herself in the same, second-annual class of Inman Influencers alongside Ryan Serhant.
Get Inman’s Luxury Lens Newsletter delivered right to your inbox. A weekly deep dive into the biggest news in the world of high-end real estate delivered every Friday. Click here to subscribe.
Email Lillian Dickerson
