TICKLED PINK:
Andrea Tan shares why being a woman is always an advantage
Pink has long since been attributed to the female gender. With the rise of feminism, a lot of people have started looking down on this color; women reject any association to it because it’s “too feminine” or “too girly,” but the true mark of feminism is doing things that make women feel empowered and comfortable in their own skin.
For Andrea Mozo Angel-Tan, her color of choice is pink and she’s taking the real estate world by storm with her pink hair while seated on her pink office chair, sipping a cup of coffee from her pink mug.
As Andrea’s real estate company, Steeple Real Estate Brokerage, celebrates its fourth anniversary on May 13, 2023, read on to discover how she started and how she’s doing.
The road to real estate
Andrea is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Steeple Real Estate Brokerage, and like most women, her road to success wasn’t paved in gold. Andrea had to work hard and push herself to get to where she is now, and she’s not done yet. She has been in sales since college, where she worked as sales assistant and party host in a fast-food chain. She was a working student throughout most of her college life. In 2005, she started working as a medical representative for a multinational pharmaceutical company. After 10 years working there, circumstances changed and she needed to look for alternatives.
“I was on maternity leave then,” she said. “And I was looking for a job with flexible hours which could allow me to work from home so I could watch over my children and sick mother.” Her first thought was to start selling rice or open a sari-sari store, but a meeting with her college classmate put her on the path to real estate, and that’s where she flourished. “I got a taste of the rewards in real estate, and I never looked back.”
Andrea joined a realty and was the consistent top agent for three years before she founded Steeple Real Estate Brokerage in 2019. The connections she’d built over the years as a medical representative were fundamental to establishing her reputation in the real estate industry. She goes above and beyond for her clients and builds professional relationships that have lasted years.
Forming genuine connections through excellent service
Andrea had an edge when she started working in real estate because of her background in sales, and she understands that not everyone could have that same privilege, but she does provide a comprehensive list of ways a budding real estate agent can make a stronger impact towards clients and form genuine connections.
She advised: “You cannot sell something you don’t know, and knowledge is capital in this business. You get that knowledge by committing yourself to the business.” This commitment is shown by attending trainings, seminars, launches, to build one’s connections and knowledge; “You just have to be there and learn.”
It’s not easy to succeed in the real estate industry, which is why Andrea advises everyone to pray and never give up: “There will be a lot of heartaches and pains in real estate. Padayon lang.” And even if you’ve already achieved success, she emphasized the importance of maintaining client relationships and continuing to provide excellent service. “Being on top is a blessing, but staying on top is a privilege. Take care and be grateful of that privilege,” she concluded.
Being a woman in the industry
Presentation plays a big factor in sales. “You need to dress up every day,” Andrea said. “Clients will look at you from top to bottom, not at your résumé.” She believes in “power dressing,” which is a practice that encourages one to don clothes as if they were armor; because in the sales industry, it is armor.
From Andrea’s experience, being a woman in real estate is an advantage because women can easily adapt to their client’s moods and control the flow of the conversation appropriately. “Men,” she said, “are too plain.” According to her, male real estate agents are very straightforward and rarely take the time to form an emotional connection with their clients. Women are more inclined to establish a bond to “warm-up” the client before diving into the details of their investment.
Andrea observes, acknowledges, and respects the strength of a woman in any relationship. Whenever she has married couples as clients, she knows that the wife is usually the deciding factor in any major decision. “Once you get the wife to say yes, the husband will follow. Happy wife, happy life,” she joked. “That’s the power of a woman.”
On empowering more women in the workplace
It is important for women to lift each other up instead of pulling each other down, especially in the workplace. “If you see something good in her, praise her for it, and if you don’t have anything good to say, just shut up,” Andrea said.
Women, according to her, are very particular when it comes to approval and adoration: “Life is not a competition. It’s a journey. So, if you can help other women do their journey well, do it.” For Andrea, the competition lies in one’s self. Everyone must strive to be a better version of themselves instead of tearing other women down.
“Lig-on kayo ta’ng mga babae,” Andrea declared in Cebuano—“We women are very resilient.”
The 2007 “Legally Blonde” musical that swept Broadway by storm has a saying that goes, “Being true to yourself never goes out of style.” This is a phrase that suits Andrea because instead of rejecting the notion that the color pink is delicate, she embraces this color wholeheartedly and wields her femininity to her advantage—and she’s succeeding.
By being herself, Andrea was able to rise from all adversities and personify the power and might of a woman. While prospering as the founder, president, chief executive officer, and a very productive sales agent of Steeple Real Estate Brokerage, she gracefully carries the responsibility of being sales manager of BE Residences – Diamonds. She is a singer, a mother, and a wife; Andrea Mozo Angel-Tan is an inspiration for women everywhere.
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