I got into real estate by accident. While in college, I was working with a broker to find an apartment and ended up meeting the owner of the firm—who quickly offered me a job. I turned it down. But a month later, while applying for a job at Starbucks, I realized real estate sounded a lot more interesting, so I jumped in.

 

I started helping clients with rentals in Lower Manhattan and quickly fell in love with the industry. As I grew within the company, I realized I was hitting a ceiling. That’s when I launched Real NYC Apartments on TikTok. What began as a hobby—filming apartments I was already seeing—quickly took off. Viewers became clients, often telling me they preferred our videos to scrolling through listings.

 

Around that time, I met Manan Shah—we were at the same firm and both passionate about content. While building our separate brands (Real NYC Apartments and Shah Realty), we started collaborating on social media and quickly saw the power of combining real estate with digital storytelling.

 

Eventually, we joined Compass to take our businesses to the next level. From there, Manan and I partnered with Corissa Nadrowski and Lindsay Nelms of the Nelms Nadrowski Team to form Social Estates—a joint venture blending modern social media marketing with over a decade of traditional real estate experience. Together, we give clients the best of both worlds: massive reach and personalized expertise.

 

Running Real NYC Apartments has been an incredible journey. I’m humbled by how many people connect with our content and trust us to help them find their next home. From recent grads to celebrities and retirees, we’ve helped all kinds of New Yorkers—and we’re just getting started.