Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Bertin-Queena.
Hi Lisa, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Lisa Bertin-Queena and my career path to get to where I am today has certainly been full of a lot of twists and turns. I’m originally from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. My husband is American and we were married in Canada 25 years ago (this June). My career aspirations were originally to be the next Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer. I went to college for Broadcast Journalism and dreamed of being a television news anchor… which I did! I started working at a small radio station on Moncton, New Brunswick, but after marrying my husband, we moved to Burlington, Iowa for my first radio job in the states. From there, I got my first television job as a news anchor/reporter in Quincy, Illinois. Then became main news anchor in Wausau, Wisconsin… then main Anchor for Fox News in Omaha, Nebraska. It took about six years to work my way up to this point.
Then the best thing in the world happened to me and I became a mom. My son T.J was born and priorities did a major 360. I decided to get out of the news business when my son was just under a year old because the job wasn’t the best for raising a child. So we decided to move back to Canada and raise him there. We stayed in Canada for two years, I worked in Television Sales, selling advertising campaigns and was the top sales rep in the country my first year on the job. But, we quickly realized that we did not want to stay in Canada… too cold and not a lot of opportunities and decided to sell our house, pack up our lives and move to Florida… without jobs!! Super scary, but we figured worst case scenario…we’d flip burgers if we had to! Luckily my husband had cousins in Florida who let us stay with them for the first week. We found a home to rent and my husband got a job in the first month just as our money was about to run out. Then I got a job selling radio advertising… which I hated, but I needed work. I did that for about a year, then I got a new job working for the American Cancer Society managing the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. My career at that point shifted to fundraising. I stayed at ACS for a few years, then got a job as Director of Special Events at Give Kids The World… awesome organization!! I was there for three years and decided to start my own business Video Queen Productions. I worked at growing my business, which proved to be much more difficult than I thought and after a few years, decided to get back into the workforce to pay the bills.
I got my Real Estate License and started working at Westgate selling vacation properties. I stayed there for two years and was laid off. I went back to working in non-profit and got a job a The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, where I was for just over a year, then Covid hit and I lost my job. Just before I lost my job, my husband and I sold our home and bought a new construction. Alayna Phillips with EXP Realty was our Agent and did an awesome job. Seeing how she had lots of flexibility and joy for her work made me start thinking that I should give Real Estate a try. Honestly, it was always something I had thought about doing because I love looking at houses and I love helping people and I already had my license… which I worked really hard to get, so why not?! I picked Alayna’s brain about the brokerage she was working for and decided EXP would be a great fit for me. Alayna also helped me find a team at EXP that I could join who helps mentor me and train me.
So far, I’m absolutely loving my new career path! I’ve sold seven properties in just my first three months and I’m working with over 20 buyers to help them find their dream homes. It’s definitely a challenge at the moment with inventory levels so low in Florida, but I can honestly say this is the most fun I’m having at a job ever! It’s especially rewarding when I get to tell a client that our offer got accepted and they are getting a new home!! I am a very faith-based person and I believe God puts you where he wants you to be. I believe that in his divine wisdom, he saw how being a Realtor would be the perfect fit for me. I’m truly blessed to have this career, the people surrounding me to help me be successful and an amazing family who is cheering me on every step of the way!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to get to where I am today has definitely been full of twists and turns but so far on my path as a Realtor, things have been fairly smooth. I have a great team that is helping mentor and train me… there is so much to learn in this profession… and I’m working with amazing clients. The biggest challenge in choosing a Real Estate career is typically how to pay the bills while building up your business, but luckily I had some funds that we could access, so everything is going great there as well. Smooth sailing so far. I’ve been very fortunate.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I still have my Video production company and am using that to differentiate myself from other Realtors. I’ve been creating informative videos that I share on my social media and I offer these services to other Realtors as well. I still love to dabble in my former television world, so on the side I also do media training with professionals from around the world. I train CEO’s and executives how to present themselves on camera and conduct television interviews or public speaking events. I recently trained several doctors with the World Health Organization to prepare them for national television interviews regarding Covid. My passion is to help others, so it makes me really proud when I get the opportunity to do so.
What are your plans for the future?
My future plans are to be a successful Realtor, help a lot of families find their dream homes and invest in rental properties. I can’t tell you how many people I have met who are young and retired and they did it by owning several rental properties. So that’s my goal because eventually, we’d like to retire on the beach somewhere in Florida and do lots of traveling.
Contact Info:
- Email: Lisa.Bertin-Queena@EXPRealty.com
- Website: https://lisabertinqueena.exprealty.com
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/pKo4YUXVHoQ
Image Credits
Paul Queena (husband), T.J Queena (Son)
