Today we’d like to introduce you to Normarie Naim.
Hi Normarie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Normarie Naim, I am from Puerto Rico, my husband Samir is from Venezuela. We met in Orlando, FL. I was almost 17 years when I met him. We both graduated from our respective schools of Business, and we got married in Nov 2001. During this period we started our first business together, we bought a children’s clothing store in Orlando with the help from our parents.
As life happens, I became a mother early, I have three children! We looked very young with three kids! In 2004, my husband got his real estate license, he did well in real estate and we wound up moving to the Dr. Phillips area in Orlando. Things started changing very quickly for us! Our real estate ventures were paying off, we were experiencing financial growth and stability, we were able to buy a total of 8 properties, a combination of houses, apartments and our dream beach apartment with an ocean view. Everything felt like a dream since we accomplished so much at a young age. I look back and wow, we were so young, still in our 20’s!
At the same time, we were growing our Real Estate portfolio, we opened a second children’s store in Kissimmee, Fl. and during that time, I decided to step back from the children’s stores. I left it in charge of my best friend and my mom to focus on my kids and to become a work at home mom. I spent long hours and months creating a clothing line for girls called Yuli n‘ Grace Couture, where I ended up selling chic tutus with rhinestones Swarovski crystals and cute outfits to boutiques in the USA,PR and Mexico. I was lucky enough to get the attention of young actresses in Hollywood, who were wanting to dress from my unique boutique brand for red carpet and events. Due to the success of this line of clothes, many girls wanted to dress with our outfits made with high-end fabrics, our tutus were selling like hotcakes for special occasions like birthdays, weddings and photo sessions. As a result, we were able to get popular girls to model for our brand, just to name a few names, Hollywood actress Joey King, Disney’s Darling Rowan Blanchard and Kaitlyn Maher, among others.
Going back to our Real Estate Portfolio, all the properties were rented and we had a pretty good rental income until one of the worst times in our life came. After having it all, we lost everything. In 2008, the Housing market crash affected us is such a way that little by little, we started losing our properties, houses lost value, and tenants stopped paying rents. We went through a very scary dark moment. At this point in our lives we decided to move to LA in 2010 to start all over, to start from zero. Another hard moment came, in 2011 my father passed away and I felt depressed, and destroyed. It felt like everything was lost , not only that, but my son got a tumor that appeared on the side of his forehead overnight, it grew very large and he needed urgent surgery. Doctors said there was a chance that half of his face could be paralyzed since the tumor was in a delicate place where he had a nerve. Those were the hardest moments of my life! I couldn’t imagine my healthy boy going through a situation like that. Words can’t describe how I felt.
I am a person of faith, which made me reconnect with God. I cried so much during those moments, I cried out loud many nights, praying nonstop for a miracle in my son’s life, at the same time, I needed God to heal my pain, I missed my dad terribly. I saw God’s hand! It took time, but after a few consultations with surgeons, the surgery was performed and my son got healed! After a year of trying to recover emotionally, I realized and accepted that everything happens for a reason, I was healed little by little. My pain started going away.
My faith, my husband and my mom were my rock during that time. Life was not the same, but I had to be strong for my kids. During that time, I had too much time on my hands to think about what I wanted to do in my life, deep inside of me, I’ve always wanted to be a journalist. I wanted to live that experience. Many people thought that I was crazy, haha, but this was an experience that really taught me that NOTHING is impossible in LIFE.
In 2015, we moved back to Florida from Los Angeles, I went back to school to study journalism, meanwhile, my husband took care of the kids and got his Real Estate License again, but it was hard for him at the beginning of 2015 to find buyers ready to buy or clients ready to sell, IT TOOK TIME, IT WAS NOT EASY!.
During that time, I was blessed to get a Full-time job as a journalist for Univision, so whoever tells you, it is TOO late to start all over, I always say GO AHEAD AND TRY IT! Everything is possible!!… but that journey was a short one for me! My kids needed me and that made me think lots of things so I decided to take a break. A short break! I thought that it was going to be a short break, but it has been a long one!
I got my real estate license. Now I am working full-time as a Realtor with my husband. Believe it or Not, TikTok has been a huge part of our story, we opened an account during the pandemic just to spy on our girls, we were bored and wanted to see what kind of videos they were making, they told us “Mami, TikTok is only for kids, not adults!!” :)… We couldn’t resist to make some funny videos, to our surprise, our account started growing like crazy, today we have 1.3 Million followers on our main account, which has helped a lot to grow our business in a way we never imagined. We also opened a second account just for Real Estate needs.
Honestly, I am living the best of both worlds. I can spend lots of time with the kids, we can travel here and there whenever we want to and still work in a good rewarding job from home, from the office, or from the beach! Not only that, but the best part is that I get to help families every day, families that dreamt of having their first house, but they couldn’t in the past for some reason. With our free advice, we are dedicated to help them make those dreams a reality! Helping families, it is our passion.
As a couple, there are still so many things we want to do, more goals we want to accomplish, but as of right now, we are so happy to be where we are. It is a dream for me to work with my husband doing something I love! We are focused, working a lot, enjoying the moment, and enjoying every opportunity!
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Traveling with my dad.
Contact Info:
- Email: infodesk.naimgroup@gmail.com
- Instagram: normarie_naim and @naimrealestateteam
- Youtube: Familia Naim
- Other: tiktok @normarie.y.samir
