?I remember when I was 14 years of age, in a bomb shelter in Sarajevo,? begins this week?s real estate pro, Senada Adzem.
?It was so scary, with bombs exploding everywhere. I remember very clearly one night, when the worst of the bombing happened ? eight hours straight ? and I didn?t know if I was going to live or die. We had no electricity, kids were crying and old ladies were sitting in little beach chairs,? she continues.
?In candle light I was looking at these pictures in a magazine of a beautiful place called Fiji. I thought then and there, ?If I ever get to live ? to survive, to get a second lease on life ? this is the place I?m going.?
Adzem has just returned from a Tony Robbins Life Mastery getaway in Fiji, fulfilling the promise she made to herself as a little girl. ?It was a very humbling experience,? she said.
From a childhood consumed with hiding from bombs, snipers and those who wanted nothing more than to ethnically cleanse her from the face of the earth, to tooling around Boca Raton, Fla. in her Maserati, Senada Adzem?s life is an amazing tale.
Arrival in the U.S.
Adzem was one of two people in her country who won academic scholarships to Graceland University ? a small, private school in Iowa. John Menzies, U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia, sat on the board of directors of the school and was responsible for bringing the young girl to the U.S. in 1996.
At the university, she majored in international business and political science. ?My dream was always to become a diplomat,? Adzem recalls. ?I wanted to work in international relations.?
During summer break every year, Adzem would go to Washington, D.C. and study at American University while interning at several organizations, including the Middle East Institute, the U.S. Institute of Peace and at the Bosnian embassy.
After graduating, Adzem found herself in New York, working for a venture capitalist firm. She recalls helping a friend put together some research for the Trump organization.
?I helped him out with the study into the potential of Florida and Nevada as the organization?s second home state,? she began. ?I got called in for a conversation. I thought it was just to explain what my conclusions were and how I came to them,? she recalled. ?In fact, I got an offer right there and then to become an analyst working on various Trump International projects in Florida and Nevada.?
She accepted the offer and worked her way up from an analyst to vice president of marketing for several Trump International projects.
Fast forward to 2006 and Adzem receives a job offer from the CEO of the Corcoran Group to work on a project in Florida.
It?s a phenomenal company, very impressive,? Adzem said of the Corcoran Group. So she left New York for Florida and ?started a whole new chapter in my life,? she said. ?I love it. I?ve been here since.?
The Next Chapter
Adzem got her real estate license in 2006, in Florida, while working with the Corcoran Group. She determined that Boca Raton was an incredible and under-served market and, sadly, Corcoran wasn?t planning on opening an office there.
Fearless should be Adzem?s middle name, for what she did next took guts.
I went to Corcoran?s biggest competitor, which was Douglas Elliman in New York,? she began. ?I told them, ?Give me an office and give me a budget for an assistant, and I will recruit agents, and I will put your name on the map in Palm Beach County.??
That was about 18 months ago. ?I told them at the time that within a year not only was I going to put Douglas Elliman?s name on the map in Palm Beach County,? she continued, ?but I was going to be the number one agent with Douglas Elliman. You know what? I did it,? she laughed. ?I got it done. Right now I?m so proud of that. ?
Adzem is currently the director of luxury sales for Douglas Elliman offices in Florida. She oversees her own team of seven, who focus exclusively on high net worth clients.
There is no Box
Adzem handles a lot of off-market transactions that tend to be a bit challenging.
?I have a lot of clients who don?t want their name in the press,? she explained. ?They?re Russian business people or Europeans who are very private, and they don?t want their property in the MLS or in magazines,? she continued.
?It?s not even thinking outside of the box,? that gets the homes sold, she said. ?I always say, ?Erase the box. Forget about the box. How do we do this???
Charity events and cocktail receptions seem to do the trick, according to Adzem. ?I?ll also fly up to New York for three days and host a cocktail reception at the best restaurants, and present my properties. I?ll also go to the different Douglas Elliman offices and present my properties.?
Adzem has learned that to get a property sold she needs to go to wherever potential clients might be. If she knows that several Brazilians have purchased in a building where she?s taken a listing, she will fly to Brazil or connect with top agents there.
?I had a building where three or four people from the Netherlands bought. I thought, ?The Dutch like this building,? so I went to Amsterdam,? she laughed.
The Adzem Lifestyle
It?s a pity she can?t meet up with Slobodan Milosevic in a dark alley some night. She is certainly no longer the meek 14-year-old girl hiding from his terror. In her spare time, Adzem practices mixed martial arts. She is, in fact, the only female in Boca Raton who is training with Blackzilian teams.
She is also very involved in Palm Beach County?s philanthropic community.
One wonders where she finds the time, but Adzem is beginning work on translating her war journals ? a chronicle of her experiences and those of the people she knew.
?It took me many, many years of work, particularly with Tony Robbins, to get closure on my past,? she said.
?I am inspired by being able to tell the story on behalf of the women or girls who did not make it. On behalf of all the people who lived there and lived through the same thing I did, but unfortunately didn?t make it out.?
Source: http://www.realestate.com/advice/real-estate-pro-of-the-week-senada-adzem-of-boca-raton-fla-69562/
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