Three years ago, I was an art teacher with side hustles. While education is a pretty "feel good" field, the pay has never been great. For years, I worked at a local brewery on nights and weekends, taught classes at museums during the summer and on Saturdays, and even hosted at BingBing (RIP) for a while.
Meanwhile, I had this silly little Instagram account about vintage South Philly. As it gained popularity, I had a friend in real estate encourage me to dip a toe into the field. She told me I had already created my own business (accidentally) and should be making a little money while helping the people connect with houses they wanted to preserve.
I was eventually convinced to take the RE licensing course (through Temple, online) and passed the exam, then chatted with a few local "teams" to see where I might be a good fit! I landed with Janette Spirk's Happy at Home team. I'm the fifth member, and I love that we've all got South Philly knowledge and history, and an appreciation for original charm and details. And the other women on my team offer a wealth of knowledge and experience to this rookie.
So now, I'm totally out of the service industry (though still hold them in high esteem! You learn a LOT about people in those fields). But I'm still teaching art (I think of it as my "day" job) and have a steady but not overwhelming amount of real estate relationships that keep me busy on the side. There's actually a lot of overlap between teaching kiddos and helping buyers! I've always had multiple "jobs" but now I feel like I'm in two *careers*.
I think through my IG account (@s.philly.time.capsules) I have a reputation for celebrating Philadelphia — specifically *old* Philly. But I'm actually from the suburbs of Buffalo, and am not a Philly native! I moved to South Philly when I was 21 years old, and I guess you could say...it "stuck" with me. I fell in love with the neighborhood, and here I am, an undisclosed number years later, pretty immersed in the community: I teach kids who call South Philly home, and also get to help people connect to fabulous local houses.
One of my favorite client stories is Mitch Weisen's new house in South Philly. Mitch, their partner Judy, and I were lucky to be the very first house hunting team in to see this big three story hulk of a house in East Passyunk. We laughed and gasped at the left behind treasures, murals, wallpapers, floors, reeded glass, and tiled bathrooms. They're now making this house a real haven, with thoughtful updates, slowly approaching perfection. They got a really special house, I got some cool creative client-friends out of it. Check it out
I do not think of myself as an overly sentimental person, but I pretty consistently tear up during dance dance sequences of movies. (Sometimes this happens during underdog sports movies too?) There's something about watching someone be so good at something that they clearly enjoy. For reference, please watch any "Moose" scene in Step Up 2: The Streets.
My dad always says that "busy is good". And historically, he encouraged me to follow my interests — I've certainly brought that into my professional life! I've landed in a few fields that I truly enjoy — not only am I teaching little kids about cool art, but I'm also doing adult education classes with weird retro crafts, walking people through the highs and lows of buying old houses, and more! I'm always "busy" professionally, but I *like* all the different jobs I do.
My sister! She and her husband recently bought a mid century (decommissioned) post office near where they live and work in Colorado. There's a lot to be said for navigating the acquisition of an old commercial building like that! They are slowly turning it into a home base for their business FoodSmith, and she's making all these cool design choices informed by our shared affection for vintage style. When I was there last month I got to see the bathrooms she has decoupaged with vintage cake decorating magazines — so cute!
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