Mari Juliette shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Mari, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
The first 90 minutes of my day look like waking up with our kids. They are my human alarm clocks, so when they’re up, I’m up! This is usually between 6:30-7:30 AM. Ideally we start the day checking on our garden. My mom taught me about the benefits of grounding in the morning, and the kids like to hang out in the grass a for a bit. Our daughter loves to see the squirrels, and our son likes to check on his watermelon and sunflower plants. We water them and head inside for breakfast, which is either waffles, cereal or a smoothie that we make together. Our kids help me put the ingredients in the blender, and run to the other side of the house before I turn it on, because the Vitamix is so loud. We don’t allow screen time in the mornings, so we play a game or build a tower with those magnetic tiles. Lastly, my husband and I get the kids ready for school, and they’re off on their way.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Marissa Albertine, but most people on social media know me as Mari Juliette. I’ve been called Mari since I was young, so it stuck and no one really calls me Marissa. My mom is from Buffalo, New York, and my dad is from Montevideo, Uruguay. My husband and I have two kids who we love soooo much. I started working when I was 11 giving facials to my Grandma’s friends, then began babysitting regularly at 12. I became kind of obsessed with making money at a young age, and saved my first $1000 in a black lockbox that I hid in my closet. By the time I was 15 I began working as a hostess at Sicilian Oven in Lighthouse Point. I then got the job of my dreams, which was working retail at Surf World Surf Shop when I was 16. I worked there for 3 years, and loved selling high ticket items like paddle boards and sunglasses, even though we didn’t make commission and I made $8/hour. Within a week of working at Surf World they asked me to be their paddle board model. This introduced me to the modeling world, and I quickly started booking jobs for local swimwear brands like Montce swim, Mora Girls Surf Boutique and even landed my dream job of modeling in the catalog for Ale by Alessandra, which is owned by my favorite Victoria’s Secret model. Those jobs made me decent money throughout high school and college, but the consistent income came from promotional modeling for brands like Corona and Monster energy at events like Surf Expo, Nascar races, and Tortuga music festival in Fort Lauderdale. When I began college, my dream was to be like Giuliana Rancic, who was the host of E! News. I even got an internship at The Boca Raton Tribune to get my foot in the door of broadcast journalism. It turned out that the position I was hired for was a marketing intern, so while I wanted to write articles I was pushed to sell ads for the newspaper. I was completely out of my comfort zone, as writing always came naturally to me and I scored high on my SAT scores in writing. Outside sales vs. retail sales was a completely different animal. I felt so nervous to head into these restaurants and local businesses to ask them to pay hundreds of dollars to advertise in the paper, but it taught me very important skills that I now benefit from. That internship taught me that journalists don’t make a ton of money, and through asking around to people in the industry, I decided to pivot from journalism to sales. My next internship was at a medical device warehouse, so that I could learn more about outside medical sales. I knew that people in that field made great income, and I wanted to get ahead by beefing up my resume. I was selling wound care for venous stasis wounds, and took the product around to local pharmacies to try to get it on their shelves. I had little success, but I was learning through trial and error. After the internship was over, I looked for one more internship to do during my last semester of college. I ended up nailing a full time job in pharmaceutical sales. I was making $40,000/year plus commission in my last semester. That built up my experience enough to get a job in medical device sales right out of college making $47,500/year plus commission. I was so grateful and excited, but still had those nerves that I felt in my internships. Once on a ride along with my sales manager, she taught me to combat my word vomiting by asking more questions. That one tip changed the game for me, and I was consistently at the top of the leaderboard that they sent us every morning. Always in the top 3 out of all of the sales people, and I was the youngest in the company. I quit that job to start selling diagnostic imaging. A job in which I was making $60,000/year plus commission. Although my sales were good, the company had a layoff and I was last in and first out. Luckily I didn’t burn that bridge, because I still have a good relationship with the owner of that company today. I had gotten my real estate license during night school while I was working for the diagnostic imaging company. A company in which I was selling MRI’s, mammograms, etc. I was only using my real estate license to help friends and family, until I got laid off. I continued interviewing for medical device sales jobs with the hope of landing a surgical sales position. I landed the main rep position after interviewing for an associate to the rep position. Apparently they were so impressed by my interview that I got the $250,000/year job rather than the $150,000/year job. I was ecstatic, and my now husband and I were both crying in joy while jumping up and down on the tennis court when I got that call. I then waited, and waited, and waited for them to tell me when my start date would be. I waited over a month with consistent follow up, just for them to tell me the position was no longer available. I cried to my now husband and my mom, and my mom told me I had 10 minutes to cry about this, and then tomorrow I had to suck it up and get to work. The following day I began literally pounding the pavement by going door to door. I started from zero clients, but I was very consistent in my prospecting efforts. Once a week, at least, I passed out my postcards in the South Florida heat. That persistence led to me, opening up my own brokerage after four years of working as an agent. In 2022 we closed $69 million, 68% of which came from my TikTok content going viral. I went from begging for business, to having to delegate to agents I barely knew at the time. I opened my brokerage, because I wanted full creative control of my brand, and I got it! It is not easy by any means, but I love a challenge. I also wrote a book called Autonomous Agent and a Realtor Composition Book, which are both sold on Amazon and TikTok Shop. I look forward to seeing the growth of this e commerce business I’ve started, because I’ve always looked up to people who found immense success in selling their products online. The marketing is my favorite part!
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
My earliest memory of feeling powerful was when I added up the money in my lockbox at a young age. I had a piece of paper that I added all of the money on from babysitting, saving birthday money, etc. and it equaled $1000. I remember that day so vividly and remember feeling proud of myself for the first time. It was a feeling which needed no external validation, as I kept it to myself. It was my little secret.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I’ve almost given up on real estate a million times. It is a stressful career, and most people don’t acknowledge that. They see the glitz and glam and large commission checks from watching tv shows; but the reality is that it is a high risk high reward profession. The risk is working your ass off and being paid nothing; and the reward is a lump sum of money after months of ensuring everything goes smoothly during a transaction. Do not underestimate the amount of times I almost said “enough is enough!” Clients can treat us as though we are disposable, because the fact of the matter is we are. Everyone and their mother, quite literally, is a real estate agent or broker associate in South Florida. The competition is fierce; but I love my job and there are benefits such as freedom of my time and not having a boss which I will not give up.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
I’d like to think that Mari Juliette and Marissa Albertine are two different people, although many people I meet who follow me say I’m exactly the same. No one sees the most important part of me, which is being a mom. I am extremely protective of my children, and don’t think kids should be used for content. Making content is a job in and of itself, so child labor and exploitation is not something I’m interested in participating in. However, I’m sure people assume that I’m not with my kids as much as I actually am. I don’t care what people think about my parenting, because they’re seeing a snippet of my reality. I find Mari Juliette to be very confident and cocky in some senses. Mari Juliette likes to showboat her success, meanwhile Marissa Albertine is much more humble I’d like to believe. Marissa is a bit more insecure than Mari Juliette is, but Marissa loves her family and friends deeply and dearly. I will say, both Mari and Marissa love fashion and getting dressed in the morning. It’s the easiest part of my day. I can pick out an outfit in 2 seconds flat each and every day, and I truly enjoy it. My parents used to yell, “hurry up Mari! It’s not a fashion show,” but in the words of Miley Cyrus, “every time I walk, it’s a walk of fame.” I truly see the world as my runway, and I love looking and feeling good. It’s a major part of my success, in my opinion, and makes me feel happy. I feel the happier and most at peace when I’m with my children and my husband. When we are playing in the pool or on the bounce house we got on Amazon; I feel like I’m at a resort. I just really enjoy that family time more than anything else. That’s the part that the public never gets to see, and that is intentional. I’m a private person, and I’d like to keep it that way.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
Mom guilt! I think beating myself up constantly about being a working mom, which is very common, is making the good times tarnished. I wish I could just tell myself to buck up and get over it, but I miss my kids terribly when I’m not with them and I feel like a bad mom when I have to do open houses on the weekends and work through the week. I wish I could give myself a break, but it’s not easy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Marijuliette.com
- Instagram: @marijuliette
- Linkedin: Marissa Albertine
- Facebook: Mari Juliette Real Estate
- Youtube: Mari Juliette
- Other: Amazon:
Autonomous Agent
Autonomous Agent Composition Book
