Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Petersen.
Hi Andrea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am originally from Caracas, Venezuela, and moved to Miami during my teens. I went to college at Tufts University in Boston and after graduating landed back in Miami, looking for a job. I worked in banking for over six years, even though it had never been my aspiration nor what I really wanted to do.
Numbers just always came easy to me, and it was hard to leave a job where I was doing well—and honestly, a place that was a good environment to work in. Inertia is hard to break! Luckily, life gave me a little push. I left banking after I had my son to help my best friend’s dad manage his company’s finances.
In the end, the move turned out to help me, as I embarked on a path of learning about business building and management—Opening up a whole world that gave me the tools and confidence to embark on creating my own business, a real estate crowdfunding platform called School of Whales.
Instilled with financial education at a young age by my father, I am fueled by my inherent belief that financial opportunity, and more importantly, financial education should be available to everyone—which is why this is one of the key pillars that the School of Whales stands on.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Launching School of Whales, a real estate crowdfunding platform, was tough. The process of creating the website, figuring out the back end of the platform, obtaining SEC approval, and getting together all the moving parts, so that people can now click a button and become investors in less than three minutes was really, really tough.
There was a lot of frustration and feeling like I had no idea what I was doing, or that it was never going to be what I envisioned. I remember calling a good friend of mine who has experience in web development and telling him that I had spent thousands of dollars creating a website and there was zero progress. There was a point during the process where I really doubted what we were doing.
I have to give a lot of credit to my partner and co-founder of School of Whales, Daniel Pena Giraldi, who is an eternal optimist and one of the most even-keeled people you will ever meet. Being around him usually makes me step up my game, figure out a way around things and find the grit to keep on going.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about the School of Whales?
The name, School of Whales, was created using a play on words. Whales are big-time investors on Wall Street and a school of fish is a group of fish that swim together. We want people to become a part of a community and band together to become financial whales.
School of Whales is an easy-to-use and even-easier-to-join real estate crowdfunding platform that allows anyone with as little as $500 to invest in commercial real estate developments designed to leave a lasting and positive impact on their communities—from preserving and honoring historic buildings to fostering investment in underserved neighborhoods and expanding residential options for locals.
We are proving that you can get returns and feel proud of your investments. This platform allows everyone to have access to this asset class with the same amount of transparency that any traditional, large investor would have—We even offer tours of our properties!
Additionally, our goal is to be able to provide funding for mid-sized or boutique real estate developers with innovative projects that have a harder time accessing traditional sources of funding, despite proving very lucrative in the long run (usually because they are not cookie cutter and harder to underwrite).
Beyond the investment platform’s mission to expand financial opportunity to everyone, we also aim to expand financial education to everyone—providing resources and actionable tips through our website blog, newsletter, social media, and community events, so that our whales can achieve financial wellness.
Fun fact: if you look at our logo it can either be seen as a whale tail or an open book!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
In any area of your life, success for me is feeling at peace.
Pricing:
- School of Whales investors can invest in our diversified portfolio of iconic South Florida commercial real estate for only $500—And with our recurring investment option, you can choose to automatically add as little as $10 a month to your current investment to maximize returns without compromising your lifestyle.
Contact Info:
- Website: schoolofwhales.com
- Instagram: @whalesfund
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whalesfund
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/whalesfund
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCih8AJr4KXgoTT2TzZgAs4A/videos
- Discord: https://discord.gg/Eq39VbQXRa
