Hello! Welcome to my website. Whether you have known me for years, or are scoping me out as a possible Realtor (yes yes!), I hope this website and blog will give you some insight as to who I am. After all, when choosing a Realtor, you want to find someone that you can connect with, as buying or selling a home is such a personal experience.
Where to begin? I’ll start from the beginning…
I was born in London, England, the youngest of three daughters. I spent the first five years of my life growing up in Inglewood, CA, although we spent every summer with my Granny and cousins in Winchmore Hill, a suburb of North London. In ‘95, my mom discovered Topanga Canyon while visiting friends that lived up here. A few months later, we were selling my life size barbie in a garage sale (a traumatizing experience) and moving, with too many animals in tow into a funky, old two-bedroom barn on Topanga Skyline Dr. All three of us girls squeezed into one bedroom, which was detached from the main house and up a sloping path through the garden. We were surrounded by oaks, pepper trees, snakes and coyotes. It was heaven. We lived in that sweet, unique barn that we turned into a home for the rest of my childhood. My dad built another two bedrooms, and we slowly expanded and turned it into (in my expert opinion) one of the coolest properties in Topanga.
Childhood in Topanga was the best! My sisters and I were dressed as faeries more often than not. We constantly created movies and plays in the garden. We were always outside. We would walk the Skyline loop almost every evening with our Jack Russell, Dylan, and scramble through the caves of Red Rock Canyon on the weekends. I started Topanga Elementary in first grade, and made connections in this community that I still have and love today.
After Topanga Elementary, I went to Malibu High School (for middle and high school) as my Dad was building homes in Malibu, and frankly wanted an excuse to drive up there every morning so he could surf County Line after dropping me off. By senior year, I was at my wit’s end with life in L.A. The day after high school graduation, I left my home on Skyline Dr with a bag packed full of bikinis, sarongs and beach dresses (and my entire CD collection) and headed south… all the way to Montezuma, Costa Rica. I had gone on a trip there with my sister a few years before, and had fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with Costa Rica, particularly the small, eclectic beach town of Montezuma. I was ready to weave myself into the community and culture down there. I got a job in an open air Italian restaurant a block from the beach. It was there I learned Spanish, so fluently, I might brag, that by the end of my three years there, even Spanish speaking tourists thought it was my first language (that is definitely not the case anymore!). Those years living down there are high on the “best years of my life” list.
I moved back to Topanga Canyon in 2011 and started working for my sister’s company, FSTOP Promotions. We worked closely with non profits to fundraise donations through direct mail and social media. I loved working with not only my sister, but organizations fighting to protect civil liberties and our environment. After four years there, I was ready to move on. I thought about real estate, as my mom created a brokerage in the canyon and has been working in real estate since the 90s…. but I honestly was not sure if I would love, or even like real estate. I decided I’d get my license, give it a go and see if it was for me. That was in 2015. Little did I know then that I would find my passion in this business, that I would thrive doing real estate. And here I am today, selling homes, writing a blog, making phone calls to strangers (one thing I absolutely hated before getting into this business). These last three years have been extremely transformative and I have gained a lot of confidence and knowledge. I can do this! I’m good at it! People like me!
I still live in the canyon, in a tiny but beautiful home my Dad built for me, completely out of recycled materials from the many homes he has built over the years. I live with my two Costa Rican rescue dogs, Gia and Puma, about 40 goldfish and a whole bunch of succulents.
My whole family still lives in the canyon as well. I am a proud (and very cool) auntie to Henry, 5, Georgie and Vivi, 2, and Rose, a little tiny baby. My sisters, Hannah and Freddi, my mom and my dad are all really close, and see each other every day.
I am a homebody. I love gardening at home, hanging out with my dogs and tending to my beloved pond. I love to cook at home. I love hiking and am lucky enough to be able to walk to the State Park from my home. I play beach volleyball whenever I can. I have ran three marathons, two half marathons, and one 10k – the Tough Topanga 10k, where I won $150 and the “Local Legend” medal for being the fastest female Topangan, a title I am still considering adding to my business card. As soon as the weather cools, I take up my seasonal hobby of crocheting dog scarves. I love love love to travel and am constantly planning little weekend getaways and researching trips. My next big trip is to Paris, Israel and Madrid over the winter holidays. I’m a huge animal lover and history buff. I love to camp and am obsessed with Yosemite.
I hang my real estate license at Snyder Sutton Real Estate, a brokerage run by Sarah Sutton (mum!) and Drew Snyder, just a few minutes drive from home. I get to work with the funniest, coolest, most genuine people in town. I love all the agents in there, and we are all so supportive of each other, something I think is very special to find in this competitive business. I love working in Topanga, because I love Topanga so much. It is home, and my heart is most definitely here.
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