Teresa Stephenson of Platinum Forbes Global Properties: 5 Questions

Professional actor, corporate facilitator, and now president at Platinum Forbes Global Properties. It is safe to say that residential broker Teresa Stephenson has a fascinating resume. 

Stephenson spent five years as a professional actor. Some of her credits include appearances on the TV shows “Blindspot” and “Dietland,” and she has also appeared in the film “Happy New Year,” which was nominated for best film at film festival South by Southwest in Texas. Plus, Stephenson has done theater work, including at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. While working as an actor, Stephenson also worked as a corporate facilitator at a drama-based training company.

But after half a decade as an actor and facilitator, Stephenson decided it was time to mix things up. She began working at Platinum Forbes Global Properties — then called Platinum Properties — in 2012 as a licensed real estate salesperson, and she hasn’t looked back. 

Commercial Observer caught up with Stephenson in August to discuss her career path, how she approaches leading agents at the firm, and Platinum’s rebrand.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Commercial Observer: How did you go from acting to real estate?

Teresa Stephenson: I finished drama school in 2007, and did that for a while professionally. That time was wonderful and I am so happy that I had the opportunity, and was privileged enough to be able to pursue that dream. 

At a certain point, it felt like maybe it wasn’t enough anymore. I’d always thought that if I left acting, I would be settling, and it actually got to a point where I realized that it just wasn’t enough. A lot of what was commercially successful was not artistically rewarding, and if I was going to do something to be commercially successful, I would like to be a lot more commercially successful than an actress can be. So I started to look around at some opportunities. I was also really fortunate during that time that my side gig was as a corporate trainer and facilitator. 

I worked with a company based out of the U.K. that did a lot of role play-based training, which is why I was introduced to them. They hired a lot of professional actors and actresses, and I spent the majority of my time with them, which was at least a good six or seven years. I coached and facilitated, primarily at Goldman Sachs, also at some white-shoe law firms. If you’d asked me at the time, I would not have had a clue that I might ever actually use those skills for coaching and development and communication, but it turned out to be a huge gift when I moved into real estate, first with clients and then for a leadership role. 

I talked to friends in a number of different fields, just exploring my options for what was next. And the more I heard about real estate, the more I thought that the bad parts didn’t sound so bad, and the good parts sounded really, really good. I wasn’t afraid of hard work and the hustle, which I think you have to have to work in nearly any aspect of real estate. It was nice that the potential just seemed limitless and very exciting and interesting.

How did you go from a broker to a leader at Platinum Forbes Global Properties?

I think one of the reasons I was tapped to move from being an agent to a leadership role was because of my breadth of experience. 

The vast majority of the deals that I was directly involved in during the first four years of my business were penthouses and Tribeca lofts. I’d also done West Village studios. I’d done Brooklyn. I’ve done new development. I’d done Uptown. 

So I really had a wide breadth of experience, which again just is wonderful for me. I love variety. It’s one of the things that’s cool about working with agents today.

What is your approach to working with agents today?

We recently had a rebrand with the Forbes Global Properties Network. And with all of the consolidation that’s happening in the industry, with all of the focus on the portals and the mega brokerages and all of that, a lot of the agents are getting lost in the shuffle. There are far fewer boutique brokerages who are there as a landing place for agents who don’t just want to be a number. 

And for us, with all the consolidation happening over the last couple years, we really sat down and thought about, “Where are we? What do we want to do? What is our game plan?” 

The reason we’re still around after 20 years as an independent brokerage is that we’re constantly trying to figure out what’s next. We operate kind of like a startup, but with a proven track record. But we’re always on our toes, and so we’re trying to figure out what’s next. And we’re really banking on the fact that agents — not every agent — miss the boutique firms with real reputation. What we realized we needed, if we were going to do that, is also global reach, because it’s no longer enough just to be an expert on New York City. 

A lot of agents are getting lost in the shuffle. So, we are positioning ourselves as a place where the focus is still on the agent and the client. 

How does Platinum ensure agents don’t get lost in the shuffle? 

We have a very high staff-to-agent ratio. For 75 agents, we have two sales managers, and a vice president of business development, whose sole job is to help the agents grow their business. We have two leasing managers, and we have an agent development manager. 

I would be shocked if there is anyone in the industry who has the staff to agent ratio that we have. We’ve recently hired a new marketing director. 

The only way to stay alive and survive is to constantly improve, to constantly be looking for where things could be made better. We’re doing that with our staff, our marketing, our tech, and I think that’s one of the ways that we really are able to give that focus to our agents. 

What was the thinking behind the Platinum Forbes Global Properties rebrand?

The opportunity presented itself at a time when we were already thinking about what was next and the climate in the industry. There were a number of things we were hoping for and that we have found. 

One is the global reach. It just makes perfect sense that a seller of a multimillion-dollar property in New York City is going to want that property marketed internationally, in front of as many buyers as possible.

And we can bring that listing, through the Forbes brand and the Forbes platform, to a demographic that is a buyer. One of the best things about it has been the incredible network. 

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.