Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another S&J Meetup, your host, Alvaro, to bring you another exciting, successful and interesting guest. In this case, we're going to go to find out more about these famous actress that turned into a professional real estate agent. Her name is Vanessa Vijellas. She's a good friend of mine.
She's based in LA. You probably have seen her, if not in her previous TV show, so, Senor Delos Deelos or now more recently into Real Estate in selling Sunset. She's been now transitioning to the agency, has been selling some of the most amazing properties, and is going to tell us all about how to become a public figure and leverage your personal brand into selling some of the most incredible properties. So, let me bring her in.
Hi! Hi! Hi! How are you?
How are you? We're in. How are you? We're being gracias.
I'm happy to be with you again and your audience. Of course. Now the pleasure is mine. Look, it's such a pleasure to hear more about all the things that you've been working on.
I know, as I've started with this cast, you were going through some situations. So, I'm really excited about today. I want to find out more about how have you turned your TV career into now a successful real estate career, which is unbelievable. So, for those that don't know much about you, they probably have heard your name, I've seen you on previous TV shows.
So, why did you give us a little summary of who Vanessa is? Yes, of course. I'm in Mexican. I was born and raised in Mexico City.
I started acting when I was four years old. And, yeah, I've been an actor of my whole life. I moved to the US 18 years ago. I went to Miami to start working with Teremundo.
I'm doing soap operas and the villains and superhero kind of thing. I guess I was like you mentioned. That was one of my favorite characters that I played. And five years ago, through a tragedy in the family, my sister passed away.
She had a staging company she suggested before she passed away for me to get involved in real estate. And when she died, it pretty much like, she guided me. My issue pushed me to literally follow her advice. And it's crazy because I always wanted to do the crossover.
And that's the reason why I moved to LA, right? I mean, I get so much in the acting industry in Spanish and in soap operas. But I was like, okay, now it's now time for me to take it further. Just like in everything.
You always want to move further in your life, in your career and everything. As soon as I got my real estate license, everything started to flow like butter in my life. It was like just blessing after blessing that she was sending me. And she was pretty much screaming.
I'd be like, yes, I'm here and I'm bad. This is one of the things that you should do. And she knew that I love helping people. It's one of my things in some little, even, you know, I remember when we were little, I would go and if anyone would be like, she was bigger, the big sister.
And if anyone would mess up with her or something, I'd be like, yeah, I'm here to protect her and, you know, save her or whatever. I was always like the savior, like making people's rooms come true or helping in any way since I was little. So obviously really they have a lot to do with that. And I am loving everything of it.
So that's pretty much how I started. It was just crazy. I love the story, by the way. And there's one thing that you mentioned here, which is your wife, but your sister was guiding you to do something.
And that's how you found your purpose. And it's not just about staying comfortable because you can have continued doing your TV shows and keep on building your career in that direction. But you do that leap of faith. Follow your wife to do something bigger.
And that's what you transition into real estate. But you did it in a way that kind of fall into place very nicely, right? Because you then went into TV shows as well for real estate being in selling sunset. So how was that transition?
Wow, I mean, it was, I mean, it was also my, I, I cannot say that it was like any other thing was never acting because it was my first time to be on TV as Vanessa. And, you know, obviously being on TV with a script is completely different than being on TV, you know, being yourself and like, you know, okay, what should we do now? Like, I use so much. It's just, you have to be yourself.
Obviously, as soon as I started doing it, I became more comfortable. But, you know, everyone was new, like going to school for the first time in my life and a new, you know, the new student and everything was a little weird, but also it was awesome to, especially after the show came out to realize the impact that you can have in people's lives and how you can inspire so many people through your story. And even though I share a little bit about my story, you know, it inspires so many people that I was like shocking and I was like, wow, this is so awesome. I mean, now people know me as Vanessa, not only as the actress, and that also creates a lot of trust from, you know, from clients and, you know, it's just incredible.
It was an incredible experience. It's very beautiful to see that journey. Let me ask you, because I mean, of course, you come from TV shows, there's drama, you're having this character in real estate. Do you have like different versions of like, okay, I'm Vanessa, real estate agent.
This is my character. You transform yourself, or you just, you 360 all the time is same. No, 360 all the time myself. I mean, I think that, you know, authenticity and being genuine is what people get drawn to, you know, especially with me.
You cannot make up like, oh, this is I'm faking to be whoever, you know, I think that people will like you more if you're yourself. And then just, yeah, just go with it, you know, be yourself. That's the most beautiful characteristic characteristic for, you know, that someone can have. It is nice to hear from you because often we see, again, all these great real estate TV shows and all the successful real estate brokers and everybody kind of behaves in one particular way.
So for those that are aspiring to get there, they're like, I need to act more like these people. And it's completely the opposite of who they actually are. And then it creates that conflict, right? Yeah, of course.
And it's not going to make you feel happy and people are going to feel it. Like energy is very powerful and people feel, even if it's like, not necessarily like, they're going to tell you, I feel like you're faking it. There's something that you can, your soul knows, you know, I don't know. And then you don't, you don't build trust.
Right. Right. I like that. I like that.
And you mentioned energy. You know, I always say energy is a current currency for personal and professional success. But what are some of the key lessons that you've learned throughout your career that you are applying up to today in real estate from building your personal brand and TV shows and all that. I mean, I think, well, I mean, one of the things that I was like, there's not always going to be a win situation, you know, like sometimes you have to go through like losing a bit war in, you know, in house.
And that's very painful because I had a family. I had a couple that, you know, we were bidding for a house and we lost it. And I felt like it was my own, you know, it just has just like, oh, I lost it. And they wanted that house so much.
And yeah, I think those are the things that you need to learn to accept that not every time you're going to win, but when you do and that like, you know, that feeling when you get the keys to someone, they're dream home or you're just even if it's not their dream home, maybe it's an investment, whatever is you made it happen. And then it's just so rewarding. It's so, so. I love that.
So you're doing real estate right now in Los Angeles, but you're also doing in Mexico. You have some really interesting projects right now. So tell us about the current project you're working on. Yes, I am super excited.
I can believe that I'm now in Mexico. I have an incredible team in Sami and that this is a beautiful property. It's called the Rancho La Piedad in Sami and that is 15 minutes away from the town. And it's 133 acre.
So this is a property right now that has two houses at the moment, and then the rest is farmland. So they used to just to give you an example, they used to farm as part of us for Costco for years. And that is that the life of a virus plant is just for so long and then you have to change and whatever. But one of the things that these are, you know, opportunity of this is like an investors opportunity, I think, because if you change the use of.
So I don't know, I just can't believe which is something easy in Mexico, then you can have the possibility to build, you know, subdivide the land and then do different houses with being yards, which is something that they're doing in real estate and have your own business online in your, literally in your budget, you know, or you can have a hotel or you have a retreat with the spa. And there's so many things in there that someone that is thinking of developing or in Mexico, I think would be perfect for this, for this incredible reach. We'll definitely put the links so that people can go and check it out. Yes, how much is it?
It's a 120 million Mexican pesos, which is today would be around 6.8 to 7 million dollars. Wow, no surprises are actually very, very nice in consideration to the amount of land that you're getting. I know, exactly. I mean, people say like, oh, that's true.
Some people could be like, oh, that sounds like a lot, but it's not a lot of you can see that you have 133 acres. Let me ask you, Vanessa, because you've been going through so many things in your life and resiliency, right? Like, if one of those things that you need to keep on forefront to thrive at the end of the day, because you've had some terrible losses in your life and a lot of shifts. So what is one of the things that you do that keeps you strong up here?
Because the mindset is really so powerful. Yeah, well, I have, I do two things. One of them is my meditation. So I do a lot of meditations because I definitely feel like it's, and you know, the guy that actually taught me these limitations, he said like it's like shower, like getting a shower.
You have to clean your energy. You have to clean your mind. You have to put yourself in a, you know, at least it's not necessarily high frequency. People think that you have to be happy all the time, but at least in a stable energy.
So when the things come your way, when stressful situations come your way, you have the strength to face them in a different way instead of, you know, getting so overwhelmed by it or going crazy at situations. The other one for sure is like my mindset coach. She has helped me tremendously to hold the bar and hold the vision and make sure that I don't, yeah, I don't like let the negative thinking or the doubt, you know, which is, it happens to everyone. Fear is the biggest problem of everyone, you know, and it's you, the only one that you control or change that fears you, you have to push through it.
You have to, yeah, so be strong with them. I think definitely mind the coach like mind is awesome or meditations or both actually. I think without both. I would not be where I am today because it gives me the strength mentally and emotionally to be at my best and to, you know, even when I feel like I can go on, I go and again and I do it.
And I think that's how that's how it is. And even sometimes you're like, I don't want to do it today, but that's when you need it the most. Even if it's five minutes, but give that. Oh my God.
So it's true. Look, I always ask these questions to all of our guests and I'm very curious to know what is luxury to you. Wow. Luxury personally to me is, is just being healthy, being peaceful.
And yeah, just being in a, you know, loved, that's luxury for me in a personal way, you know, you can have what is like a luxury or anything without good health without love without peace. Really? I think it's just like, yeah, just like a what can I say for luxury? I think that was the right answer.
Trust me. They call it a real state of life. That was what came from your heart. It's very beautiful.
I look, we just did this last week, our wellness weekends, our creators home, basically having this beautiful real estate property that, hey, instead of just keeping it there and taking some pictures and videos of look how nice this property looks like. How can we activate it? How can we do something powerful in there? And one of the things that we are passionate about, like you mentioned, is your health.
So how can we bring together a community of people that want to improve their health? How can we bring all companies and brands that are doing things to elevate our well-being and putting all that together within a real estate property? The day of luxury home that is worth 50 million, it makes it more magical and that's the ultimate luxury. So next one you need to come by the way.
I'll say you're in the invite and you'll come and join us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. Yeah.
I think it's awesome. Are we doing the rancho? Yeah, yeah. Can we find a buyer, please?
I love it. Yeah. Well, I look forward. Thank you so much for this interview.
I really enjoy it. And yeah, thank you so much to your audience and incredible audience. It's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you again.
No, thank you for your time. Thank you for sharing everything you do. Keep on inspiring and empowering so many to go after the dreams and remain their best version possible. So I look forward to seeing you soon.
I might be in a lesson. So I'll let you know. And then if you're coming to Miami because there's also a lot of things happening here, let us know and we'll have you to show you around. Of course.
Thank you so much. I'm having amazing. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.
And thanks again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it. And remember, embrace it's beautiful success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.