Today, we’d like to introduce you to Latoya Strong. Latoya was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Rickelle Felton.
Latoya , can you walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Akron, Ohio by a very Strong single mother. Although she worked lots of hours, she always made time to keep me involved in extra curricular activities and programs. My mom encouraged me to always do by my best and to strive for excellence and everything that you do. The opportunity to be exposed to several activities and programs created lots of confidence and fun memories for my childhood. This included ballet, tap, jazz, track, cheerleading, girl scouts, student government and other leadership positions at local camps. Garage sales, lemonade stands, event planning and top seller for all fundraisers was a desire of mine since elementary age. It is no surprise that my work experience to date all involves some capacity of sales and relationship building.
I had the pleasure of visiting Atlanta, Georgia every summer break for family reunions on my Dad’s side all of my school years. I loved the weather, culture and all of the movers and shakers that made up Atlanta. By age 18, I had out grown the city of Akron and new that I wanted to relocate to another state. My first stop was Knoxville, Tennessee where I spent a very short 15 months. While in Knoxville, I attended Pellissippi State Community College and worked at Buffalo Wild wings as a cashier on the main strip of the Tennessee Vols. I achieved the goal of relocating out of Akron and proved to myself that I could make it away from home without Mom and my immediate family. However the pace of Knoxville was still to slow for the driven social butterfly in me.
In 2004, my late Aunt opened up her home in Atlanta for me and it was the best decision I could have ever made. I attended American InterContinental University(AIU) in Buckhead and received my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Fashion Marketing in 2007. This degree was inspired by love for fashion and the importance my mom always instilled around always have good presentation. While studying, I also worked part time as a teller at Bank of America. This would be the start of a 12+ years in the Financial services industry. During those 12 years, I worked several positions, made a ton of great relationships and grew my personal financial literacy. My success as a banker, came from helping clients win financially and genuinely taking an interest in getting to know my clients there families and what financial goals were most important to the clients,
In 2018, we purchased our first home without any Agent representation. My knowledge and expertise from the financial industry it what helped us get to the closing table. However, it was at that time that I realized how beneficial it would have been for us to have had an agent for our home purchase. I then decided that I wanted to study for my real estate license and help as many families as I could to the goal of home ownership. In 2019, I received my real estate license and left my corporate job as a banker. My first stop was Keller Williams Stockbridge where I joined a mega team and had two very profitable years as a new agent. In 2021, I reached my ceiling on the team and decided to step out as an Independent agent. Strong Foundation Realty was formed and I began wearing all hats in my business to execute for my clients. The integrity and professionalism I had demonstrated in the financial industry is what helped me grow Strong Foundation to the level it is at today. In 2022, my obligations shifted and I became a referral based real estate business. During this time I experienced some slow business periods, but I continued to stay consistent with my Annual client appreciation events, client home anniversaries and having real estate conversations when appropriate.
In addition to wearing every hat for Strong Foundation Realty, I am also very active with several community groups, the Henry County Chamber of Commerce and Henry County Schools. I currently serve as a Student Council and Booster Club parent at Dutchtown High school. The most important hat that I wear, is being a wife and the proud mom of two beautiful children.
Please tell us more about your brand, Strong Foundation Realty
Strong Foundation Realty is a full service one stop shop Real Estate company. We specialize in Henry county, but have the ability to assist clients in all of Atlanta and with relocations. My team of Partners include: Lenders, Home Inspectors, Closing Attorney’s, Contractors, Photography and a ton of Strong Realtor relationships. Having Preferred Partners for the entire real estate transactions allows our clients to have very seamless and great customer experience. We pride ourselves on excellent and timely communication throughout the entire transaction. Keeping our clients in the know and educated every step of the process and always acting with integrity and professionalism. What sets our company apart is my Community involvement, which keeps us current on everything in the market. I also bring my expertise from the Financial industry, my experience from purchasing multiple homes and selling a home to set us apart in this industry.
Rickelle Felton and Get It Done Boss have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Rickelle Felton and Get It Done Boss and your experience with them.
Rickelle and I meet in March during Women’s history month at a Women’s Empowerment summit hosted by the Henry County Chamber of Commerce. Rickelle was one of many vendors I had the pleasure of meeting during our break from the summit. The vendor space was congested and very loud, but her welcoming spirit and high energy stuck with me and I knew then that I wanted to continue our conversation. At this event, Rickelle was representing the Sleek CoWork space and invited my to stop by for a VIP brunch. I attended the brunch, feel in love with the space and became a member that day! Rickelle became my contact for Sleek and I did my best to attend all of the events that she hosted there because I knew that they would be great networking with a fun host. In July, I received an invitation from Rickelle to join an informational meeting about an Elite Membership with the House of GIDB. Before attending the zoom, I was already sold on accepting the membership. This is because in a very short period of time, I observed that Rickelle was extremely dedicated and passionate about helping other business women win and to support each other. I actually was so anxious that I signed up before the call took place and after listening to the informational call, Rickelle confirmed that I was in the right place at the right time. Her added luxury touch to the brand is just another bonus. In 30 days, I have already had the opportunity to book my complimentary consultation call with ‘Rickelle, which was very helpful in setting a schedule, sticking to that schedule and the call helped me to really clarify my business focus. We have discussed a Social media strategy that I have already started to implement to grow my following and to become more consistent with my content. Rickelle has given me the blueprint for the planning and preparation needed to host a successful event. This insight was used to schedule my first Community Business Lunch & Learn that I am really looking forward to at the end of this month. Last month we also attended a Networking event together as a group and that experience was luxury at it’s best! All members were picked up in a luxury vehicle, the venue had a VIP table for our group, we were given a gift box that included our official VIP key that will give all Elite members access to our future events. The conversations and connections with the members were all refreshing. Rickelle has done a great job of selecting a variety of women from different industries. She’ making sure we support each other’s business’s and grow our business’s to the next level together. In addition to the above services I have personally taken advantage of, there are so many other great services being offered with GIDB such as assistance with: Email campaigns, Virtual events, Pop Ups, Podcasts, etc. The House of GIDB is what being intentional about your business goals looks like. Everything you need is here with an Owner who is genuine about getting you and your business to the next level! I’m so greatful to be apart of this amazing group.
Website: strongfoundationrealty.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strongfoundationrealty/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latoyadstrong/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/strongfoundationrealty
