Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Karlyn Nelson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Karlyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?
At the end of the day, if you want to be successful, I truly believe you must have the ability to persevere. Especially now. Especially after everything we’ve all been through over the last four-plus years. To persevere means to continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success. If you think about it, that’s almost the definition of making it in Los Angeles. In this city, you must work, and you must work hard. You must be creative, but also driven. Artistic and street smart. Almost everyone is here to achieve one’s dream, so essentially, we’re all in it to win it. That’s a good thing! But it can also be hard.
My ability to persevere was challenged to its absolute core. In September 2018, I was three months out from a double mastectomy. My son, Theo, was two. I ran a successful real estate business with my husband, Tom Lind. My breast cancer diagnosis had thrown us for a loop because I was relatively young, and by most accounts, I was healthy. I had no symptoms, ran marathons and was busy balancing self-employment, parenthood, and marketing for Tom’s thriving business in West Adams and Jefferson Park, communities we loved being a part of. I was going to beat this. Cancer would be a mere blip, and we’d be on our way.
Everything was good. Until it wasn’t.
On September 24, 2018, Tom and I dropped Theo at daycare, and we were off to chemotherapy. The cancer had spread to my lymph nodes and after a summer of infections and delays, I was finally moving my treatment forward. Tom was there by my side. And we were truly convinced we had this beat. Double mastectomy, chemo, DONE, on with our lives.
That night, Tom died by suicide. His life ended. My heart shattered. And our world utterly crumbled. I woke up without my better half, my business partner and the father of our son. The world lost a kind, caring, passionate, dedicated and empathetic man who just couldn’t live up to his own standards, and who, unbeknownst to most, suffered from crippling depression and anxiety.
Almost six years later, I’m still here, and I have persevered. I have picked up the pieces. I have raised an amazing son. I have beat cancer, and I’ve grown our business by leaps and bounds. I continued the course of action we had set in place, and I have truly found success.
Karlyn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I decided to go into real estate in January 2017. I had just come off maternity leave, and the long hours at an actual office away from my son were taxing. I was a successful entertainment publicist, promoting TV shows, showrunners, production companies, and some of the first YouTube stars (back when no one even knew what those were). The decision to leave Hollywood was a tough one because I’d always dreamed of working in show business after having already left an advertising career at agencies like Leo Burnett and FCB in Chicago and New York. Working in entertainment was my dream, and I was living it.
My husband, Tom, had launched his scrappy real estate business in 2014. He got the bug to get his license following 18 failed offers and tenaciously driving neighborhoods and knocking on doors to find our first home in Mid City. His business grew because he truly cared about his clients and our community. He was hot on the open house circuit, he launched our blog, Mid City Big Life, and he built relationships with other realtors, local businesses, neighbors and his buyers and sellers, many of whom are now friends. He was doing really well, but If he wanted to continue his trajectory, he needed help. He needed someone to run his blog and craft marketing strategies for his listings as more and more buyers discovered the communities we lived in and serviced—Mid City, West Adams, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park and all of South LA. We ran the numbers and took a leap. Business continued to grow thanks to our ability to package and sell homes for record-setting prices and get offers accepted for buyers eager to get into the beautiful Craftsman and Spanish bungalows that our neighborhoods are known for. For a year and a half, we rode the wave and truly loved working together, with me pushing him to try new tactics and promotions, and Tom truly teaching me everything he knew about real estate. I was like a sponge, and I loved every minute of it. Until he was gone.
With the help of amazing co-workers, family, friends, and clients who trusted and believed in me, the business we had built moved forward. Slowly but surely, I closed deals, helped buyers find dream homes, and started landing the listings that Tom and I had so loved working on together.
In 2019, I realized I need help in order to take my business to the next level and I missed having a teammate, so I asked my colleague, Lacy Register, to co-list a home with me. We each had our strengths, and worked so well together, approaching our business with care, open communication, and a tenacity Tom would be proud of. Now, over 100 deals later, we are truly hitting our stride.
Today, Lacy and I are leading realtors, working as the Nelson + Register team at Compass. With my background in public relations and Lacy’s background in hospitality, we know how to take care of people. We truly pride ourselves on straightforward, open communication and industry-leading client service. Our “home” neighborhoods are Mid City, West Adams, Jefferson Park and the surrounding South LA neighborhoods where we live, but we follow our clients wherever they want to go, having helped buyers purchase their dream homes and condos from Long Beach to Granada Hills and the Westside to West Hollywood.
At the end of the day, we want kind clients who are looking for their real estate sherpas. We will hold your hand and walk you forward. We will also be honest about what you’re going to face because the climb isn’t always easy. The aforementioned perseverance is ingrained in our business. We’re BOTH cancer survivors, who aren’t afraid of the hustle. In fact, we thrive in the hustle. We truly believe in helping clients build wealth and we’re known to say “don’t sell your house” just as often as we sell them. In return, we hope our clients want kind, smart realtors with a proven track record and a great reputation. In the end, we get the job done, and we do it while educating our clients, so they truly understand the process. Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions of your life, and we are there for our clients for every single step.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When Tom died, so many people asked when I was moving, when I was selling our house, where I was going and who was going to take over the business. Because there’s no way a woman who had just lost her husband, lost her boobs, had started chemo, had instantly become a widow, a single mother, and the only provider for her two-year-old son, could continue working, right? Well, they were wrong. And I have persevered.
This September will mark the six-year anniversary of Tom’s death, and while I miss him every day, I have achieved more than I ever thought possible in my career and in life. All while raising Theo, my now eight-year-old son, on my own.
I have also learned so much about mental health and the need for discussing the thing that no one wants to talk about—suicide. I have made it my mission to talk openly about Tom’s death in the hope of encouraging people to ask for help. I also work with and support organizations like Didi Hirsch Suicide Prevention Center, which is right here in LA near the Century City Mall, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. I credit my amazing therapist, and the team at Didi Hirsch for helping to pick me up and help me understand suicide after Tom’s death. Being a survivor of suicide loss can be very lonely, and their support groups have helped me get the help I need to be the best mom I can be. And that’s truly my most important role.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
My business was built on the pillars Tom stood for: personalized service, relentless hustle, and a deep understanding of our local neighborhoods. He didn’t just know the community—he became a part of it. We had a blog called Mid City Big Life, which I am hoping to resurrect, which profiled local places, local people and local development. It wasn’t just an Instagram post. We had true conversations with our neighbors, and we shared those conversations with the rest of the world. I moved to Mid City in 2012, and then Jefferson Park in 2015. I have lived in the South LA neighborhoods I serve for over a decade, and I do my best to be a contributing member of the community. I live in neighborhoods that are changing, and change isn’t always easy. Lacy and I tell our clients to build bridges, not walls. I know my neighbors by name, and I have since the first weeks I moved here. I ask how I can be a part of my community, how I can help improve my community; not how can I change it. West Adams, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park, View Park…these neighborhoods are truly becoming the most central neighborhoods in LA, and I am here to see these communities thrive. We always say you’re buying a home AND the neighborhood. Or you’re selling a home AND the neighborhood, so the best realtors truly understand the neighborhood. As realtors, we are your local guides, and it’s a role I take very seriously. I love my Jefferson Park neighbors like family, and I have never known community like this in LA until I moved here.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nelsonregister.com
- Instagram: @nelsonregister
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NelsonRegister
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlyn-nelson-4360b21/
Image Credits
Danielle Murray, Alexa Miller