Suzette Reyes

I attribute my success to my parents. They were in real estate, and they gave me the love of it. I grew up working hard - my dad's a retired developer, so I would see the projects and the work that went into it. That put a drive in me that I knew what it would take and how hard I would have to work to be where I want to be. Being a partner at my age at the firm that I'm at, I would attribute it to them.

An older attorney, actually a sitting judge, told me that if you ever come to court and you're not nervous or excited, then you're no longer in love with the profession, and you should get out of it. I thought that was a really great comment, because I would go to court, you know, understandably nervous, trying to argue my client's case and present their facts to the judge on their behalf, and I would get really nervous. I was talking to the judge and I asked, does that ever go away? And he said, the day that it goes away is the day that you shouldn't be doing this anymore.

To be confident. Not to assume that because someone has been working longer in the profession than you, that they have all the right answers. Laws are constantly changing, constantly evolving. Miami's constantly changing. Technology - I mean, look at we just had our first crypto closing not too long ago. So things are constantly changing, and not to assume just because you're newer in the industry, or you haven't been out as much, that you can't run with the big dogs. As long as you are up to date and doing your best, you know, that would be my advice.

The biggest challenge for me would be delegation. I handle my deals from start to finish, but I have an amazing team that I've mentored and trained. It's letting go where I can go and go out there and generate more business, and allowing them to put into play what I've trained them to do. That would be the hardest thing for me, is letting go.

Integrity. I'm very straightforward. I find it as a level of respect when someone is straight with me. I feel like in real estate, you have to have a good reputation, because you're going to see the same attorneys repeatedly. We do the same transactions. I work with the same opposing counsel consistently, because we're in the world, and although Miami is big, and there's a lot of attorneys, we run into the same ones repeatedly, especially in the luxury real estate and commercial world. For me, it's always been very important to always be respectful and be professional in that way. They know when they see my name, it's, okay, this is going to be respectable, what Suzette says is - we're going to keep interacting. I never consider any one-off.