Trading Secrets - 324. Stephanie Shojaee: Inside Her $6B+ Real Estate Empire, $240K Payday & “Filthy Rich” Goals

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

This week, Jason is joined by The Real Housewives of Miami standout and Shoma Group president Stephanie Shojaee for a conversation about building massive wealth, growing a multi-billion-dollar real estate business, and why relentless ambition has been at the center of everything she has accomplished. The first-generation Colombian American opens up about growing up determined to become “filthy rich,” eventually helping lead a development company that has completed more than $6 billion in real estate transactions—and using reality TV as a platform to expand the Shoma brand globally. Stephanie breaks down how her approach to money changed after meeting her husband, Masoud, from focusing solely on earning and saving to investing, using debt strategically, and continuously putting capital back to work. She shares how her modern approach to branding and marketing helped increase Shoma’s business by roughly 30%, while expanding its recognition beyond South Florida and into markets including Dubai. She also reveals the unforgettable $240,000 payday she earned after refusing to give up on a deal that fell apart three separate times. Jason and Stephanie also dive into her unconventional leadership style, including building Shoma’s nine-person, all-women Latina marketing team largely with young hires straight out of school. Stephanie explains why she believes in discipline, tough love, and throwing employees “in the pool” to see whether they sink or swim—and why she has no problem moving on quickly when someone isn’t the right fit. Plus, Stephanie gets candid about life on The Real Housewives of Miami, why she originally turned the show down for years, and why representing an ambitious, successful Latina businesswoman ultimately helped change her mind. She also shares the wild story of having more than $200,000 worth of belongings stolen from her villa in Cannes, her thoughts on prenups and combining love and money, and the luxury purchase that recently made her say, “Damn, that was expensive”—an Hermès bracelet costing upwards of $250,000. Stephanie reveals why putting on the blinders, eliminating distractions, investing rather than simply earning, and staying relentlessly focused on your goals have been key to her success. She also leaves Jason with a different kind of trading secret: after 15 years with her husband, never go to bed angry and never allow disrespect to become normalized in a relationship. She reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss! Host: Jason Tartick Audio: John Gurney Video: Marc Colcer Guest: Stephanie Shojaee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And gives you customizable views. Families are better when they're working together. Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15-inch calendars by just going to My Skyline. light.com slash secrets. Go to my skylight.com slash secrets for $30 off your 15-inch calendar. That is, N-Y-S-K-Y-L-G-H-T dot com slash secrets. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today, we are joined by someone you know from Bravo's watch list. It's Stephanie Shogi, standout cast member of the Real Housewives of Miami, one of the most successful real estate executives and business owners to come out of reality TV. Before she ever stepped in front of a camera, she was already president of the Shoma Group,

the multi-billion dollar South Florida development firm her husband founded nearly four decades ago. She's a first-generation Colombian American who says she knew at a very young age that she wanted to be, and I quote, filthy rich, and she has spent years building exactly that. Real Housewives didn't make Stephanie entrepreneur. It simply gave her a bigger platform to build on

We're talking about building generational wealth as a first generation American. Why she's never softened her ambition, the future of Shoma on the global stage, and what real housewives of Miami's return would mean for Latin representation on Bravo. Stephanie, welcome to trading secrets. Hi, thank you so much for having me. There's not many podcasts that I would stop my vacation midway to come and join. Well, it is an absolute honor. Where are you on vacation right now?

into the south of France in Cannes. And my villa just got robbed yesterday. Is that not insane? I was just there for Cannes Festival. What? Yeah. Who robbed? Do you have any idea?

What was taken? You're the first person to know. I'm like, okay, I'm like not trying to say anything because I'm like, I don't want it to leave until I'm out of here. Yeah. They, believe it or not, we had security in the house. My parents were in the house. The dogs were in the house.

I wasn't here. My husband and I were out. And I was actually with Larsa Pippen, who's also on my show. Yeah. And we were out and we came back late and I went straight to my room and I was like, wait, why are all my bags missing and why is everything gone out of the safe? And I told, I like screamed. I was like, oh my God, all my stuff's gone. And then everybody ran to my room. They thought I was pranking them because they were like, we've been home all day. And the village is just very large. And these people are masters at their craft. You know, like there's so much precaution that you can take. And they're like hoodinis. I don't know. Wait, how does someone break into a safe like that? I mean, this is crazy. I think it's a lot of, I mean, personally myself, when I have proof, but I think a lot of

it's inside jobs. And I think people know the villas that are for rent and they study where the layouts are, what kind of saves they have? And before we get into it, what was the trading secrets? We talked business and stuff. How much was taken? Over $200,000. Oh, geez.

No, I was in mourning for the last, like, I don't know, for a long time. I was in morning. I got to say, I don't know if we've ever had a show. Start like this. I am so sorry. I always try to connect storytelling to like what listeners can learn from or just like insight. When you travel at that level with that type of expensive stuff,

do you have insurance or anything like that that will help protect you from this? So what I learned from this is South of France. Everything you hear right now on socials is true. And like I always thought like, you know, social media, the news, it exaggerates, whatever. it is really unsafe right now. I can tell you another story of what happened to me when I went to replace one of the bags that got stolen at Laura Piana. The manager was like, wait, you're replacing a bag?

Why? And I was like, I got stolen. She's like, you're the third person today to walk into Laura Piana to replace a bag that's stolen. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, this is like a normal thing for you guys. And she's like, yeah, and somebody in San Trope, they dragged them to take their watch.

So I learned many things. I learned A, you know, if you keep hearing it, believe it. To be, you really need to be extremely cautious and like take it more serious. And to answer your question about insurance, unfortunately for me, I have a set value of what I start my insurance at and not the ones that are like a little bit underneath. And I didn't. But when I add up all the ones that I didn't insure, it adds up to something bigger. So I think don't travel with really nice stuff. Oh my God. I am so, so sorry. There's trading secrets just in that learning lessons.

I don't know what you do from this point out, but I hope you find, however, I know what I'm going to do. You got to hire a private investigator or something. No, you want to hear something else? One of another secret. I, and I had said this on Housewives that I tracked my bags. One of the bags they took had a tracking device. And we actually found the location of where the stuff is.

This sounds like a movie. Are you going to go track this shit down? I know. And so, you know, I told you Larsa was here and her daughter was here. And she was like, let's go find it. I'm like, it's three in the morning. Like, we're not going to go right now and find this stuff. Anyway, they went 24 hours later.

But, yeah, the tracker is gone. Oh, the tracker's gone. I would send out a SWAT team to go get that tracker. It was really funny because when they cops came, I was crying and everything. I was like, oh, my bags are gone? And she's like, wait, are you on housewives? And I was like, you can't be for real. I looked at my husband and I was like, she cannot.

Like eight cops show up. I was like, no. And then they looked at Larson and they were like, wait, you're on housewives too. And I was like, this is not a meet and greet. my bags and jewelry are gone. That is, I mean, I'm so sorry that happened to you. That's also a really good transition to the fact that you're getting robbed in Can France and you have the cops literally recognizing you across the entire world.

You're up at this point, right? I mean, at any point did you ever, obviously you've had massive success with your business and have built a lot of power and respect from that. Did you ever in your life expect to be in the middle of France and have people like police officers recognize you from a reality TV show? No, I never, ever seeked fame when I was very little. Like you said earlier, I just always wanted to be wealthy and successful. And I just had so much ambition.

I always wanted to work. And I didn't even care to be known or recognized for my ambition or what I accomplished. I just knew that I wanted to live a very lavish lifestyle. Fame was not a part of anything that I seeked. And I actually started my social media maybe eight years ago. And the sole reason that I started it was to get followers so that I could promote the company so that I could create like a branding marketing platform. I knew that if they were looking at my clothes or if they were looking at something I was wearing, my next story could be about a project of ours or a rental community. So I kind of just hooked them and then gave them an ad.

and that was always what I wanted. And it just spiraled and turned into being recognized on the street little by little by social media. And then obviously housewives came and it just became, you know, a monster. But no, I never thought that. That's it. It's a crazy thing for it to happen. The way it happened is wild.

And then, of course, it became the monster. There's, of course, risk with that too, right? Like, I think you've seen it. There's little controversies. There's a lot of people that love respect and look up to you. Then you get some of those little noise of like haters and stuff. Did you ever consider, especially with the size, your firm. Did your husband, you sit down and say, hey, this, this risk might not be worth the

return given what we have? And has it created any type of negative sentiment that's changed your business? So, I don't know if you know this, but for four years since the reboot, the production company had been wanting me to be on the show. So I had been reached out to since the reboot every year. And I remember quoting to one of the people that have reached out to me, I said, there's a higher chance of me getting struck by lightning than me ever joining this show. And it's really funny because obviously now I did it and he jokes with me that lightning struck. But my husband did always say, like, what are you going to do on this? Stephanie, you don't even have a personality that is very politically correct.

Like, this might be harmful because it's going to change the way people perceive you as somebody in business because you are not a politically correct. You're not a refined person. like you were very into fashion, you say crazy things, like you have an really outgoing personality, and in business, that's not always very respected. And he wasn't really into it. Fast forward, every year they asked. And for some reason, on the fourth year, I said, listen, I've accomplished so much in my life. And I always put myself into these positions where it's hard, it's challenging. I don't know if I'll succeed. And I love it. I thrive. It's like an adrenaline where I'm like,

am I going to sink or swim? It's really weird. I torture myself this way. And I said, and this is one of those things. They keep approaching me. I think I have this fun personality. And I want to be able to show myself the way that I am. Because if I have accomplished, everything I've accomplished, being the way that I am, and it's possible, I would love to be able to show other people that it's possible. Exactly what you're saying.

I'm not a very your typical president of a company. I'm not your typical woman that's in these positions. And I want to be able to show it. Long story short, he said, I don't want you ever to resent me for not. supporting you. So why don't we do this? Why don't you test it out? I don't want to participate too much. I'm not going to be going to all of the film invites or the scheduling. I'll participate in solo scenes and whatever it is that it's needed of me, but you respect my space and I'll respect yours and go for it. And I thought he was, I was like, this is not going to work. He's lying.

This is being like way too nice. No, he did it. He really liked. just hung with me. It was like my wingman during the whole thing. But one of my biggest secrets that I feel was my success to keeping a very calm and safe environment at home, which is, when I say safe, meaning like I didn't feel the anxiety and the pressure and the this is that I really kept them in the dark a lot when it came to my fights with the girls. I didn't bring the drama into the house because we don't, we live in a very peaceful

environment at the house. And we don't even bring really work drama into. the house. So I didn't want to bring outside drama, like my friends, what was going on. So I left it. Interesting. So you kind of can part of my, like you're wearing a lot of hats, right? And I just want to give perspective for the title and the weight of your title. You know, President of the Showboy Group, you guys have completed more than $6 billion in real estate transactions, been around 38 years, commercial, residential office, 6,000 plus acres have been developed. International. I mean, it's huge, right? This isn't, this isn't a small shot for anyone that's listening. This is a massive,

massive role that you have as a president. And so to go into that role, it's really interesting to hear how you can part of mentalize. Like, this was one work world. This was another personal world. It's also ties to work. I'm not going to blend the two. Eventually, though, the show airs and the stuff is shown. Looking back on it, given the power and level that you're at from a business perspective, is there anything you would have done differently on the show? Is there anything you wish you could have changed? No. And I can say that right away. There's nothing I would have changed when I look back, the person that people got is literally the Stephanie that you're sitting in front of today. There's nothing I could change. It's just the way it was. Maybe, you know,

what I did learn about myself on the show is that I have a horrible delivery and the way that I say things is just black and white. But it comes from the business world. You know, I don't sugarcoat anything. And it's really hard. I don't know if you watched this one episode where I met with Anastasia Beverly Hills, who's the owner of Anastasia Beverly Hills, happens to be a very close friend of mine. Her company's worth billions and worldwide. It's one of the best makeup lines in the world. And we sat together in one of the scenes and we talked about how the fact if you're a businesswoman and you're dealing with a bunch of men and you're in it, you're in it. Like you're in the business world, you speak differently than if you're not. If you're maybe just a stay-at-home mom or if you

are a teacher or if you have a different type of just work in general, you speak differently to different people. I cannot be in a conference room full of 12 men and speaking in a different tone. So my delivery is harsh. What I did learn is that if you're going to be with friends, you have to change your delivery. But listen, I came into this not having many friends. I'm not a friends type of girl. My life is my mom, my dad, my husband, and my dogs. I never grew up with friends. I never grew up seeing my mom and dad with friends. My parents are Colombian, don't speak English, came to this country with nothing, and they didn't have friends. They dedicated themselves to raising my sisters and I, three girls, and trying to make something out of themselves in this country.

There was little to no time to make friends or hang out. So they were hustling day and night. I didn't grow up seeing that. So when I went to school, I'm not joining a sorority. I don't really want to talk to anybody. I just want to go to school, get my good grades, go get homework, and go have a lot of school. my food at home. So when I got thrown into the housewife world, I didn't know what I was, what are friends, you know? Running a business means you're always reachable until you're not.

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Quo integrates with tools like your team already uses, like Zapier, HubSpot, and more. Money is on the line. always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus, get a 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash trading secrets. That's QUO.com slash trading secrets. Quo's built in AI agent, literally handles after hours calls, during hours calls, answering the questions, and even books appointments. There's nothing quite like it. That's Quo.com slash trading secrets. Yeah, that's also such a hot take. It's interesting to learn that it's cultural, right? It starts from day one. But what I also find fascinating is you've you've amassed an insurmountable amount of wealth and that you still, even though you're at the level you have, you kind of still have that focus. And I think that's a very unique trait. And to anyone that is listening that's trying to dial in their life, that's trying to put their career at the next step, that's struggling financially. Would some of your advice be like, limit. your circle and maybe remove some of your friends less social time?

I 100% think that a lot of the reason of where I've gotten to where I am is because I've just concentrated so much into what I want and my goals. And I am still that day. Until this day, I am that way. I'm very much like, I don't want outside noise. I don't want to talk. I'll give you an example. If a girlfriend calls me in the middle of work, I really want to be there for you.

I do. And I love you. And unless it's something that's like a level of. 10 of urgency, I cannot give you 10 minutes. I can't. I do not want to talk right now about your boyfriend problems. I don't want to talk about something petty. I don't want to talk about your problem about your hair. I have goals and my goals are what's most important. I will dedicate the time to you, but not right now. So to answer your question, yeah, I think that that's, it's been a major contributor to why I've gotten to where I've gotten. It's fascinating, take it makes so much sense. And also you think

about the energy. I mean, you learned about it while filming. But the energy in chaos, the energy in disagreements and fights can be so consuming and it does nothing for you moving forward. Like, how is that building you? How is that adding to your business? How is that building your life and your personal ways? Like, it takes so much energy. So I think you're bang on with that. But I want to get into the business side of things here. So you talked about filthy rich, right? That was your goal. And I think people have all different definitions of filthy rich. Right. And I think everyone have different definition of rich. I think there's going to be listeners that just heard you say that $200,000 was taken and that that didn't meet the minimum threshold to what

your insurance would cover. And they would say, I've never even heard of that. So I'm curious, what is your definition of rich? And then, like, when, what is enough look like? And is there, like, a target for what that goal is? You know, ambitious women have always been judged very differently than ambitious men. It's just, it's always been that way. I don't see why. I think that women can be very, very ambitious. You know, I always say I should have been born a boy because to answer your question, when's enough enough? I mean, I'm going to keep going until the day I die. Love it. I mean, truly, I don't have any desire to think about retirement. Obviously, we're far away, but I'm saying, like, I don't have, like, I don't think these things, you know, I want to work until the day that I croak.

and that's just in me. Every day, Monday through Friday, go to the office. Probably every other Saturday I'm at the office. Sometimes Sundays I get bored and I want to go to the office. I am so driven. And people ask me like, what's your secret? Is it because you married rich? Listen, maybe I wouldn't be as rich if I didn't marry Massoud.

Maybe I would. I guess we'll never know. But I've always been very, very driven. If somebody marries somebody that's very successful, maybe they want to sit at home and paint their nails. I'm out here being like, we need to buy this land. We need to do this condo building. This is good for rentals. This is how we're going to market it.

These are the people that we need to target. Let's go meet this person. You go network that way. I'll go network this way. I am just very driven. When's enough enough? I don't know. I want a his and hers airplane.

I want super yachts. I want to be able to be able to continue giving to my family in Columbia. I have a very large family. It's over 30 people. I'm helping pay their insurance. Some of them I help pay their houses. I pay their kids going to school. I'm a very giving person.

Rich is not just about accumulating jewelry for me. Wealth is about being able to have everybody around me that needs help, happy, content, healthy, being able to have great doctors, being able to, like, I can gladly say that my, my, my, my, my, my, my cousin, my cousin, went to the best university. I had a part in that. Now he's a great job. So Rich is not just about me having nice things. Of course I love fabulous things. I love diamonds and watches and all that stuff. But helping people and giving, it makes me really happy.

You know, I heard my assistant loves you, by the way. Oh, that's nice. When she saw that I was going to do the podcast with you, she was like, you don't even know. She literally called me while I was here. She's like, I know that you told me not to bother you, but you have to do this podcast. So she had told me that I guess your wife, where you just got engaged. Yes, just got engaged. with dogs. Congratulations.

Yes, you have two dogs, right? Yes, I have two dogs. My husband is, I think he's borderline, like, ill with the obsession that he has with these dogs. Or maybe not. Maybe he's like your wife. I have no idea. But the dogs are like everything. So having all this money, we wanted to also buy land in South Florida and have a huge sanctuary for dogs.

We already have the name for it, you know. You need money for that. You need money for that. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, perfectly said my, so my fiance, Catherine, she runs a dog rescue in Nashville and to meet the goals that they're trying to meet, which is over 1,500 dogs that they're saving a year, they've got to raise $3 million, right?

So everything from A to Z has a cost. And that's exactly, it's interesting. I was going to ask you, what is it that motivates you when you wake up if there is never an end in sight? And I think you just absolutely nailed what that is. Talk to me about this. So I think people hear this and they always try to emulate. They always try to learn. They always try to copy paste.

on this podcast, we do talk a lot about financial transparency. So whatever you're open and comfortable sharing with, my thought is that, you know, I've seen your TikToks where you talk about the Rolls Rice and we've seen your clothes and we see in the lifestyle you live. To me, a lot of people are entertained by that. But I think that people should be educated by that because they could be both entertained and educated because there's so much to learn with how you got there. What has through all the progression of your career, like how has the actual cash inflow, like the income increased over the years? And then, For what you can share, you know, what has been some of the big trading secrets that allowed you get to those next levels and increase your overall annual earnings the way it has increased over all the years? Before I met Massoud, I was all about earning. Everything to me was like earn, earn, earn, earn. I have to make it save it. And then came a student. He was like, that's not how you're going to make money. If you want to make money, you need to earn it and invest it. And everything needs to go back out. And if you're going to be in debt, then you take out a mortgage. And then you make money on the mortgage. And I was like, no, I can't have a mortgage. We have to own it this way. And he was like, this is not the way you're going to do things.

You need to make the money, invest in something, take out a loan, buy another property. And I think that is what's really taken my personal finances to the next level. Obviously, Massoud, he started the company roughly when I was like one year old. So he's really mastered. all of that, but he's really changed, you know, the way that I think in business. And obviously, he's taught me a lot. But in regards to your question, I think Shoma was always at a very high level. My husband's a different generation. He thinks differently. I came along very much into the modern technology, modern world of marketing. And I definitely increased, you know, the finances of

Shoma by roughly 30%, which is a lot. I think it's just a different way of doing business and going back to the Rolls Royces and the TikToks and the Instagram, a lot of that has helped because we are now very much recognized globally. We now are doing business in Dubai. We're now looking at another country in South America and we get contacted by different people. We set up meetings and they're very much interested in doing business with us. And that's what I feel like I brought to Shoma. Yeah. And I think marketing starts with everything, right? It's literally how you wake up. It's how you dress. It's how you present yourself. You bring that energy and that brand to a company, which then emulates through the company. Increasing it by 30% is massive.

What's been probably the biggest successful marketing strategy you've deployed? Like your Emmy or your Grammy when you think about all the marketing tactics and strategies that you put in place, what's been the one that you hang your hat on? I can tell you, I can answer to that in two parts. The first project that I think really catapulted me and I made everybody in the company believe, okay, she's not just the girlfriend of Massoud, because at the time, I was just his girlfriend, which, by the way, let me tell you, working at your husband's company is far more difficult than people would think so, was I said, we're not doing these little flyers, we're not doing e-blasts, we're not doing like New York little newspapers ads, and we started

doing events in other countries and doing full-blown marketing campaigns. But to answer your question, my one Grammy, I think it's creating a lifestyle recognition around Shoma versus just selling the projects. It's calling the projects Shoma Bay, Shoma Village, Shoma Group, Shoma Bazaar. And there's just such a brand recognition around the projects that, for me, that's really changed everything. That's a really cool takeaway. I think at any level, at any business, people can implement something like that. You mentioned, it was your boyfriend at the time, obviously your husband now. What the hell do annual raises look like? Like, how does annual, do you go in and have to, like, go pitch your performance to get your raise?

Like, what does that look like? And what tips do you have for anyone doing that? Listen, it's actually, you want to know the truth? Yeah. It's miserable. It's miserable. At this point, I'm like, I'm not going to you. I'm not going to HR.

Like, what do I have to do? No, it's not. It's always like, you know, don't, somebody, we're not talking about this. We're not talking about this. So that's hard because you don't want to mix the relationship with the work, but you have to talk about everything for him is what did you do for the company? It's not who you are. It's not what have you done.

I want to see the numbers. I want to see what you brought in. What did you do? So I do get judged like my little performance paper. Yeah. It's a little bit different. You know, when it's your husband. Yeah, I can imagine that's a whole different ballgame.

Commercial real estate, residential real estate. office space, state of the union. How is the economy being impacted by the business? Where are some areas that it's really blowing up? Where is it pulling back? Give us an overall state of the union of that industry. Real estate in South Florida is we are so lucky right now because Miami is booming. It's one of the best cities in the world. So we're very, very lucky. And we haven't really been affected with everything that's going on in the world. Obviously, the increase in construction, costs that effect translates a little bit into when we try to sell luxury condos. However, the good thing is that we have purchased so much land years ago at a cheaper price than if we were

to buy it now or a couple years ago like other developers. So we can still maintain a good price for our buyers. But right now, South Florida is still really, it's really good. Unfortunately, what's going on in Dubai has affected us because we are building a project over there. So, you know, It's give and take. Ebs and flows. It's like hedging too, right? You go to Dubai and it could pop when we're down. And right now, obviously, I think tourism is down a little bit there, right?

Real estate's sound a little bit. But then South Florida is absolutely ripping and gripping. Rental communities, though, are doing really good. And I don't know much about live local, but live local you work with your local government. And you have a percentage of the building that you allot to certain people that make a certain amount of money. So they're not really affected and you don't have to display. them to somewhere else. So still be able to afford to live within the cities that we're building. So that's a really good program that we're one of the top developers that work with this program

to ensure that people still have a place to live in a nice areas. Okay, I want you to take your president cap off and then go into your giving advice to the consumer. So knowing what you know about rentals and just all your competitors and all the cities, what is one piece of advice you would give right now to a renter that's going into a nice building, maybe a luxury building considering renting, like what's a question they should ask, what's something they should think about that they could only learn from the president of a development company? You mean like if they were going to go rent and you have to pick which rental community they need to go to? Yeah, just like what are some things that we wouldn't,

as a consumer, we should be thinking about when we're renting? Like maybe it's the quality of something or where do your competitor's shortcut or just something to be like, hey, when you go look at a rental, think about this because it's what we do really well. Yeah. So, for one, we have really good parking. And when I say really good parking is a lot of developers that build rental communities, they do the compact parking, you know, which the ones that are smaller. You don't really think about that. But if you drive it in like an SUV or a pickup truck, there's always issues with the parking.

That for me is a really big deal. The pool capacity, the jacuzzi, the gym. It says, like, oh, they have a gym, but then they really skimp you on like how many machines. What time is it open? Is it 24-7? Do they have a business center and the events, like the engagement of what they do for the community? Because sometimes developers or rental communities, they just like to rent, collect your rent, and move on. You're kind of just a check that they look for at the beginning of the month.

But you need to make sure, like, how long do they take to maintenance stuff? How's the parking? Do they have the pool? For me, personally, Stephanie, it's super important to know how often they clean the community. That's something that, like, maybe somebody else doesn't really care how often the carpets or the floors are getting mopped for me, I want it done daily. I want to be able to bring guests or I want to come into my house and know that it's a clean space. You cannot control it if you move into a rental community and the hallways are dirty and people are accumulating garbage or the garbage shoot broke

and there's just not a good service. So all of these little things to me are really important and I make sure that we handle them ASAP. That's literally a list of like 15 things and it's so smart because I think people get caught up in like the waterfall or like the big items, but they forget the items that matter, the day-to-day stuff. And I think that's a great list right there for anyone that is listening. I want to jump into while I got you, Stephanie, is the idea of we talked about the raises and working with husband to get the raises. What about outside of work? Love and money is just a hot topic right now. How do you manage expenses? How do you potentially pool money together? The discussion of of pre-nups. We had Rebecca Minkoff on talking all about her pre-nup. She is a flusy clause in place,

which means if her husband cheats on her and gets remarried if she passes, all the money's got. Is there any hot take you have on love and money or principles or rules that you guys live by? So I actually signed a pre-nub, and my pre-nub was like this big, and I had to do it with people videoing me, and there was attorneys in the room. It was really, was a really serious pre-nub. I don't mind it. I don't know why there's this taboo over pre-nubs. I mean, if you truly love your partner and you're really there for the relationship and you truly think it's for long-term, sign the pre-nub. Within a couple years, if you guys discuss it, you can, you know, get rid of the pre-nub if that's what you see fit. But I don't see anything wrong with the pre-nubs.

So I signed one. But what was the, what was the question about, like, oh, do we split our finances? Or any rules that, like, you work by? Like, how does that, that work? Yeah, yeah. What's mine is mine and what's his is mine. That's great. I love it. That's just what it is. That's great rule. I love it. You've probably heard us talk about one skin before for their best selling skin care and you know that I use it. But now they're bringing that same breakthrough longevity science to the scalp syrup. It's the OS1 hair. Whether it's stress, hormonal shifts are just getting older, hair changes can happen to everyone. I even notice my airline's going. back a little bit. And that's exactly why one skin built the OS1 hair. It's a daily serum

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Yes, I spend. I mean, he spends two. But no, there's no, like, we're not tallying anything. It's kind of just like, it's easy. know, it's really easy. But it is true that what's mine is mine. He doesn't really, you know, ask, he gives me opinions if I'm going to invest. I love to invest all my money. And I also am very big on donations, whether it to be my family or whatever, or whoever I want to help. So most of my money goes to that. And then his money, which is technically our money,

I just take whenever I want. I like it. It's great. Great takes. I love the honesty, love the transparency. I want to go back to Real Housewives of Miami real quick. It's been on pause since March. Andy Co. and has said that he expects for it to come back at some point. Have you guys got any word on what that looks like? We don't have any word, but we obviously speaks a lot to the producers and stuff. And I think everybody is really hopeful and they really truly believe it's going to come back. It's so much so that I'm new to this.

I'm new to this TV world. And I'm starting to think like, hey, we're going to start January. Like, truly, I feel like everybody has this spirit of we're coming back. Yeah. And if it, for some reason, it doesn't come back. do you see a place for yourself in another reality TV show or in entertainment industry at all? Like, what does the career navigation within that space look like if this show doesn't come back? If it doesn't come back, I would probably consider, yes, doing TV again.

I've been contacted so much before housewives, after housewives. I feel like I bring a lifestyle and I'm a slightly different character than what's normally out there all the time. So there is probably a possibility. Now, am I actively looking? No, I'm not actively looking. But I would never say never. I enjoyed it. I didn't necessarily enjoy it in the moment.

I didn't enjoy the crazy feedback that I was getting and the trolls and all that stuff. But afterwards, looking back, yeah, I would do it again. If there was one reality TV show out there, it could be competition, any network, and you had to do one, which would be the one to do? Oh, my gosh. Dancing with the Stars with my husband. Ooh, that you ask you. I don't know. We both don't know how to dance.

I think that they need to do a dancing with the stars, but they need to do it where neither of them know how to dance. And then they have to teach them both how to dance. And then it's like as a couple you either win or lose. That is honestly genius. Do a couple dancing with the stars. The pro coaches you the whole time and then you have to go out there and perform. Oh, my God.

That is so good. And then obviously there would be so many marital fights because you'd be like, you mess it up. We lost because of you. And then that's, well, my husband would go nuts. He's really into dancing. He doesn't know how to dance, but he loves it. I think the golden question is,

was there more marital fights when your partner is, you know, this beautiful person on the other side that's a great, that's a pro dancer, or there are more marital fights when you're actually dancing together? That's probably the golden dancing with the stars question. Dancing together. For me, for sure, that would be it. I love it.

All right, if you could partner up on any business deal with any real housewife, among all the real housewives, who is one business partner that you would pick? Oh, my gosh. Probably Bozaman. Okay, and why? She just looks like she's a tough cookie.

I met her at BravoConn, and she just, like, looks like she's tough. We both come from a marketing background. She's obviously killed it. She's had, like, the best jobs ever. And I like her personality. She's just strong. Okay, I like it. I like strong women.

And then on your season, who is one person, if all of them were working for you, and you had to fire one today, who would you fire? Oh, my God, Jason. I'm done. If I had to fire all of that from my season. Yeah, you're the, you're the president. You're looking and you're like, you got a business. You got to fire him.

Who you fire him? Julia. Okay. All right. I won't even ask why unless you want to share. No, I mean, I feel like, you know, she just did me so dirty. And through the whole season, I just felt so betrayed, you know? And for me, it's very much about loyalty.

And if you're not going to be loyal, say it to my face. If you don't like me, say it to my face, I can handle it. It's like the ones that, you know, do it from the behind that. I don't like. Stephanie shoots it straight. A question for you I have when it relates to money is one payday. The amount that you'll never forget. It either hit your bank account. It was from a deal. It was a salary. Who knows? Just any check that you're just like, yeah, that was a moment that like, I just, I'll remember that how I felt that when that hit. $240,000. And can you tell us a little story about it? I worked on this deal for over a year. It fell apart like three times. I kept going. My parents at one point told me like, you just need to drop it. You're going to like give yourself a stroke over this deal. And I was like, no, I don't care. I'm going to keep going until it happens until the buyer comes until, you know, everything comes through the appraisal. Everything is good and it's going to happen. So I'm just, I'm very dedicated. I don't know how you say it in English, those things at the horse.

horses wear on the sides. Oh yeah, the blinders. Like the blinders, the horse blinders. I feel like, yeah, I was born with these invisible horse blinders. And it's like, I'm stubborn. And like, if I really want it, I'm just going to go and get it. And there's nothing that's going to stop me. And it's not going to be a friend. It's not going to be a sibling. It's not going to be anything. I'm, I'm like straight to the goal. Yeah. And so I get there. I think good siblings, a good family and good friends respect that. They understand that. And they're there for you when you put the blinders off. And I think that's, that's just, it's just part of the process. It's part of who you are. And I think, honestly, that's like, that's one of your trading secrets right there is just,

like, put the blinders on and keep going. Which was, for me, which was why one of the many reasons I did housewives. I don't know if you noticed, but when we were younger and we used to watch all of these movies and TV shows, all the Hispanics were either maids, houseworkers, they had a strong accent, they were the gardeners, it was the way we were portrayed. And I always grew up seeing that even in Disney movies. And so I was like, I have to be able to be a Latina that shows that my parents don't speak English, that they came to this country, that they have this, raised this daughter, that became the president of a company that lives the way that I live, and that I'm still very dedicated and I'm still very ambitious. And I wanted to be able to show all

of this on TV. Yeah. So listen, if it comes back, I would love it. And if it doesn't come back, at least I know that it was my calling to show younger generation and other females out there that Latinas come in all shapes and sizes and we're not all just, you know, stay at home moms or we bring something to the table. I love it. It's a beautiful perspective, especially as it relates to real housewives. Before we do wrap, though, I got to get your perspective, being the fact that you're the president of a multi-billion dollar development in real estate firm. There's a lot of TV shows out there with real estate as the main character, right? There's some that. that are built on drama, some that are actually built on the execution of big sales.

I don't know the numbers, but I'd be hard pressed to believe any of them are doing $6 billion internationally. So I'm just curious when you see like the real estate world hit entertainment on Bravo Network or out, what's your take of it? I wouldn't do it. That's one of the shows that people had been like, do you guys want to do it? And I'm like, listen, when you're really in it and you know what it really takes and all behind the scenes. Before I say what I'm about to say, because I don't want my get my word

swissed, props to those shows and the people that have made a successful name to themselves. I know the Sir Hans, I, you know. Yeah, of course. I feel very happy for them. And I think that they maneuvered the system and they did what they had to do and they made a name for themselves. That being said, I don't want to make our company into that. Yeah. I want to leave our company into the gem that it is. It's very serious. Now, if I'm crazy and I'm spunky, that's a different story. I can bring something and kind of give you a glimpse into Shoma. But Shoma is such a massive monster and it's my husband's baby. I mean, as much as I'm the president, let's be honest, my husband's started. It's his company. Shoma stands for Shoujai Masood, which is my husband's name. I cannot,

I cannot do that. Okay. I, yeah. I love it. Well, just as a fan, I would love to see the Shoma show. I'm just saying, I'd love to see behind the curtains. You know what would be fun. my all-women team of marketing, that's crazy because I built that from the ground up. It's all women. They're all Latina's. They all came straight out of school. So obviously there's a lot of errors or a lot of learning, a lot of learning curves. They're buying homes. They're fully like, you know, growing up in front of me. That would be a fun show. And you found that the company's all-woman. It's the all-woman, all-Latina marketing department, right? I remember when I told my husband, I said, you know what? I was a marketing director at the time. And I said, if I'm going to be

the marketing director, I need to be able to make decisions. And my decision. is I am not going to hire a single person that has experience. I want them straight at a school. I want them to be able to have a chance to work in a very established company that they probably would not get that opportunity if it wasn't for me. I want them to grow with me. And I want us to completely come into it with not knowing what we're going to do. I want to just be able to like make construction fun. He said, you're crazy. You're about to waste a bunch of salaries. You're going to, it's, you need to hire somebody that knows what they're doing. I said, I'm the one that knows what she's doing, and I'm going to grow the team. We're now nine women. They're in their 20s. Now, one of them's in their

30s. They brought their first homes, their cars, they're having babies. And I'm very proud of it. Yeah. Your leadership style, it's very different. And it's also very just, it seems like I just, I make decisions. I go. I trust my gut. And I just know. Trust me. I'm going to do it. What piece of advice, one, one leadership piece of advice you'd give for anyone listening out there? If you truly believe in what you want and you truly just are disciplined and it's it's it's really disciplined and you're motivated, it's going to happen. You just need to hit a bunch of walls. You hit yourself on the head, you fall, you trip. But if you truly just continue on the path, it's it's going to happen. And my leadership skill is very much like I'm going to throw you in the

pool and I'm going to watch you either sink or swim. And I don't baby you and I'm not going to throw you a floaty and I'm not going to if you start crying I'm not going to comfort you go home take a day come back and if you don't come back this isn't for you but I'm very very much tough love with my friends with people that work at Shoma I was raised that way I was raised that way I remember when I first fell off the bike

I started crying and my dad was like no like then I'm not going to teach you then you need to go cry and then you need to go sit with the girls that don't know how to learn a bike like he was like mean you know yeah like I am thankful that he was that way. For some people that come to Shoma, they don't make it. They just don't make it two weeks working in my department. And so one thing we had, we had Emma greed on, right, founder of skims, and she's worked with the Kardashians on a lot of, a lot of companies. And she said,

hire slow, fire fast. It sounds like you kind of subscribe to the same model. Oh, 100%. 100%. You'll hire people, and then within two weeks, they'll just be like, they don't fit? Oh, immediately. I'm like the first, and like if they walk slow, I'm like, I'm aggravated already. It's like one of my biggest pet peeves. I'm like, why are you walking slow? Have you ever dealt with backlash from people that are just like, this is crazy? I just started here and I got fired a week later for walking slow. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, for sure.

And I had one assistant that was a great personal assistant. I have executive and personal assistants. And one personal assistant, she came and she was like really excited. I said, listen, don't judge me from social media because if you're judging me from Instagram, it's you're about to get a rude awakening because the girl that you see on on a reel for 30 seconds is not the one that's at the office all the time. You know, that's the last thing I say out of an interview, but we have a three to four interview different days process on the fourth one. I seal the deal with that. Like go home, think about it. If we offer you, don't compare.

She came. She compares fashion week, flying private, you know, she's living in the life. And then she came to me, and I loved her. She came to me afterwards. She said, I have to talk to you. I said, okay, what happened? And she goes, I'm going to be completely honest with you because I know you don't like bullshitters and you want me to tell you how it is. I didn't know you worked this hard. I didn't know this was going to be this way. I didn't know you did not stop. I didn't know that you woke up at 4 in the morning and your first email is at 4.30.

I did not know that you were going to text me on the weekends. And quite frankly, this is not the life I want. This is not how I want to live now or never. She's like, you live in a strut in a constant state of just like moving. You don't take a break. And I can't, like, I can't live that way. She's like, I want to be able to like take our lunches and like go out to walk after lunch. It's not going to work.

Do you sleep? Yeah, I sleep. But I also go to bed at like nine, like 8.45. I see. Okay. Okay. So it's all about the routine. I'm not around, Jason, when most people are around, don't catch me at parties.

You don't catch me at like. And when I say you don't catch me at parties, I'm saying you, you're never going to be like watch, look at the magazines. And like, there's Stephanie. Like, I'm not that girl. I'm more of like if like you see me. maybe for a couple minutes at a party, I go, I say, hello. I'm at this huge villa with my mom, my dad, and my husband. And like, we've maybe gone out four times. I get dressed up. I take my pictures, have dinner at home. I'm not your social butterfly. We work. We're here. Like, you know,

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Do you drink? Do you have anything like that? You have like nutritional hard rules to keep up with this pace? I am not a drinker. I'm not going to say I don't drink, but I'm not a drinker. For example, like all summer, I've just been drinking water. I haven't even had one glass of rosé. I don't, it's not my thing. But of course, like if my friends are out and I'm like they're having a drink, I'll have like a glass of rosé. What I am very hard on is I never skipped breakfast. I never skipped lunch. I fast a lot. So usually after like five or six, I stop, but I go to bed early. Listen, I am extremely militant. Larsa came over. She was here for the first week and she was like, Stephanie, you invited me to vacation, but this is a wellness

camp. You didn't tell me this was a wellness camp. She's like, I want to go out. You're like, nope, we're not socializing. We're going to go do some work and we're going to work out. Yeah. She's like, why are the reservations at 730? I'm like, wait, what do you mean? She's like, isn't that kind of early? I'm like, wait, I want to go to dinner for the restaurant. I don't want to see people. I love it. She's like, okay. You are so dialed. And I think a good, I'm going to give everyone a takeaway here. In the next week, I want you to just in your notes pad, look at how many hours you spend socializing. Just calculate it. And then ask yourself at the end of the week, based on those how many hours that you've socialized, how much has that like actually done?

for your happiness. And I'll be interesting. You just feel like you've optimized your entire week so that you are just dialed. Blinders are on. You're going. But I want to wrap with this. I know you've talked about wanting to build in Columbia specifically. Where do you stand with that project and how is it going? And what would that mean to you to develop in Colombia? I don't know how much you know about what's going on politically in Colombia, but they just had the, where they're elected, the president, the president-elect is a really good friend of ours, Abelardo El Paspeja. And we, not only love him as a person, but we're so happy for the country. And it was a very tense couple of weeks when it was coming up to that moment. So we're happy it's not going to the,

you know, the way it could have gone. We didn't want to turn into a Venezuela and or a Cuba. I know that that remark's probably going to be a bad one, but whatever it is true. And we're very happy. I would love to build in Columbia, but I'm going to be honest with you right now. It's not our priority. Prior to Dubai. It is one of my goals. And it is, in sight of my blinders, but it's not right now my priority. Okay. There will be a time. It's just not yet.

The last question I got for you, I've been asking everyone on Instagram. Actually, it's been so fun to see the responses. In the last week, what is something that you bought? And when you bought it, you were like, damn, that was expensive. What was the item and how much was it? Oh, my God. Okay.

The answers I get by this on the Instagram. It's hilarious. It's the funniest stuff. Oh my gosh. Why is it really expensive or not expensive? There are some things that are extremely expensive. And then there are some things that are just like wildly obscure. I'm like, oh, wow. I didn't realize you bought.

Like, it just, it's all over the map. I got invited to, well, I get invited every two years when they hosted the high jewelry show for Hermes. I love their jewelry. So I just went to it and I fell in love with a bangle that looks like it's horse hooves. So I got that. Okay. You have to pre-order it, and then it gets delivered to you in like eight months. So technically I didn't buy it this week, but I ordered it.

Isn't that also an item that likely will be worth more than what you bought for it? Because of like... A hundred percent. Right? So there's an investment. Right? That's what I say. That's what I tell myself.

And you know what's even... It's just so shitty, Jason. I never wanted kids. And I just always say I'm allergic to them. And now I'm wondering, like, who am I really buying all this stuff for? Like, where's it going to go? I think I'm just going to have to put it all to like a donation, right? Like you just like donate to like a charity.

Yeah, donated to a charity. You could do like a live show like donating. I don't know. There could be an element where other people. From my deathbed in the hospital. Yeah, you'll be in the deathbed just auctioning it off to family offices and they'll buy it. But then they have to donate it. And you know what I'm saying?

Wait, how much was the bag? You didn't tell us. How much was the bag? No, it was a bracelet. Oh, sorry. How much was a bracelet? It was it was, it was upwards of $250. Okay. That wasn't in the safe, right? It hasn't come yet. No, no. Thank God. No, that's in the safe.

All right. Stephanie, which is so fun talk with you. You're on vacation. You gave us your time. We greatly appreciate it. But we got to wrap with a trading secret. So something that's unique to your career track. It could be a financial trading secret, life trading secret. Just anything that's specific to you that you can't get in the textbook or run from a professor. So Stephanie, what can you leave us? I'm going to leave you with a marital advice. Okay. I'll tell you. I just got engaged. So I'll take it. Oh, okay. Perfect. Well, I have a lot of marital advice because I can honestly tell you if you really truly know you and you spend time with me like Larsa and very few people that do are my relationship with Massoud. Thank God, Lord, baby Jesus is so good. And we've been together now for 15 years. You never really go to bed angry. And if the other person is angry, you really, you really, you don't want to talk to you. You just speak and let them hear you out. But really, really truly, I know it's cliche to say never go to bed angry. But whether it's you that did something wrong or whether it was somebody, or or the other one that did something to upset you, really talk it out, truly talk it out, and then never disrespect each other. The first time you disrespect each other, it kind of just gets the ball spiraling and the next fight's worse and worse. So that for me is really important. Those are two good training secrets. And both of those build resentment, right? If you sleep on it and you wake up, then you forget to talk about it, resentment builds. If you disrespect one another,

resentment builds. Resentment is the killer to relationships I've found. It really is. And then you go to bed and not only do you build resentment, but the next day you had more chance to think about more, and then you fire yourself up and it's just worse. And then they go to bed, then you'll go to work, angry and stuff. So truly talk it out before you go to bed. And this is from my therapist. My therapist, she said resentment, the first place resentment affects is your intimacy. That's the first place you'll see it show up. So anyway, this has been awesome, Stephanie. Thank you so much for giving us all your time. Where can everyone find everything you have going on? My Instagram is Steph Shojai. that's like the fun side of Stephanie.

But if you want to see the business side, it's show them a group. And we make real estate fun. We make building fun. We go to the construction sites. You see all of our projects, our rental communities, our luxury, our commercial spaces. So show them a group on Instagram or Steph Show Jai on Instagram. I love it. Awesome.

We hope for another season of Real Housewives. And more important than that, we hope somehow you find this stuff that got stolen. But we appreciate that. It's brutal. What the hell? You know who you have. to meet that has a bunch of trading secrets, my husband. You guys would get along great. Yes. That guy's, he's full of secrets. I love it. All right. We'll tell him, tell him we're

going to do it. We'll do it in person. We'll grab a bite after or something. I'm in for that. Stephanie, thank you so much for being on this episode. Thank you so much.