Media Personality, Entrepreneur, Real Estate Broker
Meet Diane Tuazon. From Philippines origins, living the Western coast beach life out of sunny California. Her long lasting career as a news-reporter made her an icon and a recognizable force in the industry. Having worked most of those years in Las Vegas, she decided it was time for a new career path. Choosing real estate came second nature, as she was already wrapped up in it from growing up with her mother as a broker. That path led her to Berkshire Hathaway, building a name for herself in an industry that proves resilience and hard work always wins.
I did college in two years, and I did broadcasting as my major. From there, I did local news all over the country. I worked for Fox News, NBC, CBS. It’s been a good run. It was 15 years in the news business that I worked as an investigative reporter, an entertainment reporter, and reporter for the weather. I’m very grateful for 15 years in local news, but then it’s opened its doors to a lot of other things that I was always passionate about anyway.
What made you decide to go into the real estate world?
“I come from a real estate family. My mom was an agent. I was that kid at my moms open house. Me and my little brother brought coloring books and I’d draw out houses with swimming pools. I’m the type of person that always has to have a plan and the next step forward with your career and life. I saw that as an avenue to start working on [building a new path]. I was actually going to real estate school while I was a full time news reporter and doing both.. “
“I started my real estate career in Las Vegas 6 years ago after having already lived there for 15 years and gained the momentum with telling the story as a news reporter of that city. I knew the city like the back of my hand. That helped in my advantage to know the neighborhoods in the city where clients from out of town were asking about and considering moving to. A lot of the people who live in Vegas are people who relocated from other places. It’s grown a lot from what it was even 15 years ago when I moved there. It’s still evolving.”
Are you noticing a difference in where people are investing?
“With Las Vegas I think it’s exciting to see where it’s heading as a city because you’re getting a lot of California people moving there, or buying their vacation homes. People from California who are business owners are looking at Las Vegas as the next door state where they’re saving enormously on taxes. They’re catching on to something that a lot of us figured out. It’s just a growing city. I remember walking to high school and there was like tumbleweeds, that’s how deserted this place was. Now, it’s houses and high rises. California will always be a unique real estate market to be part of. It’s always going to be in demand. “It’s an honor being part of a career where you’re helping people choose a home for their families to build memories in.”
What’s the biggest that you’ve seen it when you compare it to your home town?
“It’s hard to compare. I love both. Vegas has its own charm to it but I am a Pisces at heart. My soul craves the ocean. I surf, I scuba dive, I can’t be too far away from the water. A lot of my close friends can sense that. They’re like, “you’re kind of like, grouchy when you don’t get into the water.” They know I need to just be pushed into the water. It’s my Zen moment. I have a really interesting relationship with the ocean, I can’t explain it. You need to be in it, and around it daily in order to survive. That’s the feeling and connection I have with the ocean. It’s why I choose to live in the coastal cities.”
Tell me more about your transitions. You did more of the spotlight stuff, being in the news doing all the research, to taking up sales. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had thus far?
There are several challenges. One of them distinguishing the fact that I am a full- time real estate agent. For 15 years everyone’s known me as the girl who was on their TV screens every morning talking about the weather and the latest news. While I am so forever grateful for that, it is still a different brand to detach from, or separate you could say. When I do post stuff about real estate or talk about homes I sold recently, I do get quite a few people who have been following my career path saying “Oh wait, you do real estate?” Advertising in every business is crucial, you have to keep advertising and telling people what it is you do, or you’re going to miss out on potential opportunities. That’s the motive I keep in my life and my business.
“If you’re not expressing what you’re doing authentically, you’re essentially obsolete in the industry.”
Do you think it’s also because you had such a strong identity as a public figure? Do you think putting yourself as a real estate broker is not your full identity?
“I’ve always believed that whatever your dream is or what you’re passionate about, you have to go full force at it. Don’t play the small game. I’m from California. Why not try to sell real estate here? There are people who have been selling real estate for decades, or have a family memeber in the business who has passed down clients to them. So they have that advantage over me, but I like a challenge. I’m very ambitious and extremely determined. Being the underdog gives me something to work for, and success that’s so much more deserving.”
“Like anything in life, you have to be passionate about what you’re doing and keep going at it. I’ve been blessed with amazing clients who trust in me in the work that I do. I’ve sold million dollar homes in San Francisco and San Diego. That alone already put a notch on my belt in the real esate indusry. I know I have so much more to do and learn, but I look at myself as a woman who can hopefully inspire other young women and minorities to shine in their own way. That success is possible so as long as you’re willing to put in the work, no matter how competitive the industry is. The work you put in, and the results that follow will essentially speak for your success. I always believed in that.”
What is a goal you see yourself in your career in 5-10 years and you want to accomplish as a broker or in real estate ?
I’m very picky and hard on myself in the work that I do. I’m a perfectionist in everything I do. A lot of people tell me, “you’re so busy. You’re travelling here doing this. You’re taking calls writing emails. Why don’t you have just a staff to work for you?” It’s hard for me to just do that because I look at my clients family and they choose to work with me because a lot of them have been fans from my career in TV. They’re choosing to work with me because they’ve followed my journey and I’m very grateful for that. I find that very hard to pass that onto a referral agent. When they’re wanting to work with me and with who I am. The goal is to eventually find like-minded women who are driven and just as hard working as I am and who would take a client’s call at midnight if need be because that’s the service I provide to my clients.
Do you see yourself having a TV show related to real estate?
“I would love to be on a TV show about real estate. It would have to be for the right role and for the right type of show though. I certainly don’t want to undermine the credibility and the reputation of my business and my brand that I’ve worked so hard for already.”
What inspires you to keep going and to just keep chasing the dreams and to develop?
“It has a lot to do with family values and the examples of women in my life. My grandmother was a single mother of nine children. I watched my grandmother just work. She was hotel maid. She did whatever she could to provide for her family and her kids and to send money to the Philippines to send to her grandkids. It’s funny because you remember these things as a child. These are vivid memories that I never forget. She would still make it home to pick my brother up and babysit us, take us with her to grocery shops so she could make us dinner. I was just In awe with my grandma alone that she did so much and had so much in her plate of responsibilities, and I never saw her complain. To me she was the role model that essentially paved the way for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, she passed away from Leukaemia when I was in junior high, but I will never forget what she had envisioned of me. She loved watching the evening news. Every time Diane Sawyer would come on she would always look at me and say, “I want you to be on the news like her.” That alone was what drove me to finish college in a year and a half. I was trying to hurry up and graduate so I could make it on TV and my grandma could see me graduate. She unfortunately passed away before she could ever see me walk the graduation stage. When you come from that type of family work ethic and struggle, your back is against the wall. You have no other way than to push forward and try to succeed and do better for you and your future generations to come. Did I want to allow my grandmother’s sacrifice and struggles go for nothing? Or do I push myself to do better because she sacrificed so that we could have a good life.”
What advice would you give yourself looking back now at a younger version of you?
“The advice I would tell myself is to keep at it. I started TV commercial acting when I was nine. I was In TV commercials and audtioned for numerous TV gigs since I was a kid, and then after college did the whole TV news job. I was already thrown into the television TV industry before I even was old enough to drive. I think I would tell myself that. “You’re doing the best you can. Keep at it. Never mind what the outside noise is saying or whatever negativity you’re hearing, but to always be confident in the direction you choose, stay humble and you’ll be good.”
Do you want to be licensed in more than certain states/ or do you want to focus on Vegas and souther California?
“It’s hard to leave California because my entire family is all here. I’m born and raised a Californian. And to me I’m enjoying what I do for work and where I do it; it just so happens to be my hometown.”
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More on her real estate properties for sale here.
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