 Courtesy of the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS Barbara Silverberg is flanked by her children, David Silverberg and Meryle Sussman, at the Cashin Company in Los Altos. David is a realtor who works with Barbara, a broker/manager at the Cashin Company office in Menlo Park, while Meryle is manager and vice president of the Cashin Company in Los Altos. They are members of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors. |
When a child chooses to follow the same career path, it is the greatest compliment a mother can receive, according to several Los Altos members of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR).
Two of local realtor Barbara Silverberg’s five children followed in her footsteps. Daughter Meryle Sussman is manager and vice president of the Los Altos Cashin Company and son David Silverberg works with Barbara, a broker/manager at the Menlo Park Cashin office. Also working in the Los Altos office is mother-son team Nadine and Arnon Matityahu. Down the street at the Coldwell Banker Los Altos office are Alice and Alicia Nuzzo.
“It is a great privilege having your children with you in real estate,” Barbara said.
When she began her real estate career 20 years ago, Barbara said, she didn’t let anyone know she had five children. “I was afraid my clients would not take me seriously and think I was just working part-time,” she said.
In fact, Barbara said, she worked long, hard hours, but she always made her children her priority. They were rambunctious children, she said.
“I would take them on an outing, and when I would receive a business call on my car phone, I would literally lock them out of the car,” she said. “They would bang on the windows and make faces, trying to get my attention. It wasn’t easy.”
Then the genes kicked in. Meryle, a lawyer in New York City, decided to switch careers eight years ago and returned to Los Altos to become a realtor. Brother David, who has an MBA from Duke University, had been in sales and marketing for Johnson & Johnson. Nine months ago, he decided to follow the same career path as his mother and sister.
Both Silverberg children agree it’s great working with Mom. “You know your mom as a mom, and then you see her at a higher level, as a professional,” David said. “We now realize that’s what all her hard work was for. No wonder she’s the ‘Queen of Real Estate.’”
“She’s inspiring, and she challenges us to be our personal best,” said Meryle.
Alice and Alicia Nuzzo of Coldwell Banker also work together.
Mother Alice has been involved in real estate for 30 years. When she was in high school, Alicia worked part-time at the Coldwell Banker office, but she later moved to Southern California and worked in a bank. She wasn’t happy there, so Alice encouraged her daughter to return to Los Altos and try working with her as a realtor for a year. That was 15 years ago. “I’m still here and love it,” Alicia said.
Mother and daughter said they enjoy working alongside each other. “I’m very proud of her,” Alice said of her daughter. “We complement each other with our weaknesses and strengths.”
The second generation said they enjoy meeting and being of service to people as well as the flexibility, independence and variety of a real estate career. Most of all, they said they love learning from, and working alongside, their mothers.
“It’s very rewarding when people like you,” Barbara said. “And when your children like you, that is the highest compliment a mother can receive - to have your children do what you do.”
For more information about SILVAR, e-mail Rose Meily at rmeily@silvar.org.
