Valeriefit2's profile

As a single mom with a successful real estate career, Valerie Fitzgerald ascribes to the belief that you can achieve anything in life that you set your mind to - as long as you believe in your own personal power.

Over the last fifteen years, Valerie has risen to the top of the real estate world by single-handedly building a multi-million dollar real estate business from the ground up, establishing her own charity foundation and speaking to thousands of people around the country at numerous business conventions. Her talent for the real estate business along with her drive for success have put her on Coldwell Banker’s Top 10 Agents Nationwide list and earned her the prestigious honor of being recognized as the real estate agent with the highest residential real estate sales volume in Los Angeles County in 2000.

Valerie’s successful real estate career has earned her the top Los Angeles Residential Real Estate Agent recognition for the Los Angeles Business Journal. She has appeared on numerous television shows, including multiple segments of “Entertainment Tonight”, MTV’s “Cribs”, The BBC and Byron Allen’s show “Every Woman”. As CEO of C.F. Entertainment, Byron Allen asked Valerie on his show to share with women across the country her story of arriving in Los Angeles with nothing but her broken down VW bug and her beautiful baby daughter. Her interview had such an impact on Byron Allen’s audience that Johanna Castillo of Simon and Schuster, who happened to be watching Valerie’s interview, contacted her to discuss turning her story of determination into a book.

Many ask how she’s able to do it all without succumbing to “real estate agent burnout”. But those who really know Valerie know that she has her finger on the pulse of what it truly means to live your life to the fullest. Valerie learned how to love life and appreciate every day by overcoming emotional, physical and psychological barriers and setbacks early on. Valerie’s ability to recognize and seize a career change opportunity serves as an inspiration to all working women.

Valerie’s journey from successful Ford Agency model to billion dollar real estate agent is a case study in the power of the heart and soul. Valerie’s approach to the euphoric ups and devastating downs in her life is the true testament to this extraordinary woman.

In her upcoming Simon and Schuster book, Heart and Sold, Fitzgerald recounts her journey as she goes from being an unemployed single mom to creating a successful working woman with a thriving real estate career. Valerie connects with working women and single moms alike as she unfolds her story of regaining her own personal power by putting herself through real estate classes by night and learning how to become a realtor.

Today, Valerie remains at the top of the ever-changing real estate market by working with Mastermind Groups across the country. Meeting with these groups gives Valerie a better understanding of what’s happening in the real estate market on a national level; and it provides her with an opportunity to learn about new technologies, trends and techniques in the real estate industry.

Although Fitzgerald is constantly on-the-go, she knows that making time to take care of herself is what keeps her on top of her game. Valerie is an expert in knowing how to dress for success and she regularly consults with her personal business coach, works out with her personal trainer a few times a week and always makes time to spend with her own inspiration, her daughter, Vanessa.

Valerie assumed it would be easy transitioning from her successful modeling days as the “girl next door" in ad and commercial campaigns.  It wasn't. Valerie’s new position at a cosmetics company collapsed at her feet and she found herself with little resources at her fingertips....no income, little savings and with a new baby…. at life's lowest moment. It was at this point the single mother was encouraged by a friend to try real estate.

A long way from the days of napping under desks and struggling to fill an empty rolodex with names, the mother-daughter pair still does many things together – annual ski trips to Aspen, trips to Europe, entertaining friends at their Brentwood home and walking their two dogs, Charlie and Tiger Lily – and they’re just getting started. Nine years ago, they co-founded “Children Uniting Nations”, a mentoring program for foster care children that has attracted such celebrity do-gooders as Jane Seymour and Pierce Brosnan.