You Can’t Fall Off the Floor: We Catch up With Louise Guido to Discuss Her Extraordinary Life…So Far!
If there’s one lesson to be learned from Louise Guido, it’s that age only matters as much as you let it.
A walking testament to the industrious attitude she dubs “the New York sensibility”, Guido commands a wealth of knowledge and an assiduous ethos. Case in point is her inexhaustible work ethic: from top producing broker and advertising/publishing guru to global entrepreneur, CEO, and now executive director of media sales at The Wall Street Journal and the Barron’s Group, Guido’s impressive career path proves positive energy and persistence are key.
After all, not everyone would make the decision to switch gears and start a whole new career later in life, but Louise Guido did. It was a choice allowing her to bring together an extensive background in media sales with the knowledge she’d accrued from years of experience in real estate, epitomizing her desire to stay as involved and engaged as ever.
Moreover, Louise Guido is a woman whose presence and initiative assures other working women that they deserve to take up space, take charge and take action.
And it’s not just her tenacity in the business world that communicates this: Louise Guido’s zest for life shines through on all fronts. Whether discussing her personal outlook, proudest moments, passion for gender parity, or upcoming plans with her partner (!), this mover-and-shaker wants people to know that, above all, she’s just happy to be here.
We sat down with the Real Pride Network member to hear more about what gives Guido her gusto.
What are your goals for 2021?
I'd like to start traveling more now that I’m double vaccinated...one of the benefits of being a senior! I want to take advantage of the fact that we're not in the office, as well as start building a life with another person.
What kind of music gets you going?
I am a huge fan of jazz. I collect black and white photographs of jazz icons like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Coltrane and others. That’s a hobby of mine. And I love Brazilian music because it's a little jazzy. For me, jazz never gets old.
What are your go-to things to watch?
Call My Agent is just fantastic. I love Gentlemen Jack on HBO.
What makes you feel alive?
The fact that I'm healthy and I can enjoy the beauty that’s around me. I'm grateful for an extraordinary life, and of course for family and friends that have this love you don't get from strangers. What keeps me alive is that I keep working and learning and feeling that there’s this presence—a sort of “wokeness “. I can feel that I'm part of the world and not just watching it pass me by, or standing on a golf course, or sitting on the beach…I want to know what's happening. I want to know what people think. I may not agree with them, but I'm curious to know what they think.
What’s one thing everybody should know?
That ageism is a real thing, and it’s done by people who are older as well. Young people never say to me, “When are you going to retire?”, it’s older people who ask. I'm like, uh, how about never? I love this.
Before Louise Guido entered into real estate she’d been active in the media industry for years selling advertising and/or doing the publishing. She was the first woman salesperson at Forbes magazine. From this vantage point she could see how the media sales environment was progressing with the times and technology, and her intimate knowledge of the changing need for both print and digital helped pave the way for future entrepreneurial pursuits.
Throughout the years she would go on to start several successful businesses, including one publishing company she helmed for more than a decade before selling in 2000.
It was the end of that particular endeavour which marked Guido’s transition into real estate. Looking for a change of pace, the go-getter embarked on what would become a twelve year-long career: springing for both her realtors and brokerage license before founding Westcoast Realty in Sarasota, Florida.
During the heyday leading up to 2008’s crash, Guido would sell properties like hotcakes alongside ten other agents working for the firm, and within twelve months of opening the company placed in Sarasota’s Top 5 brokerages.
“It was a bit of a whirlwind over that period,” says Guido.
“People were just buying, they had a lot of money...Sarasota was essentially a second home community. People wanted to retire there, or they wanted their dream home, and they loved the water and all that.”
After the housing bubble burst, Guido came back to the Big Apple to do consulting for media companies on how to effectively reach agents. In the midst of this, and a bit disillusioned with the state of the world due to the financial crisis, Guido again switched gears and launched a nonprofit organization helping women in emerging markets learn life and business skills.
Though this last career move represented a complete departure from her previous endeavours, the connection she had to those industries didn’t end there. In 2017, Guido was brought back into the fold of media sales and real estate when some agent work in New York put her into contact with friends at the WSJ. Shortly after, Guido was hired as a sales rep before being promoted to executive director of media sales for The Wall Street Journal and Mansion Global, where she currently heads a team of 15 and oversees all real estate advertising for WSJ, Barron's, MarketWatch, and Mansion Global.
The peculiarity of this happening at “a very advanced age” is not lost on Guido, who laughs about the fact that while most people were retiring, she’d been given a new career.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Back to back meetings, mostly internal—which was unlike my previous careers where I was always client facing. When you're in management you're just managing people, focusing on quarterly revenue goals and so on. What’s really interesting is having a real estate background and also interfacing with a lot of agents and brokers. Particularly at the Journal, you're interfacing with the cream of the crop—like the people you have as members of Real Pride—and they have a different way of looking at the business. I was one of those agents: I was a Top Producing broker, I had Top Producing agents, so I get where they're coming from.
So we interface with them [and] we try to stay close to the market. We’re interested in what are they hearing, what are buyers and sellers saying? I often felt that real estate agents knew what was happening in the market six months before it actually happened; you could see trends. I like to stay close to them because I always felt that they knew better than anybody. Agents just have an “organic” sense of the way the market is flowing well before the economists do, before the numbers come in, because it’s face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat, and happening in real time!
Tell me about the crossover between your media sales/publishing career and your real estate
I had my own print publication for many years and I sold it after I converted it to an internet publishing company in 2000. After I sold the company, I went to Florida and I didn't become a broker right away. I sort of hung out in Florida (like one does) for about a year. I didn't really know what to do. So, I thought, “Oh, wait a minute. I think I have to get a job or do something”. And you know, I make the joke that in Florida you can either work for Disney or do real estate, so I decided to do real estate.
Starting in real estate is always daunting. I did not know where to start, so I just decided to do build my business based on what I knew. In other words, I created a guide called “Buying and Selling Property in Sarasota, FL”. I wanted to prepare buyers/sellers to know what i knew so that they would be better prepared. It may sound ridiculous, because we're in a different world now—but at the time, Zillow didn't exist [and] everything was on MLS. The agents in the market said, “What are you doing telling clients how to buy and sell property?!” Well, I want them to be prepared! Because we had so many people coming from outside of Florida, I thought that it was better if I educated the client so that they wouldn’t be so shocked...buying property outside of your home location is still a big thing!
To engage prospective buyers, I started doing events and educating people on how to buy an investment property. I felt that education was the way of getting my brand built. Social media wasn't really around, and if it was then it wasn’t being used in the same way. I became an expert in certain areas - Siesta Key, downtown Sarasota - [and] got a name as a small firm. People were like, “Work with Westcoast Realty—they know what they're doing. They’re cool, you can trust them”. Basically, I just applied a lot of my publishing skills and my skills doing events to real estate. It worked really well. And I enjoyed it! I even did jazz and arts festivals. We were this little bitty company, but we had a big profile.
What is your proudest career moment?
I think my proudest career moment is that I built a company from scratch—I built several of them! But, the first one, Living Abroad, was the publishing company that provided relocation information for expatriate executives when they relocated abroad. I had it for ten years, it was an extraordinary experience - traveling around the world 7-8 times a year; doing business in over 40 countries, living in London and New York, and meeting the most fascinating people from all different cultures. I sold Living Abroad for a significant amount of money in 2000, but, the cool thing is, that company still exists! There are all kinds of companies that are created. Some succeed, some fail, and some become unicorns, but Living Abroad is still around. It's in the hands of very good people who bought it, so I'm very proud of that. I'm also proud of the fact that I met payroll for all those years!!
My other proud professional [moment] is when I started my nonprofit, Foundation for Social Change in 2010, targeted at women and girls. We were able to create a training program that taught life and business skills. We worked with the singer, Shakira, and her organization, Barefoot Foundation in Columbia, to launched [it] as a live education program for girls. It became so successful it just expanded and exploded to where we put it on a mobile web app. It's now called ‘Smart Woman,’ and it’s currently on the Facebook internet.org platform available in 72 countries, 27 languages.
We expanded to other mobile apps: ‘Smart Business’, ‘Money Matters’, ‘My Family’, and ‘Daily Motivator’—focus on educating people in emerging markets to get basic information about how to live, do your business, how to manage money and how to be a good parent. One million people a day access those apps, so that’s definitely a proud professional moment: to have that kind of impact for so many people. It's taking the knowledge that you have, and saying, “Oh, I can figure this out, and we can help people!” It’s also that people want to help themselves, they just don't know how. So if you can provide something, then they'll take advantage of it.
How would you differentiate yourself?
What I've been told is I have a lot of energy. People like my positive attitude and energy. I can be funny, but I listen to people. I have tremendous empathy. I'm not the dour ‘woe-is-me’ type. As a lifelong salesperson I learned to be a good listener. I always ask people how they are doing, how their families are - but really, really listen to what they are saying as though there's a matter of trust. I think that that's what people would say: that they can trust me, I’m loyal, I do what I say; if I say I'm gonna do something, I do it. But the energy...I love that, because nobody wants to have a dour old fart [around].
Louise Guido’s energy and empathy have indeed made an impact, especially in regards to the work she’s done for women and girls both internationally and domestically. In addition to founding a nonprofit aimed at empowering women in developing nations, her commitment towards mentoring her peers and leading by example is just one way she challenges patriarchal understandings of what a woman “should be”.
In the fight for gender parity and equal opportunity, Guido’s efforts cannot be discounted.
So you’ve traveled quite extensively. What places are your favourite?
New York is the center of the universe, I love New York. I was born and bred a diehard New Yorker. There's something about the New York sensibility that never gets old. It defines who I am in every way...It really makes you become smarter, wiser, a faster thinker, and you learn never to take anything personal. So New York is in my DNA.
The United States doesn't have a specific culture the way other cultures do, but the one thing that America has is that we believe anything is possible. And there are a lot of barriers, there is a lot of drama…but when you get out into the world [you see that] the barriers are a lot less here than they are for other people, because people realize that Americans are crazy—they can do anything. We just have this feeling that we belong, it's fascinating.
But [what] really resonates for me is Sub Saharan Africa and the women in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa. These are women who define womanhood. They're amazing. There's a can-do attitude about them that you often don't find. They've taught me a lot: they're resourceful, they're resilient, they're the core of any family. I want to go back there, I can learn from them.
Yet who doesn’t love Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Hong Kong and, of course, London, where I lived for 10 years? These are world-class cities and cultures. They embody civility and civilization.
You mentioned you started your own nonprofit. RPN has a focus on philanthropy, what causes are close to your heart that you think deserve more detention?
I worked for 10 years [at the nonprofit], put a lot of my own money and raised a lot of money [for] women and girls. Women and girls have been marginalized. I can't always do the social impact work that I used to do on a full time basis, so I try to do it with my younger colleagues, because the best way to impact people - anyone - is to pass along things what you know, and living by example. The young women I work with always tell me (and they’re millennials so they’re very verbal!): “You show me that it’s okay to speak up”. I say: “Girlfriend, you have to speak up!” Women have to speak up, because men—I mean, I love men—but they'll walk into a room like they belong, and they don't have to do or say anything. It’s like that great line: ‘they were born on third base, but they act like they hit a triple.’
Believe me, I used to travel around the world and I was the only woman in business class, and the men would ask me if I could get them something when I was up. I was like, “Are you for real, man? I don't even want to sit next to you!” I think things are better now. I do love the younger generation that accepts everybody…but I still love helping women, and living by example is my passion.
Who has been your mentor?
Celebrities are not my mentors, but there are people that I find are really sensible, and I go after sensible. I learned this as a young woman: I picked out the best out of a lot of other people's best qualities, and I made them into mine. I used to tell people: I wasn't this person, I created this person from all these great people. I’d see all these [great qualities] and I’d emulate that. I still do that with young young people, my neighbors, family members...I like to learn a little something from everybody…I think mentors to me are all around. It's not older people, it's not celebrities. It's people who have a sensibility about them.
As far as what the future holds for Louise Guido, she has some big plans on the horizon—plans that mark the beginning of yet another new, exciting chapter in her life that she can’t wait to get started on.
In other words, she’s staying right on brand; the Louise Guido Book just keeps on growing.
We can’t wait to see what happens next.
What is your proudest life moment?
I'm proud of the fact that I'm still working and I can contribute to the culture and work environment. I work with a lot of young people. I’ve become a mentor for a lot of the young women in a way [where] I don't even try to be a mentor. They see that I’m hip, completely with it, and that I get it. I'm a supporter of women without being angry about it.
I've been through every iteration of discrimination. It just goes on and on, and it never ends for women in particular. I never came out publicly to the point where I had to fight for something like that. So as a gay woman I was a little bit of a chicken, I think. Also, I never met anybody in those early days when I came out that was the love of my life.
Having said that, I am going to be getting married! How about that? So that is my proudest personal moment. I’ll be getting married on July 17th, and she's 23 years younger than me, so I've still got it apparently. I won’t have it forever, but I’ve still got it right now! And I think as an “out” gay woman and with family and friends that accept it, I'm doing it at the right time.
Tell me more about your wedding!
I’m a stealth planner. We decided last week, and then I went into overdrive. It’s not a traditional wedding for many reasons, one being that we're going to be coming out of COVID in July[...]we're going to do it in a very typical Vermont-y Gay-ish way. We'll have the ceremony, [and] I have a lot of bridesmaids, best men, and groomsmen[...]instead of 1 and 1 [there’s] like 12 of them, and they'll give me away because me getting married is like the comet that you see one in once in every one hundred years—you gotta go out at midnight to see it flash by!
There's this community club where I have a home in Vermont that used to be a church, and they rent it out for $100 for three days!! We’re going to have about 50 people, with a ceremony and a tent outside because Vermont is spectacular in the summer. I have a friend of mine [becoming an] officiant so he can marry us, then we're going to have a three day wedding like a lot of people do. Friends will come up and [we’ll] have a big reception there. The day of the wedding we'll have the service, and then the next day we take everybody around because in Vermont there’s a lot to do. Interestingly where I live there’s a lake right here. It's a state park so there’s swimming and boating, and there’s [not usually] a lot of people, but it's a big lake and you can hike around it, so we'll have all these outdoor activities. I had to tell my New York/New Jersey family, “Do not wear heels here!” because you'll go right through the grass! Catering is local, everything is ‘farm-to-table’, which I love.
My fiancée Karen is from Colorado, she’s a nature girl. I wasn’t [as much] until I got here. But I always loved Vermont. It reminds me of Normandy, France. Both are ‘happy places’ for me.
Any last thoughts?
Authenticity is a buzzword, but you really do need to be authentic. You need to know who you are. A lot of people hide. For years, I hid behind whatever, and not just because of LGBT—but I think you have to be real, because in being authentic you don't have to worry about what you told somebody, what you said, or how you’ve behaved.
Being a sales person in real estate really is a great educator. You simply cannot take things personally. You just can't. It's never about you. I mean, when is it ever about you if it’s about somebody else? I think too many people take things too personally...and that's sometimes a maturity thing. But the reason they take it personal is because maybe sometimes they're not authentic with themselves, they don't want to face it. So that's the only thing I’d like to finish with...I haven't always been authentic, but at this stage of my life it's like, why would I change? Why would I do it differently? I am who I am.
One more note, I am in the middle of writing my memoir: ‘You Can’t Fall Off the Floor: How one ordinary woman created an extraordinary life’. It’s a testament to my Mother, Aunts, Uncles and many people who influenced me. I want to tell their story through my own life. The ‘kitchen table wisdom’ and the way you can lead an exceptional life - one that is full of triumphs, and how to handle the inevitable life-changing challenges.
It’s a private memoir for family, friends and to honor the legacy of my family, friends - and all those people, events, and challenges that inspired me.