Carolina One Real Estate | Charleston Trident Association of REALTORS

Realtor® Andrella Pusha is a Charleston native who works as a Commercial Associate with Carolina One Real Estate. She is a Retired Chief Petty Officer who was one of the first black women to graduate from the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program. Andrella worked as a Nuclear Engineer for 20 years and was among the first women to be assigned to a nuclear-powered ship. Nuclear Engineers are responsible for generating clean water and making electricity, or as Andrella explains, “We brought the ship alive”.

Andrella shares that “The Navy was the best leadership course I could have taken. When I came in, there were the old guys that were about to retire, with the old mindset and mentality, the baby boomers, and later the millennials. Having to learn how to adapt and manage people across all of those age gaps, religious beliefs, morals and sometime lack of, colors; it’s probably the and biggest and best leadership course I could have asked for”.

Even before she achieved the rank of Chief, Andrella started a mentoring program for females, growing the group from 50 to more than a thousand in just three years. “I didn’t do it alone” she said, “I was able to employ my peers as well as supervisors and those below me. There is this thing called, leading from the middle. I learned to divorce titles. You don’t have to be a leader by title, to be a leader by stature. Which is why when I became a Realtor®, I felt comfortable mentoring new agents. I understood leadership can happen at any level, and it shouldn’t be only from the person at the top”.

A few years before retirement someone asked what she wanted to be when she “grew up”. The question was asked jokingly, but the intent was to get her thinking about the transition to civilian life. She spent a year traveling and explored various business opportunities. “As a little girl, my grandmother, who was a successful businesswoman in the area, built and renovated houses. I understood, that generational wealth could be created via real estate. I started to look at how to create something that wouldn’t die when I die. What one generation doesn’t learn to keep or maintain; the next generation will lose. Which is why, I leaned into the idea of building something my children couldn’t squander” she said.

Pusha initially entered real estate as an investor in 2015 and earned her license in 2020. She found inspiration in leaders of business and real estate. People that worked to break barriers like Montez Martin, her grandmother Rosabel Moultrie Logan and grandfather Henry Smith, who was monumental in the startup phase of many of the small black owned businesses in the area, and was known affectionately in the community as the “Black Mayor of Charleston”.

Andrella says her biggest challenge transitioning from the Navy to civilian life was resetting her mindset from, W2 employee to business owner. She put her head down and worked hard, but when she transitioned from residential to commercial real estate, there was no road map. She made the decision to pursue the commercial field after completing a SWOT analysis of her life and business. Once Pusha realized that while she was making the numbers, she wasn’t working in her passion, she knew she had to make the change.

In her second year as a CTAR Director, Andrella would like to see new agents better understand what the Associations provide for them and pursue more education—she believes that making good deals and good choices stem from education.

In addition to her leadership role at CTAR, she is also a first-year board member at the South Carolina Association of Realtors® (SCR) and the Hazel Global Foundation. In addition to being a Realtor®, she is a private banker, author, speaker, and in pursuit of RE Broker License. Her certifications and designations include: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Short Sales and Foreclosure Specialist (SFR), Military Relocation Professional (MRP), At Home with Diversity (AHWD), and Committed to Excellence (C2EX). She is a graduate of the CTAR Leadership Academy (2023) and the Civic Leaders Academy (2023) and was recognized as a 2023 Black Excellence honoree.

Remembering that we are in the business of building relationships and solving problems, being mindful of when and how to pivot, understanding current conditions, using foresight, and taking action is how to win in any market.

When Realtor® Bobette Fisher was sworn in as President of the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors® (CTAR) in December 2019, she delivered an impassioned speech about leadership, telling her fellow Realtor® members “Don’t Stop Believin’!” and at the time, no one knew how important that battle cry that would become. At the end of 2019, the Association was poised for a successful, busy year and a forecast that the residential market growth that our region enjoyed would continue.

In January, CTAR hosted it’s largest-ever annual Residential Market Update and Forecast, with more than 850 members in attendance. Unfortunately, that was the last large-scale in-person gathering for the 6,000-member strong Association in 2020. With the arrival of COVID-19, the spring months began to look uncertain.

As the reality of the pandemic set in and lockdowns began, Bobette supported the work of local and state Realtor® leaders and staff in their conversations with elected officials to ensure that Realtors® would be classified as essential employees and could continue working to provide housing in a time that having a safe place to call home had never been more important.

In March, the Association and MLS staff began working remotely and again, Bobette lent her support to the local Association staff and encouraged their efforts to establish virtual Realtor® services. The staff was able to quickly pivot programming, education courses and professional development seminars to Zoom and continue support services and Association business entirely uninterrupted.

One of the most significant changes in early 2020 was the move to a virtual, on-demand new member orientation. The Association welcomes an average of 50 new members each month, who would normally gather in-person for the bi-monthly member orientation program. By April, the Association had the virtual orientation up and running, with no disruption to the membership and rave reviews from participants.

“The new orientation structure allows members to complete Realtor® orientation at their pace and on their schedule” said Fisher. “The on-demand setup is much more conducive to how Realtors® work and allows them to get the most out of their membership from day one. This was just the beginning of us taking the challenges this year presented and turning them into opportunities and enhanced services for our members” she said.

This service-focused approach helped Association membership grow by 3% this year, with nearly 600 new members completing the virtual, on-demand orientation from April-December.

As a working Realtor® with Carolina One Real Estate, Bobette had a full calendar in addition to her duties as President—serving a full roster of clients and working to safely adapt her business practices to meet the requirements and new protocols brought by the pandemic—conducting virtual showings and creating cohesion between the Realtor® on the other side of the table more than ever before.

“Our business has always required Realtors® to work collaboratively to get the deal done but in the early months of the pandemic, this was never more important and it was really inspiring to see our community come together to support each other” she said. “We all did things that felt a little unusual at first—going to showings and only being able to bring our clients in via FaceTime, for example—when restrictions didn’t allow the potential buyer to see the property in person” she said.

Making those adjustments paid off—as Fisher celebrates her most successful year on record, mirroring the record-breaking growth of sales and prices in our regional market. In 2020, year-to-date sales surpassed 2019 levels by November, and median price has risen by 8%, to $300,000.

By May, the Association had successfully navigated the lockdown, was providing CE, designation and certification courses virtually and the market was skyrocketing with pent-up demand caused by the lockdown. Then, following the murder of George Floyd, the Association’s focus widened to address unresolved issues of racism, inequity and discrimination in the real estate industry.

“Through long overdue conversations with our membership, we recognized that we were not doing enough to combat racism, discrimination and the inequities that exist in our industry” said CTAR CEO Wil Riley. “President Fisher, President-Elect Rusty Hughes and I participated in an eye-opening meeting with minority members of our Association—we listened and knew we had to act immediately to right the wrongs of the past and ensure that all Charleston Realtor® members feel included and that they have a voice in our local, state and national Realtor® Associations” said Riley.

The Association worked quickly to re-establish their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force, led by Realtor® Stephen Kohn and CTAR Board members Shakeima Chatman and Jon Stroud. The task force was charged with creating a culture statement for the Association, researching consultants and establishing a standing committee to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion are considered in all aspects of Association business. The culture statement was unanimously approved by the CTAR Board in November and the task force is currently overseeing a survey to help guide the work of the committee in 2021 and beyond.

“The work being done by the DE&I task force will positively impact not only our membership and Association but also our community” said Fisher. “I am most proud of the work this group has done to bring our membership together and look forward to seeing all they will do in the coming years!” she said.

Through the summer and fall, Fisher worked closely with the Association’s legislative division and candidate screening committee to promote Realtor®-friendly candidates running for office in the November election and enjoyed the success of their work as many candidates won their respective races. The Association supported the narrowly-defeated affordable housing referendum in Charleston County. Undeterred, CTAR’s legislative division and leadership are working directly with local elected officials to address the longstanding issue of affordability in our region. “Access to safe and affordable housing that allows for families and individuals to easily commute to work, school and in navigating their daily lives is a primary concern for our public policy agenda going forward” said Fisher.

In December, Bobette led the 2021 Director Installation event and welcomed the new leadership teams to the Association, CHS MLS and the South Carolina Commercial MLS (SCCMLS). During the event, Chris Singleton delivered the keynote address and shared a message of perseverance, kindness and resilience—perfectly echoing the leadership style employed by Fisher in 2020. As she transitions to new leadership roles in the coming year, Fisher will continue her work in pursuit of affordable housing for all as well as fundraising for the Realtors® Political Action Committee (RPAC) in her roles next year as CTAR’s Immediate Past President and RPAC Fundraising Chair. Bobette will also serve as a Director with the National Association of Realtors® where she’s held several leadership positions over the course of her real estate career.

“Through an unprecedented year that presented a lot of challenges, Bobette was unwavering in her leadership and was always willing to do what needed to be done to ensure the continued success of our Association membership” said CTAR CEO Wil Riley. “In addition to having her most productive, successful year on record as a practicing Realtor®, she gave selflessly of her time, energy and expertise to move our industry forward, just as she has for many years in her numerous leadership positions” said Riley. “We were lucky to have such a strong leader at the helm this year and are proud of her representation of the Association in the community” he said.

With an expanding membership and growth in the regional housing market that seems unstoppable, Fisher’s leadership during a year that could have brought failure took the challenges and turned them into opportunities. As she encouraged members to do a year ago, Bobette never stopped believing that 2020 would be a success, regardless of what was thrown her way.

On behalf of the CTAR members, thank you, 2020 President Fisher, for your courage and leadership this past year!