My name is Januari Coates. Today, I am a successful real estate agent and broker in the VA, DC, and MD markets. Last year, I sold my first million-dollar property. Recently, I received my instructor’s license to teach the Pre-Licensing Virginia Salesperson class and have established my own training center in Fredericksburg. I am the proud owner of Stepping With Leaders Inc., a local brokerage on Lafayette Blvd.
In the late 1990s, I was 19, pregnant with my second child, single, unemployed, and homeless. People are surprised when I tell them this, but it’s not hard to imagine a young adult—little more than a child—who is confused, arrogant, angry, scared, getting battered by the world and sinking deeper into trouble. Like thousands of others, each with their own unique story, I walked through the doors of the Brisben Center.
What I remember most is how much the staff believed in me. I was not a homeless person to them. I was a young woman, certainly troubled, but with the capability and drive to make it on my own. They did not coddle me.