GROWING UP WITH LEGENDS THEN BECOMING ONE HERSELF

Angela Markusic

RE/MAX Aboutowne Realty Corp.

Interview by: Christopher Mei

I could have spoken to Angela for hours, her passion for life and appreciation for legacy is rather intoxicating. Our conversation started with a biography of her mother’s life. It was a necessary exploration to truly understand Angela.

Her parents founded and owned “Frank and Zora Fashions” in Kerr Village, Oakville, Ontario. They specialized in two things: making the finest detailed bridal wear and building relationships with clients that would last a lifetime. Originally from Zagreb in Croatia, these two masters of design and vision met and married in Munich, Germany. They then move to Canada. Not being able to carry very much for the journey, they made sure that their sewing machines came with them, and those two machines were the only ones they would ever use in all their time in the business.

At the store, they always had young Angela by their sides. First, so that they were always together but later as a large help around the shop. This was a dynamic parenting duo, set on ensuring that their only child felt a part of the team and not left on the sidelines to wonder where her parents were and what they were doing, left to be raised by babysitters and relatives.

As the business grew, its reputation spread, and the geography between Oakville and Toronto seemed to shrink with urban expansion, the little shop got busier and busier. Their clientele list grew to include prominent figures such as Olympian Donovan Bailey and Golfer Sandra Post. Angela would observe and learn the fundamentals of how relationships are developed and nurtured while simultaneously pushing one’s business forward. This would prove critical in Angela’s success later on. The shop would eventually close after forty years as an Oakville retail icon and local bridal shop. Lessons learned and taken to the next generation were soon being applied to the world of Real Estate.

While in her freshman year at McMaster University, Angela was working toward a degree in Economics. She had watched for almost twenty years how economics was applied in the retail world – now she wanted to know how and why it worked from a theoretical perspective. Her mother came to her and said, “you love this so much, you should get your Real Estate license”. Acting on her mother’s keen eye for business and success Angela dedicated the summers after her second and third years at MacMaster to taking all the courses necessary to qualify for the license.

Still, Angela did not pursue her dream right away. Right out of university, she landed a revered position with the Federal Government, in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. It was a great opportunity, with steady pay and pension. Yet, the pull of her initial dream kept tugging at her and after six years, she left that role to pursue her career in Real Estate and has never looked back. As a single mother to two boys, Angela saw this opportunity as the best way to work “as much or as little as I wanted while also dedicating time to raise and spend with my children”.

Her success is supported by the lessons taught to her by her parents, especially her mother who told her often that “work is not solely about business. It is about relationships.” Cultivating relationships and ensuring that clients feel like extended members of her family are her strongest business values. Before we closed our time together asked what she foresaw her legacy being. Her reply was simply: “I looked up to my mother, she was my inspiration and an inspiration to so many others. If I can cultivate the same work ethic, develop the same strength in my relationships, and have even half the legacy that my mother had, I would be happy.”

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WITH ANGELA www.angelamarkusic.com

FB: @ANGELAMARKUSICREALTOR

IG: @ANGELAMARKUSICREALTOR

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