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The locally-based Suarez said she was inspired to make the show as a way to combat some of the negative portrayals of the Hispanic community in the media. PHOTO/YANIRA SUAREZ
When Yanira Suarez came to New York for college at age 17, she didn’t speak any English whatsoever, but knew she wanted to grow and succeed in her life and career. What she didn’t foresee was that she would become a self-made entrepreneur, co-owning a real estate brokerage, a luxury custom home building company, and now, producing and starring in her own docuseries, “Yanira’s World: Selling the American Dream,” which is now available on YouTube.
The locally-based Suarez said she was inspired to make the show as a way to combat some of the negative portrayals of the Hispanic community in the media.
“[The depictions] really grew in me the desire,” she said. “I want to show the world, what we actually do. … I want a show that brings love, passion and hope and celebration for our victories and our accomplishments.”
In her experience working with families, especially those buying their first homes, Suarez realized that the process was more meaningful than a simple financial transaction. “Most of the time, the one dream everyone has, all the immigrants have when they come here is they want to have some sense of ownership,” she said. “I quickly in my career learned – I wasn’t selling a house, I was transforming people’s lives.”
Suarez hopes that her show, which follows first-time Latino home buyers through the process of navigating the hurdles in their path, will inspire others to believe and understand that it is possible for them to achieve these goals and eventually succeed in their journey to home ownership.
“Representation matters, it shows us the possibilities of what we can be or achieve. Role models are one component of transformative change,” said Suarez. “Latino homeownership is expanding at a recordbreaking pace, altering the real estate landscape in many areas of our country. This demographic is growing; they have a central place in the housing market and the U.S. finance system, it’s about time we put the spotlight on the realities of their house hunting journey.”
From a production perspective, Suarez is proud of the authenticity of the show and the families that are featured. She emphasized that it is a true reality show, with no scripts and nothing created – it was filmed exactly as things happened and shows the true ups and downs these families faced during their journey. She said that her goal was to get viewers to connect with the families on the show.
“We wanted to create something that was going to be so touching for everyone that they would be engaged watching it,” she said.
Now that her series has debuted, Suarez plans to continue in her mission and passion to help people. In addition to filming the second season of her show and hosting wealth-building seminars across the country, she plans to take on other projects, both nationally and internationally, with a focus on helping transform people’s lives, including her clients’.
“We get committed to you and your family,” she said. “My mission is to be a light of hope and financial growth to every family we touch.”
