We were lucky to catch up with Dina Thomas recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dina, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
For me, life is all about balance. And that has been a really difficult trajectory to navigate especially when you’re working through two different careers and have two young children.
I used to apologize for wanting to divide my time towards all the things that means something to me. That, for some reason that would make me less successful at all of them. But as I near 40, I’m realizing that there’s so much beauty in focusing on all the different things that feed you.
So for me, maybe it’s spending some time working on my latest social media webinar to educate my future clients, or spending some time with a script for a new play I’m about to work on, or running around, playing Elsa and Anna from Frozen with my daughter. I make sure to nurture my creative self in all facets of my business and life.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Well, I’d like to say that I’m someone who wears many hats.
I’ve been an actor my whole life. I have a Bachelors in Arts and a Masters of Fine Arts. I have always loved performing. There is something so special about collaborating with fellow artists, and reflecting a deep humanity into the world that has always spoken to me on a very profound level. It’s why I’ve never been able to walk away from it, even though it’s been a difficult life. Luckily, I now live in a city, that celebrates artists, and unfortunate enough to be steadily working.
On the flipside of that, I work as a real estate agent for the Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia area. I’ve been fortunate enough to grow my business over the last three years, and have met incredible people that have become clients and then continued on to be friends and as close as family. For me, there was something about being able to help people and provide value that spoke to me in the same way that acting did. I knew, especially for those who had grown up in the creative world that there had to be a way, a path to homeownership. And I was incredibly dedicated to helping those people find their way.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
It’s going to sound cliché, but in the world in which we live in, especially in the way that Covid took us away from each other, the thing I find that I value most, my clients value most and an audience values most is authenticity.
I wish when I was younger I had had the bravery to be myself, but to be honest, I don’t know that I knew who I really was yet. Now, as a mom of 2, plus a business owner and an artist, I have a much deeper understanding of what I bring to the table, and I am much less afraid to show that.
I also think it’s incredibly important to diversify your skills. Is there something that you’re interested in personally? Learn about it. Be able to speak on it. Make yourself an expert at tons of things if that’s what feeds you – there will always be something listening.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
Right now for me, it’s about continuing to specify my exact brand so that I can continue to grow my business. I am looking to build a business that is sustainable for me and my family for many years to come. And now that I’ve been in the real estate game going on three years, I am really committed to creating the specificity behind exactly what my business does, and how it runs so that it can continue to grow. That can be a slow process. If I do it right, so for me, the challenge has been patience, and taking the time to cultivate the vision, and then execute in the way I want.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.atproperties.com/agents/19317/dina-thomas
- Instagram: @dbtrealtor/@tinydthomas
Image Credits
Meghan Cavanaugh Photography, Ryan Maxwell Photography, DJ Corey Photography
