Good Mentors And A Drive To Succeed Helped Holsclaw Find Her Footing Early
March 24, 2021 at 12:13 a.m.
Good Mentors And A Drive To Succeed Helped Holsclaw Find Her Footing Early
By David [email protected]
Fabiola Holsclaw, 34, was just 18 when she got her real estate license, and she’s been so successful since then that she is able to help other women find their success.
Andrea Hedington, team assistant at Brian Peterson Real Estate, said, “Fab was the reason I got hired because I knew her from a different place and she recommended me to Brian so I’ve always appreciated that. Fab’s a go-getter, probably one of the hardest workers you’re ever going to meet. Even when it’s hard, she figures it out. She’s a real problem-solver. And she just knows how to get things done.”
She also described Holsclaw as friendly and compassionate, and said Holsclaw taught her everything she knows about real estate.
Born in Mexico, Holsclaw came to the United States around 1992-93 when she was 6 years old and attended Madison Elementary School.
“I was immediately embraced by the community. Our whole family was, and I feel like we were very lucky that, even though there wasn’t a lot of help, there were a lot of kind people,” she said in an interview March 9 at the Brian Peterson Real Estate office in Warsaw where she’s a realtor.
No one in her family knew any English at the time.
“I felt guided by good people to anything that could help us,” Holsclaw said, noting that one of her family’s biggest helpers was the late Wendy Wildman Long. Long was the director of language programs for Warsaw Community Schools. “She would literally take my family or ask us to meet her at a certain (location) ... and we would learn through games. My parents would sit down with books, I suppose, and I feel like that was truly the foundation of our beginnings here.”
In her senior year (2003-04) at Warsaw Community High School, Holsclaw did co-op for real estate and that’s when she realized what she wanted to do as a career.
“I was very lucky to have a husband and wife (Dick and Sue Cole) real estate team that hired me. And they both took me under their wings. So the wife did the sales part of it, the husband did the behind-the-scenes,” Holsclaw said.
As soon as she could, Holsclaw got her real estate license.
“I took the course and I just turned 18. I’m pretty certain, to this day, I’m the youngest realtor to ever have joined the Board of Realtors,” she said.
“Dick and Sue Cole had a big part in giving me all the resources I needed to learn to be able to do my job right. And then, I feel, it wasn’t really until I started working with Brian that I felt like my success really started happening because he just empowered me to do whatever was necessary to help our clients succeed in their goals,” she said.
May will mark her seventh year with him, she said.
Being a woman, especially a Latina woman, Holsclaw has faced a few challenges in the business.
“I think, as a woman in general, probably the thing I run into the most, there’s plenty of men who want me to check with my boss when I answer something. They’re like, ‘OK, I will take that answer, but can you doublecheck with – ‘ it was either, back then Dick, or now Brian. I guess there’s always going to be people in life that way,” she said. “I just let them feel like I’ve done so to help them accept that answer better, but Brian trusts me completely and he knows I’m experienced and really values that. If I’m ever in question of anything, I guess, he knows I would come to him, but very rarely. I usually just make decisions and go with them.”
One time for certain, she said, it was made very clear to her that a family moving to the area would not be working with their office because she worked there and was a person of color.
When she worked with Dick and Sue Cole, there was a man she worked with that left because he did not want to be trained by a woman, especially a woman younger than him.
“He’s never been rude to me or anything, but he just made it very clear that he was better than me because he’s a man,” Holsclaw recalled.
She said it’s been interesting sometimes to see how and what people think of women.
As other people have helped Holsclaw in her life, she’s also made an effort to pay it forward.
“When I was younger, and I guess before I understood the value of everything, I would often teach English to other children so my parents’ friends and the moms wanted their children to learn to speak English. It’s pretty cool to see them now in the community as adults and to think I had something to do with that,” she said.
She volunteers on local boards and committees, serving now on the YMCA board.
Holsclaw said she’s been divorced, had miscarriages and had failures in her career.
“I feel like that makes me more relatable to anybody, and women especially, because I think there’s a lot of women that feel they’re torn down or just constantly fail and don’t succeed. I just like to encourage them, and sometimes give them guidance and connect them with other community people who can help them further their career,” she said.
When asked if there’s enough community support out there for women, Holsclaw bluntly said no.
“I would say that there’s been a few groups formed who are trying and have tried, but unfortunately it gets very cliquey. So I think the cliqueiness and the social status plays a big part of it. I wish there was something that truly just had no limits to how much we could help each other and cheer each other on,” she said.
When Holsclaw isn’t out showing houses or meeting with clients, she runs the Brian Peterson Real Estate office on East Center Street. She manages everything from Peterson’s accounts, clients and contracts to the marketing and legal.
“We started in this other office next door, and eventually we outgrew it. People wanted to join our team, and all women have joined our team, until recently we had another male. We are dominantly women in this office, and my job is also to give them the tools to succeed. So they often come to me for my experience, my creativeness, my problem solving. I’m a therapist. I do it all,” Holsclaw said, adding that it’s really a collaborative effort at the company.
Last year, she said, “Our team, just our team, not our entire office, closed over $53 million. That’s the most we’ve ever sold. I worked a lot, but I’m very thankful that Brian lets me take time to spend with my family because being a mom has been my biggest blessing in life.”
Her son, Grey, is 3 years old. She also has her niece, Eva, who is 11.
“And I couldn’t do it without my husband, but I feel like that’s what I waited for my whole life, is to be a mom,” Holsclaw said. “No matter how much success in this business, nothing compares to being a mom.”
She didn’t go to college or have any formal training. She self-taught herself a lot of things, as well as had good mentors over the years.
“But you can’t do it without your army, right? We have an awesome office where there’s a lot of women here and we are all strong and independent and we support each other,” she said.
Holsclaw can be contacted by texting or calling 574-527-9571; or by visiting the website brianpetersonrealestate.com.
Fabiola Holsclaw, 34, was just 18 when she got her real estate license, and she’s been so successful since then that she is able to help other women find their success.
Andrea Hedington, team assistant at Brian Peterson Real Estate, said, “Fab was the reason I got hired because I knew her from a different place and she recommended me to Brian so I’ve always appreciated that. Fab’s a go-getter, probably one of the hardest workers you’re ever going to meet. Even when it’s hard, she figures it out. She’s a real problem-solver. And she just knows how to get things done.”
She also described Holsclaw as friendly and compassionate, and said Holsclaw taught her everything she knows about real estate.
Born in Mexico, Holsclaw came to the United States around 1992-93 when she was 6 years old and attended Madison Elementary School.
“I was immediately embraced by the community. Our whole family was, and I feel like we were very lucky that, even though there wasn’t a lot of help, there were a lot of kind people,” she said in an interview March 9 at the Brian Peterson Real Estate office in Warsaw where she’s a realtor.
No one in her family knew any English at the time.
“I felt guided by good people to anything that could help us,” Holsclaw said, noting that one of her family’s biggest helpers was the late Wendy Wildman Long. Long was the director of language programs for Warsaw Community Schools. “She would literally take my family or ask us to meet her at a certain (location) ... and we would learn through games. My parents would sit down with books, I suppose, and I feel like that was truly the foundation of our beginnings here.”
In her senior year (2003-04) at Warsaw Community High School, Holsclaw did co-op for real estate and that’s when she realized what she wanted to do as a career.
“I was very lucky to have a husband and wife (Dick and Sue Cole) real estate team that hired me. And they both took me under their wings. So the wife did the sales part of it, the husband did the behind-the-scenes,” Holsclaw said.
As soon as she could, Holsclaw got her real estate license.
“I took the course and I just turned 18. I’m pretty certain, to this day, I’m the youngest realtor to ever have joined the Board of Realtors,” she said.
“Dick and Sue Cole had a big part in giving me all the resources I needed to learn to be able to do my job right. And then, I feel, it wasn’t really until I started working with Brian that I felt like my success really started happening because he just empowered me to do whatever was necessary to help our clients succeed in their goals,” she said.
May will mark her seventh year with him, she said.
Being a woman, especially a Latina woman, Holsclaw has faced a few challenges in the business.
“I think, as a woman in general, probably the thing I run into the most, there’s plenty of men who want me to check with my boss when I answer something. They’re like, ‘OK, I will take that answer, but can you doublecheck with – ‘ it was either, back then Dick, or now Brian. I guess there’s always going to be people in life that way,” she said. “I just let them feel like I’ve done so to help them accept that answer better, but Brian trusts me completely and he knows I’m experienced and really values that. If I’m ever in question of anything, I guess, he knows I would come to him, but very rarely. I usually just make decisions and go with them.”
One time for certain, she said, it was made very clear to her that a family moving to the area would not be working with their office because she worked there and was a person of color.
When she worked with Dick and Sue Cole, there was a man she worked with that left because he did not want to be trained by a woman, especially a woman younger than him.
“He’s never been rude to me or anything, but he just made it very clear that he was better than me because he’s a man,” Holsclaw recalled.
She said it’s been interesting sometimes to see how and what people think of women.
As other people have helped Holsclaw in her life, she’s also made an effort to pay it forward.
“When I was younger, and I guess before I understood the value of everything, I would often teach English to other children so my parents’ friends and the moms wanted their children to learn to speak English. It’s pretty cool to see them now in the community as adults and to think I had something to do with that,” she said.
She volunteers on local boards and committees, serving now on the YMCA board.
Holsclaw said she’s been divorced, had miscarriages and had failures in her career.
“I feel like that makes me more relatable to anybody, and women especially, because I think there’s a lot of women that feel they’re torn down or just constantly fail and don’t succeed. I just like to encourage them, and sometimes give them guidance and connect them with other community people who can help them further their career,” she said.
When asked if there’s enough community support out there for women, Holsclaw bluntly said no.
“I would say that there’s been a few groups formed who are trying and have tried, but unfortunately it gets very cliquey. So I think the cliqueiness and the social status plays a big part of it. I wish there was something that truly just had no limits to how much we could help each other and cheer each other on,” she said.
When Holsclaw isn’t out showing houses or meeting with clients, she runs the Brian Peterson Real Estate office on East Center Street. She manages everything from Peterson’s accounts, clients and contracts to the marketing and legal.
“We started in this other office next door, and eventually we outgrew it. People wanted to join our team, and all women have joined our team, until recently we had another male. We are dominantly women in this office, and my job is also to give them the tools to succeed. So they often come to me for my experience, my creativeness, my problem solving. I’m a therapist. I do it all,” Holsclaw said, adding that it’s really a collaborative effort at the company.
Last year, she said, “Our team, just our team, not our entire office, closed over $53 million. That’s the most we’ve ever sold. I worked a lot, but I’m very thankful that Brian lets me take time to spend with my family because being a mom has been my biggest blessing in life.”
Her son, Grey, is 3 years old. She also has her niece, Eva, who is 11.
“And I couldn’t do it without my husband, but I feel like that’s what I waited for my whole life, is to be a mom,” Holsclaw said. “No matter how much success in this business, nothing compares to being a mom.”
She didn’t go to college or have any formal training. She self-taught herself a lot of things, as well as had good mentors over the years.
“But you can’t do it without your army, right? We have an awesome office where there’s a lot of women here and we are all strong and independent and we support each other,” she said.
Holsclaw can be contacted by texting or calling 574-527-9571; or by visiting the website brianpetersonrealestate.com.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092