Augusta Realtor Heather Ferrante has a unique reason why her favorite food is hard-boiled eggs.
“My favorite food in the whole, wide world is hard-boiled eggs,” said Ferrante. “I love Easter. Every time I smell hard-boiled eggs, it’s reminiscent of my childhood in the orphanage. When the American missionaries came to the orphanage, they gave us hard-boiled eggs.”
Ferrante says she has lived “all over” growing up. Born in Korea, she was adopted from an orphanage and brought to the U.S. as a child.
“I was about four and half years old,” said Ferrante. “I actually met President (Jimmy) Carter. He shook my hand. There was a bunch of us coming all at one time, and we all came to Chicago.”
Ferrante struggles to remember much from that time, but some memories have held fast, such as that first plane ride, or she and the other children having so little food.
“It’s just a reminder of how lucky and blessed we are,” she said.
There are a few reasons why Heather Ferrante got into real estate. One of the main reasons, to which she attributes her success, is that she’s an avowed people person.
“I just love being around folks,” said Ferrante. “When I walked into that classroom at Aiken Tech, and they asked why do you want to be a realtor, the first thing out of my mouth was that I want to make friends, and I want to make a difference in people’s lives.”
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Her outgoing and affable nature has proven effective, both in business and in her reputation among her colleagues. This year the Southeastern Residential real estate agent was awarded Realtor of the Year by the Greater Augusta Association of Realtors. The honor left her more than pleasantly surprised when she found out she was nominated.
“I said, ‘Come on, what’s the catch?’ ” said Ferrante. “I was just really shocked. I was like, wow, that is from your own peers.”
Ferrante earned her real estate license in 2006, but she was no stranger to business even then. In the early 90s, she and her first husband launched a technology company during the dot com boom, building computers, providing website development and networking services and eventually even internet service.
After she and her husband divorced, Ferrante still owned over 50% of the company they had started, but decided to go on sabbatical to care for her children and figure out her next step. She had been living in Aiken by this time, but a chance visit to the Jade of China restaurant would be the catalyst for her next career move. A woman she encountered there asked her what she was doing at the time.
“I said that since I sold my company, I’m not quite sure. She looked at me and said, ‘You should do real estate.’ And I was like, you know what? That would be fun,” she said.
Ferrante certainly enjoys her job. Reticent about speaking about herself, she is willing to say that her personality got her to where she is today. Her optimism and sociableness translate to a passion for serving the community. Organizations for which she has volunteered include Habitat for Humanity and Harvest Food Bank.
She has also been a volunteer director with Goodwill, and she is active with GallantFew, which supports veterans struggling to readapt to civilian life. Her involvement with GallantFew is particularly personal because her current husband, Bates Harison, served as an Army Ranger.
Ferrante says “the relational,” or building relationships, is the primary motivating factor in her career, as opposed to money; that, and building community.
“You can’t put a price tag on relational and to me, that is much that’s so much more important than everything else The money will be there, but umber one is relational. And those folks who I’ve worked with I am friends with. And that’s how you’re a community.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
