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It’s been a little more than a year since industry icon Sherry Chris stepped down from the helm of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate and ERA Real Estate, and began her next chapter as a very active retiree. Chris still serves as the executive advisor for Anywhere Brands, the host of the What Moves Her podcast, and often appears on the stages of the industry’s leading conferences in her trademark black and Pantone pink.
Despite her jet-set schedule, Chris said she’s living lighter than ever, thanks to a renewed focus on her health and wellness, embracing a more minimalistic lifestyle, and expanding her cultural horizons with brief stints living in Italy and Greece. Chris said these experiences have made her happier and healthier — which explains the resplendent glow on the former CEO’s face as she Zoomed Inman from a hotel room in Vegas.
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“I wish that I had prioritized all of this earlier in my life. And, you know, so if people say, ‘Do you have any regrets?’ she said. “I’d say, I never have regrets because it’s all part of the journey. But if I could go back and prioritize my health, prioritize travel, and understand the importance of really connecting at a deeper level with people, I would have had this happiness for a longer period of time.”
Ahead of Connect Austin, Chris sat down with Inman to talk about retirement, travel, and her unrelenting dedication to women’s empowerment in real estate and beyond. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Inman: Hello, Sherry! It’s nice to talk to you. I think the last time we spoke, you’d just retired. How has the past year been for you in transitioning from a day-to-day executive role into what you’re doing now?
Chris: Well, you know, it has been a year, and let’s see — May, June, July, August — it’s been a year and four months since my official retirement. The day after the announcement, I really hit the ground running in my advisory role and it’s been very busy, but very, very rewarding.
One of the projects that I am working on first and foremost is building the What Moves Her Women’s Network within Anywhere and beyond. Since I took over as co-chair of that with Lindsay Listanski, who’s my Coldwell Banker colleague, we have built a blog, and we’ve launched a podcast. And actually Emily, your CEO, is going to be on the podcast soon.
And for myself, I have been traveling across the country to various conferences, including Connect, talking about empowering women [and] facilitating panels for women. Last week, I was at our Sotheby’s International Realty Conference in Nashville and the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Brokers Conference in Huntington Beach. It was just great to be interacting with all of those people.
It’s awesome that you’ve been so active. When it comes to your work for women’s empowerment, what keeps you motivated to keep investing in that movement? And despite the strides in female leadership, why do we still need that messaging? What conversations still need to be had about women’s experiences in real estate?
It’s a great question, and my answer is twofold. First of all, when I started the leadership part of my career, which was many years ago, I was the only woman and the youngest. I always wanted to have the opportunity to give back and help other women, particularly young women, achieve their goals, whether it’s in real estate or whatever the case may be. So that hasn’t changed. My passion remains, and I feel it’s still very necessary because it’s not equal.
Women in CEO and leadership roles versus men at our company Anywhere, we have a disproportionately large number of women in leadership, which is fantastic. But not every company has that and not every industry has that. So it’s still important to have a platform where women can tell their stories, feel comfortable, network with one another, and surpass their goals by having the opportunity to be with other women and be inspired by other women, and men, too, because What Moves Her is not just a woman’s network.
We have many men who participate and are also very supportive of women in the workforce. So it’s just a great platform. We’re currently in the process of launching local committees, which are like local chapters. So now it’s the time to expand What Moves Her and create scenarios where local groups can get together in person. It’s rewarding and necessary.
What can other brokerages and franchises take from Anywhere’s playbook when it comes to building a strong lineup of female leaders? Why has Anywhere been so successful in identifying potential leaders and then supporting them with training and a clear path to reaching their executive goals?
It starts at the top, and our CEO, Ryan Schneider, is an extremely collaborative CEO. He understands the benefit of surrounding himself with great people, and many of the C-suite executives who report directly to him are women. So when it starts at the top like that, it makes it easier to cascade throughout the organization because what he’s done is built a culture of inclusiveness and opportunity for everyone.
One of the things that we do at Anywhere is we have a large number of employee resource groups; we call them ERGs. These different groups can and do meet regularly and have executive sponsors lead them and guide them, so that movement also creates a place where everyone feels comfortable. I think that our company, Anywhere, is a great leader in that regard. We don’t just talk about it, we actually practice it each and every day.
I like that. Inclusive spaces are really important for growth. I’m going to shift real quick and talk about your latest LinkedIn post about traveling and working remotely. It’s been interesting to see how you’ve handled retirement — a lot of people often daydream about it but are completely lost on what to do once they reach it. I’d just love to know more about how you’ve approached this part of your life.
Well, thank you for noticing that. And yes, I would love to talk about that.
So first of all, when I stepped down in May of 2023, I made a commitment to myself to become healthy. I had been the CEO of two global real estate brands. I was traveling extensively. I really wasn’t taking care of myself. I was taking care of a lot of other people. So my journey to health and wellness has been a long one, and it’s never easy, but I changed my eating habits. I eat clean. I don’t eat processed food anymore. I have a workout plan and schedule, and I’ve really shifted my priorities to longevity and wellness.
Once you go through a change like retiring, you start thinking about what time do I have left and how am I going to make the best of it? That was the first piece. Actually, your founder, Brad Inman, was very instrumental in launching his new venture, Live Long, which has a great newsletter, and so we really went through the journey together, and it’s great to have a partner that you can work with.
The second piece of it was that I wanted to experience the world, not as a tourist, but as a traveler living in different countries and getting to know the different cultures. I felt that would help me both personally and professionally, and it certainly has. So in that blog post that you were talking about on LinkedIn, I talked about the fact that one of the things that I did was simplify my travel by traveling with carry-on luggage only.
So, for two months this year, I traveled, and with a carry-on, you have to really plan what you’re going to take with you and what you’re going to do. You have to remind yourself that it doesn’t matter that you don’t have that extra pair of shoes, et cetera. That was, you know, really a very interesting exercise that helped me in other ways as well. It helped me realize that I don’t need all of the complexities that I had surrounding me before that. Life is really about the relationships that you have, not the objects that you have acquired.
In 2023, I spent a month living in Lucca, Italy, and I invited friends to come and visit during that time period. And I loved it. This year, I spent two months traveling mostly in Greece, and I absolutely enjoyed meeting the people, learning more about culture and how they eat — that Mediterranean diet is very healthy. And so next year, my plans are well underway for another interesting journey.
Your experience reminds me of a journalist and podcaster I listen to who’s chronicled her life abroad. She bounces between Ghana, South Africa, England, France and the U.S, and she often talks about how traveling has completely transformed her life.
One of the most liberating parts of it all is traveling on your own. It opens you up to talking to all different types of people. I’ve made so many friends along the way, and I know we’ll be lifelong friends.
And right now, I live in two different locations. I live in Palm Beach and Toronto, and I’m already thinking about what that is going to look like in the future. Do I need that or should I travel more? When we think about COVID and everything that happened around it, we often talk about the bad, but some silver linings appeared, and one of them was being able to successfully work from anywhere. All you need is your phone, your iPad and a laptop. If you have the flexibility to take calls in the middle of the night because of the time zone difference and are willing to do that, it all works out.
That’s one of the things I love about working for Inman. Working remotely does give you the flexibility to experience more, and I’d love to travel like you have. With that in mind, what advice would you give to someone my age where retirement is still a few decades away? How can we balance our professional and personal lives better now?
I’ll start by saying, I wish that I had prioritized all of this earlier in my life. So if people say, do you have any regrets? I never have regrets because it’s all part of the journey. But if I could go back and prioritize my health, prioritize travel, and understand the importance of really connecting at a deeper level with people, I would have had this happiness for a longer period of time.
So you need to do it now, and I like the fact that you’re listening to podcasts. I think it’s important to have like a group of people — a health buddy or a health coach or a health mentor — just someone who will hold you accountable to do certain things. Tracking everything is very important, so keep a journal. In going to Italy last month, it was for me a bold move. I’ve traveled to over 30 countries, but it’s always been vacations where you go and see the Eiffel Tower or something. This wasn’t that. This was immersing yourself in the culture.
So I strongly urge you and other young people to do that. I’m going to check in with you and see what your progress is.
Yes, ma’am! It was wonderful talking to you and I can’t wait to see you on the stage in Austin.
