What happens when a 20-year-old woman moves from Cali, Colombia, to the United States without speaking English, starts out cleaning a mall with her mother, and eventually builds a thriving real estate business and a legacy that opens doors for hundreds of others?

In this episode of The Red Chair, Elizabeth Ramirez, founder of Casa Soñada KC and KW Español KC at Keller Williams Overland Park, shares her journey of perseverance, faith, family, and thinking bigger.

Elizabeth came to the U.S. in 1987 with a teaching degree and a dream of one day opening her own bilingual preschool. She taught herself English, raised four children, and joined Keller Williams in 2007 as the only Hispanic agent in the office. She was Rookie of the Year with eight transactions and went on to sell 67 homes in a single year on her own. Today all four of her children work in her business, and KW Español has grown from about 8 agents to more than 60, helping them build their businesses in both English and Spanish.

In this conversation, Elizabeth and host Genevra Collins get into:

• Moving from Colombia to the US at 20 and learning English as an adult
• The fear of leaving a steady paycheck and the moment she went all in
• Going from Rookie of the Year to 67 solo sales in a year
• How a trip to KW Family Reunion made her think bigger
• Why she named her team Casa Soñada (dream home) instead of after herself
• Building a business alongside her children
• How KW Español KC started and why bilingual agents needed it
• Guiding first-generation Latino homebuyers to the closing table
• Her three Ps: perseverance, patience, and passion

Her message is simple but powerful: keep going. Keep doing the activities. Keep planting the seeds. And when the little voice tells you that you can’t, change your thoughts and think bigger.

Ultimately, Elizabeth hopes her greatest legacy will be that she opened a door for someone else.

Connect with Elizabeth: KW Español KC and Casa Soñada KC on Facebook and Instagram.

The Red Chair is hosted by Genevra Collins. Follow the show so you never miss a conversation.

When Your Dream Career Isn’t Your Dream Life

What happens when you love the career you've built, but start realizing it may not be giving you the life you actually want?

In this episode of The Red Chair, Genevra Collins sits down with Joe Balestrieri, a former college basketball coach who made a major career pivot during COVID and built a new path in real estate.

Joe takes us from growing up in Lee's Summit and his years around Kansas basketball to coaching at the college level, meeting his wife, becoming a dad, and eventually making the difficult decision to walk away from coaching.

From there, Joe shares what happened when he stepped into real estate, including his first sale, the financial lessons he had to unlearn, investing in rental properties, cash flow, refinancing, flipping, and building greater financial freedom and optionality.

But this conversation isn't really about real estate.

It's about knowing what matters to you and being willing to build your life around it.

We talk about leadership, humility, mentorship, money, family, personal growth, and why surrounding yourself with people who challenge the way you think can completely change what's possible.

If you've ever wondered whether the path you're on is actually the path you want, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Joe on Instagram or Facebook:

Instagram: @josephedwardb

Joe says Instagram is the best way to connect with him, and you can also reach him through Facebook or find his contact information through his social profiles.

• Joe's journey from Lee's Summit to college basketball
• What coaching taught him about leadership
• The moment becoming a father changed his perspective
• Why he walked away from coaching
• Starting over in real estate during COVID
• Learning to think differently about money and debt
• Rental properties, cash flow and refinancing
• Flipping and the BRRRR strategy
• Building financial freedom and optionality
• Finding what actually motivates you
• Creating a business that supports the life you want

Aaron Bunnell was in the final semester of his master's degree in voice at UMKC, gearing up for a main stage opera, a recital, and symphony performances, when COVID shut all of it down. He was working as a pharmacy technician for $18 an hour to pay for it. A coworker had just cleared a $10,000 commission on one house and put in his two weeks. Aaron had been half-heartedly clicking through real estate licensing videos at night with a three dollar bottle of wine from Trader Joe's, thinking the test seemed easy. Little did he know.

Five years later he is a Kansas City agent on the Homes By Brandy team at Keller Williams Overland Park, closing roughly $10.5 million across 34 units in 2025. He still sings every week at St. John's off Ward Parkway, in a church choir where everyone holds at least a master's in voice.

It did not come fast. He grew up in a small East Texas town with ex-military parents who told him plainly that anything past high school was on him. His first year in real estate he sold eight homes while still working the pharmacy, waking up at 4:30am to grab the only 15-minute showing slots COVID allowed. Year two nearly ended it. Four straight months with no closings, credit card debt, student loans, no savings, and a partner covering the bills. Then he saw a post on the office Facebook page from Brandy Hensley looking for someone to join Homes By Brandy. Three interviews later he closed $4 million in six months and paid off $15,000 in credit card debt. He has grown 25 to 30 percent every year since.

In this conversation, Aaron Bunnell and host Genevra Collins get into:

• Choosing music over med school, and telling parents who had no money for college
• Why COVID forced him to put a decade of vocal training on the back burner, and why he refused to let it go completely
• Finding a mentor the old-fashioned way: 50 people applied, 3 picked up the phone, and he was one
• The four-month drought, and what it felt like to let his partner cover the bills
• Why the teams he interviewed with gave him the ick, and what was different about Brandy's
• Answering emails in the shower, and the boundary conversation that saved his business and his relationship
• Setting goals by what balance actually feels like, not by where you land on the leaderboard
• Appearances versus real financial independence in the gay community
• What he would tell a new agent, and what he wants to be remembered for

This episode is for anyone in a creative career wondering how to make it pay, new agents wondering if the drought ever ends, and anyone still trying to fix everything themselves instead of asking for help.

Connect with Aaron Bunnell on Facebook and Instagram, or find him at a Mid-America LGBT Chamber event.

The Red Chair is hosted by Genevra Collins, CEO and Team Leader of Keller Williams Overland Park. New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Follow the show so you don't miss the next one.