Jeannie DelGreco – Realtor shares her Entrepreneurial Odyssey Discover Lafayette

Jeannie DelGreco, a Lafayette realtor with eXp Realty, joins Discover Lafayette to share her rich and storied entrepreneurial journey in sales.







While Jeannie’s current career today as a mom and realtor with eXp Realty is fulfilling and successful, in this interview, Jeannie looks back at the various lessons learned and experiences she survived that made her the person she is today. And to put it into perspective, Jeannie is a highly successful real estate agent with eXp Realty, being ranked in 2023 by the firm as the #4 sales agent in Lousiana and #2 in Acadiana with $14 million in sales volume.







While Jeannie has never thought of herself as a sales person, she remembers as a child launching a small business selling Mother of Thousands (Kalanchoe laetivirens) plants door to door all on her own. She says, "It was a brave thing to do, knocking on doors to sell the baby plants I had placed in small egg cartons, asking people to buy one for 25 cents or 4 for $1.00! At LSU as a student, she similarly worked with a friend, painting t-shirts or party cups for sorority events to earn extra spending money.







One summer changed Jeannie's life trajectory when she was asked to spend the summer with her mother's close friend from New Iberia, Sandra DeBlanc, who lived in Columbus, Ohio and was employed as Director of Sales for Victoria's Secret Catalog. Sandy had served in the Air Force Intelligence during the Vietnam War, and was a wonderful role model for this young girl who needed a bit of direction. Sandy hired Jeannie to join the sales force team for Victoria's Secret Catalog for the summer and she was on her way to learning customer relations.







During the time Jeannie worked for Victoria's Secret Catalog, it was before the internet became a dominant method way to make sales, and people had to phone in their orders. Catalogs were mailed out weekly and the sales force in Columbus were mainly college girls such as Jeannie. She loved the work and learned how build rapport with customers. She learned how to deal with people who were calling in angry about an order that had gone awry, as well as those who were just shopping, asking for assistance. Jeannie found it natural and easy to describe the garments, get the customers to envison themselves in an outift, and suggest ways to finish a look, encouraging customers to buy more, thereby increasing average order volume. She remained in Columbus, and attended The Ohio State University studying business, marketing, and human resources.









"I loved the sales work at Victoria's Secret Catalog, and I also learned key lessons from my mom's friend, Sandy, who taught me that you have to pay your dues in the work place. Don't expect to come in and be promoted right away. You have to earn your position."









On the day of Jeannie's graduation from The Ohio State University, her parents were in town and attended a festival with her. While enjoying the festival, she met a milliner named Patricia Shypertt who made custom hats and holding a raffle to give away a flat travel hat to the lucky winner. Lo and behold, Jeannie won the hat and started a conversation with the milliner inquiring about her practice of designing hats. This serendipitous event led Jeannie down another path, where she decided to become a milliner. She quit her job at Victoria's Secret Catalog, became a waitress to support herself, and started making custom hats in Columbus, Ohio.









Jeannie on graduation day with mentor Sandra DeBlanc



















"I had always had this idea that to be artistic, it had to begin when you were very young. You couldn't change course in your 20's. Patricia Shypertt (the milliner who mentored Jeannie) was in her 40's and she said, 'Oh no,