I am proud of my work, my family and my community: Tony Garcia
Tony Garcia is one of the most successful real estate agents in South Florida. His story, like hundreds of Cuban Americans that made South Florida their home, is based on persistence and hard work to fulfill his dreams.
Tony was born in New York, from Cuban parents who came to the United States in 1957 before the revolution. He grew up in Jackson Heights alongside many Latino immigrants who started to populate Queens. At the time, it was an ideal place to grow surrounded by American culture, but without losing the Latin heritage that is carried in the blood.
“I am proudly American but with Cuban blood,” says Tony in Spanish with a strong Cuban accent that is noticeable from the moment he pronounces his first word. Even their two children who do not speak a word in Spanish consider themselves Cubans.
His relationship with the island has been one of love and hate. He lived closely to his mother’s pain when, because of the barriers set by the Cuban regime, she could not travel to the island to bury her parents. And not until Tony was 48 years old was he able to go to Cuba to meet his maternal family, “My dad would not let me go to Cuba until Fidel had passed away, which I did,” said Tony, laughing.
“I always grew up thinking that it was necessary as Cuban-Americans to distance ourselves from the Cuban government, but once I was there, I realized that the worst thing we have done during all these years is not having communication between families, and not being able to visit each other,” he added.
That duality and the resilience developed by being so far away but so close to their homeland is what makes this second generation of Cuban Americans like him leaders in their communities and successful business people.
That is the case of Tony, who nowadays is one of the most successful realtors in Florida. He began his career in real estate in a small company in which he first had two years of incremental growth. However, he decided to venture into a more solid company like Keyes, where he has had great achievements.
He has been the District Sales Manager of the Keyes Company, Homestead Office, since 2004. Under his management, Tony has grown the office from $45 million to over $145 million in sales annually, and Homestead has become the number one real estate office in sales volume and units in Miami-Dade County.
Likewise, Tony is one of the leaders of the Homestead community where he has lived with his family since 1997. Tony has been married for 23 years to his wife Nancy, who also works with him in real estate. They have two children, Anthony, 18, who goes to the University of Central Florida, and Alexandra, 13, who is homeschooled.
Together with his wife Nancy, the Keyes Company sponsorship and employees, he actively participates in helping the community and developing fundraising events and food campaigns to aid needy children from local public schools.
He also takes part in councilman Larry Roth’s “This is For the Kids, Inc.” non-profit organization, which was created to support children’s charities in Homestead. Each year the company holds the Homestead Rock’n’ Food and Craft Beer Fest and donate all proceeds to other charities that specifically help children and their families.
For Tony, his greatest professional achievement is to be able to help others accomplish their goals. “I consider myself a very fortunate person. Thank God I have done very well. I am proud of my work, my family and my community. When I was a kid, people did not have faith that I could do big things because I was a below-average student. Today I think I got where many did not expect, but the most important thing is that I achieved happiness,” concluded Tony.
Haz clic para leer en Español: Tony Garcia: Estoy orgulloso de mi trabajo, de mi familia y de mi comunidad
