Today we’d like to introduce you to Sunny Alexader.
Hi Sunny, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m originally from Texas, and if you had told me when I was younger that I’d end up owning a real estate brokerage in Tampa, I probably would have laughed.
I went to West Point on a soccer scholarship, and that experience changed the entire direction of my life. At the time, only about 10% of my class was women, and I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. I wish I could say I arrived there fearless and completely sure of myself, but that would not be true. There were plenty of moments when I wondered what I had gotten myself into.
After West Point, I served in the Army. I went through Airborne School, served as a platoon leader at Fort Bragg, and eventually commanded two companies. Later, I was recalled from the IRR and served at the Army’s Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center, supporting wounded Soldiers and Gold Star families.
That assignment changed me in ways I probably did not fully understand at the time. I had to make some incredibly hard phone calls and talk with people living through circumstances no family ever expects to face. Some of those conversations still stick with me to this day.
It taught me empathy in a way no leadership course ever could. Sometimes people do not need you to fix everything. Sometimes they need you to listen, tell them the truth, stay calm when they cannot, and help them figure out what comes next.
The Army taught me a lot about leadership, but it also taught me that leadership is not about having all the answers. Often, it is about being willing to make a decision, own it, and take care of people when they need you most.
When I left active duty, I had to figure out who I was without the uniform.
That transition was harder than I expected. I had spent years knowing exactly what my role was, what success looked like, and what was expected of me. Suddenly, I was starting over.
I went on to earn my master’s degree in Corporate Communication, but I was also a military spouse married to an active-duty Soldier. I knew whatever career I chose needed to be something I could take with me wherever the Army sent us.
That was part of what led me to real estate in 2007.
The other part was pretty simple: I liked houses, and I needed a job.
There was no grand master plan.
What I found, though, was that I really loved the people side of real estate. Buying or selling a home can be emotional, confusing, and sometimes downright stressful. I realized that the things I had learned in the Army- staying calm, being prepared, advocating for people, making decisions, and telling the truth even when it is uncomfortable- translated really well into this business.
Military life continued to shape our family for many years. My husband, Jordan, served 22 years on active duty in the Army and retired as a Special Forces Green Beret. Between my service, his career, deployments, PCS moves, and all of the uncertainty that comes with military life, we understand what it feels like to pack up your life and start over somewhere new.
That is probably one of the reasons I became especially passionate about helping veterans, active-duty military families, and people relocating to the Tampa Bay area. For us, it is not a niche we picked for marketing. It is a life we have actually lived.
Eventually, I became the Broker/Owner of Red Sash Realty.
The name Red Sash comes from the red sash worn by West Point seniors. I wanted the company to have a little piece of that history in it, but more importantly, I wanted it to stand for the things that matter to me: service, integrity, competence and accountability.
Today, our work has grown into residential sales and property management, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built.
But I also think it is important to say this: building a business has not been some perfectly polished success story.
There have been seasons where I felt confident and seasons where I absolutely did not. There have been mistakes, hard conversations, family challenges, long nights and plenty of moments when I wondered whether I was doing any of it particularly well.
I think that is probably true for most people, even if we do not always talk about it.
What keeps me grounded is that I still love helping people.
I still get excited when a veteran realizes they can actually buy a home. I still care when a seller is stressed. I still take it personally when someone trusts me with one of the biggest decisions of their life.
And if I ever stop understanding the weight of those decisions, I probably need to pack it up.
The awards and production numbers are nice, and I’m proud of them, but they are not really what motivates me.
At the end of the day, I want people to feel like they had someone in their corner who knew what she was doing, told them the truth and genuinely cared what happened to them. I want them to feel like, if I am representing them, everything is going to be okay because I’ve got them covered.
I think that is the thread connecting all of the different chapters of my life.
I started out serving people in uniform.
Now I just serve them in a very different way.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Lots of crying in the car and lots of thinking that I made a mistake opening a brokerage.
Like most people, there have been seasons where everything seemed to be moving in the right direction and others where life felt like it was coming at us from every angle.
One of the hardest stretches for our family began when my husband, Jordan, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He went through months of chemotherapy, complications, hospital stays, blood clots, and lung toxicity from treatment. There were a lot of moments during that time when we were simply trying to get through the next appointment, the next scan, the next setback.
Thankfully, he went into remission.
And then, not long after that, we found ourselves facing another completely different diagnosis: Parkinson’s.
That one hit me in a different way.
Cancer was terrifying, but there was also a treatment plan. There was a beginning, a middle, and hopefully an end. Parkinson’s feels much more uncertain. There is no clean finish line. We have to start thinking differently about the future, about health, about work, about family, and about what life might look like years from now.
At the same time, business does not stop because life gets hard.
Clients still need you. Our team still needs leadership. Deals still fall apart. Problems still show up.
One of the clearest examples of that for me happened while Jordan was going through chemotherapy. I remember taking a client call while sitting in the ER with him during one of his complications. My client had no idea where I was, and that was intentional.
I do not make my problems my customer’s problems. That is not how I do business. Life is hard for everyone; everyone has struggles.
That does not mean I lack empathy. If anything, I think the hard seasons of my life have made me better at this work. I understand stress differently. I understand fear differently. I understand what it feels like when life is moving around you, and you still have decisions to make.
But empathy does not replace performance. It enhances it.
My clients still need clear advice, strong negotiation, honest communication and someone who can stay steady when things get complicated. My employees still deserve leadership. The work still has to get done.
I can care deeply about what someone is going through and still hold the standard high. In fact, I think those two things belong together.
That has probably been one of my biggest lessons: you can be strong and still feel overwhelmed. You can be grateful and scared at the same time. You can keep moving forward without pretending everything is fine.
There have also been the normal struggles that come with building a business. Hiring the wrong people. Trusting too quickly. Growing faster than your systems can handle. Trying to be a good leader, wife, mom, friend, and business owner all at once and realizing there is no version of life where you do all of those things perfectly.
I have made mistakes. I have had relationships change. I have had moments where I questioned myself more than I care to admit.
But I think the difficult seasons have made me softer in some ways and stronger in others.
They have made me more patient with people. More aware that everyone is carrying something. More protective of my time. More willing to say no. And much less interested in appearing like I have everything figured out.
I don’t.
What I do have is a family I love, work that still feels meaningful to me, and a pretty strong belief that you can keep building a good life even when the version you originally imagined changes.
That is probably the biggest struggle and the biggest lesson all at once.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
What I’m most proud of about Red Sash Realty is that it feels very much like an extension of who we are.
We are a veteran-owned brokerage serving the Tampa Bay area, and a big part of our work is helping veterans, active-duty military families, and people relocating to the area. VA buyers are a huge focus for us because we understand the military lifestyle personally. We know PCS moves, deployments, uncertainty, timelines, and how overwhelming it can be to try to make a major real estate decision while everything else in life is moving too.
But we are not only a “military brokerage.” We help buyers, sellers, investors, and families throughout Tampa Bay, and we also have a property-management side through PMI South Tampa. That means we can help someone buy a home, sell a home, relocate, purchase an investment property, and then manage that property if needed.
What I think sets us apart is that we are very focused on protecting the decision, not just getting the transaction closed.
Real estate can get very sales-driven, and that has never really been our style. Sometimes the best advice we can give a client is to walk away. Sometimes it is to slow down. Sometimes it is to push hard in a negotiation. We try to be the people in the room who are willing to say what the client needs to hear, even when it is not necessarily what they want to hear.
That is probably where my military background shows up the most. I believe competence matters. Preparation matters. Communication matters. And if somebody trusts us with what is often one of the biggest financial decisions of their life, I take that responsibility pretty seriously.
I am also really proud of the fact that education has become such a big part of our brand.
We spend a lot of time helping people understand VA loans, property taxes, insurance, inspections, flood zones, financing, investment decisions, and the things that can become very expensive if nobody explains them properly upfront. I would much rather have an educated client asking me hard questions than a client who is simply following instructions.
And then there is the name.
Red Sash comes from the red sash worn by West Point seniors. It is a small connection to where I came from, but for me it represents something bigger: service, responsibility, integrity, and looking out for the people beside you.
I think the thing I am most proud of is that we have grown without losing that.
We have had wonderful production years, awards, and recognition, and of course I am grateful for those things. But when a client tells me they felt protected, that we told them the truth, or that they knew we had their back, that means more to me than any sales number ever will.
If readers remember one thing about Red Sash Realty, I hope it is this:
We are not trying to sell you a house.
We are trying to help you make a really good decision about your life, your family, and your money.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happy has changed a lot over the years.
Personally, I’m happiest when I’m with my family and things feel simple. A good dinner, laughing with Jordan and Skyla, the dogs underfoot, traveling somewhere new, or even just having everyone home at the same time. The older I get, the more I realize that the moments I used to think were ordinary are actually the ones I value the most.
Professionally, I’m happiest when I feel useful. I love solving problems, negotiating, teaching, and helping someone make a decision they feel good about years later. I still get a lot of satisfaction from a hard deal that comes together, but what means more to me now is knowing that somebody trusted me and felt taken care of. I also really enjoy building something. Red Sash has become much more than a real estate company to me. It is this living thing that reflects our values, our people, and the kind of impact we want to have in the community.
Emotionally, happiness for me is probably less about being happy all the time and more about feeling connected and at peace. Our family has been through some difficult seasons, and they changed my definition of a good day. I notice laughter more. I appreciate normal more. I’m much more aware of the people who show up, the friendships that feel safe, and the gift of being able to sit around a table with people I love. I don’t take those things for granted the way I probably once did.
Physically, I’m happiest when I feel strong and capable. I like moving my body, lifting weights, getting outside, using the sauna, and doing things that make me feel energized instead of depleted. It is less about looking a certain way for me now and more about wanting to feel good in my own body and have the energy to keep doing all the things I love.
I think the common thread in all of it is that I’m happiest when I feel present. Not chasing the next thing, not trying to prove something, just being where I am with people I care about and doing work that feels meaningful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.redsashrealty.com/
- Instagram: @redsashrealty
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunny.alexander
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandersunny/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@redsashgroup
