Welcome to Business Innovators Magazine…Please introduce yourself and a brief thumbnail sketch of your background.
CC: Hi, my name is Capri Cruz and my background is as vast and colorful as an amazing rainbow after a storm. My life has been molded by many things, people, and circumstances for almost 40 years, but now my life’s direction is guided by a grand vision. As a child, I grew up in foster care without anything but the Grace of God guiding and protecting me, but as an adult, I KNOW who I am as a child of God and I’m on a serious mission! When I was younger, I was a very unhappy person because I was a product of limited awareness. Limited awareness of who I was and the possibilities for my future. When I found inner peace and finally saw glimpses of the direction I was being led, I became a product of God’s work “in” me. I learned spiritual discernment. Today, my calling is to promote reading and development to foster youth on a national level through my Personal Growth Literacy Program, which was created by a book I wrote for foster youth and is funded by my work as a real estate agent. My life is so amazing today I can’t wait to watch what else God does with it!
Business Innovators Magazine: What would you say is the area in business that you are most passionate about and why?
CC: : I am most passionate about excelling as a real estate agent because it’s the funnel for all my other work. On the one hand, I get to help families find the perfect home of their choosing, which is vital to living a balanced life, and on the other hand, I get to use my commissions to promote reading to foster youth via my Personal Growth Literacy Program. I help teach foster youth about personal growth, home ownership, and entrepreneurship! God has given me such a large vision for my life and it just keeps getting bigger and better!
Business Innovators Magazine: How are you different than your competitors?
CC: I am probably the only spiritually led real estate agent in the world. (Laughing) Real estate was sent to me in my early 20s but I did not pursue it because I had recently enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Sixteen years later, I was led to write a book for foster children from which my Personal Growth Literacy Program was created, while simultaneously working on my PhD. Bits and pieces of my calling have been revealed to me over time and just this year, it was revealed to me that my calling in life is not only to teach personal growth and development skills to foster children as originally planned, but also to provide housing and employment options to foster care alumni through my own real estate career. That makes my mission as a real estate agent and real estate investor a very unique one.
Business Innovators Magazine: Please tell me about any recent business accomplishments that you are most proud of and why?
CC: I am most proud of the partnership I have created with Keller William First Atlanta. After 20 years in the Navy, I learned the importance of surrounding yourself with brilliant people who have similar energy to you. It’s so very important to be surrounded by people going in the direction that you want to go in and who have achieved levels of greatness that you wish to achieve. When we are planted in the wrong soil (environment, job, so called friends etc), we cannot grow, but place a person in the right environment, with great mentors, and give them an opportunity, and you just might see their entire future open up and blossom.
Business Innovators Magazine: What Leadership qualities in Leaders do you most admire and why?
CC: I have been surrounded by some of the greatest leaders in the military. I am now surrounded by phenomenal leaders within the Keller Williams real estate family . These individuals have developed me well and because they have, I am now able to recognize great leadership skills in others. The most important leadership skill in others and myself is letting God lead your life and allowing any advice that falls from your lips to be that which was provided by spiritual discernment. Yes, courage and honesty and leading by example are all very, very important but if you are to lead others, you too must be led by the right leader, and in order to do that you must first learn to follow. I follow my spiritual guidance and then I’m able to lead others more effectively and that’s what I look for in other leaders.
What has been a key element of your success?: There are a couple. Spiritual discernment, strict laser-focus, and discipline. Then to balance success out, we must make time to have fun and enjoy the journey. For me that means I must make time to go dancing and travel the islands! Using this formula, I have achieved more happiness and success in the last 4 years than I have in my first 40 years.
Business Innovators Magazine: What are some of business projects that you are currently working on that you are excited about and why?
CC: Currently, I’m completing my PhD and I’m also being developed as a real estate agent and investor. Who I become and what I achieve in real estate is very exciting to me because I see all the contributions I can be a part of that can absolutely help change the lives of foster alumni. What greater cause shall we have in life than to improve the quality of life of others in our communities?
