LIFE BEFORE REAL ESTATE
For many agents , real estate wasn ’ t their first choice . Our network is made up of people with diverse backgrounds and skills but some are more unusual than others …
CHRIS WILLIAMS
RAY WHITE BALMAIN
Ray White Balmain agent Chris Williams is our very own Steve Irwin . Before he began in real estate 25 years ago he specialised in studying reptiles and amphibians !
He ’ s always had a fascination and love for reptiles which his parents hoped he ’ d grow out of but fast forward to today and Chris now has a menagerie of reptilian pets and more than 2,000 books on reptiles .
His collection also includes several books he has co-authored including ‘ A Pictorial Tribute to the Reptiles of Australia ’ which was delayed by
COVID-19 and comes out in the next few months . He even took six months off a few years ago to work at the Australian Reptile Park / Aussie Ark which was a bit of a change after so many years in a suit .
Chris ’ job is not for the faint hearted ( both real estate and reptiles ). He and a colleague were once cleaning out a reticulated python enclosure . To cut a long story short , his unlucky co-worker ended up being enthusiastically cuddled by a 19 foot long snake and convincing the snake it was a case of mistaken identity took a while .
Ray White Double Bay ’ s Head of People and Culture Emma Wheater made the switch to us from the glamorous world of magazine publishing .
Emma ’ s magazine career started in her home town of Perth , where she landed a job in sales at a local magazine publisher . After putting her hand up to write for free , she was offered an editorial role , and five years later was running the entire suite of glossy mags the publisher produced . In 2010 she moved to Sydney and found herself in a role at Home Beautiful and then later at Marie Claire as their lifestyle section editor - styling homes , shooting food and writing travel . both worlds having both images and words ,” she said .
“ It ’ s a privilege to tell people ’ s stories and to shape the content that readers engage with .”
In true ‘ The Devil Wears Prada ’ fashion , there were some exciting perks to Emma ’ s job . She organised a photoshoot in chef Guillaume Brahimi ’ s kitchen and admired his walk-in fridge full of champagne , flew to Melbourne to test drive cars on the Great Ocean Road , stayed in a treehouse in Kaikoura , New Zealand and even judged a cooking TV show as a food editor .
EMMA WHEATER
RAY WHITE DOUBLE BAY
“ It would always amaze me how people would open their doors to you just because you said you wanted to write about them . I also loved the visual nature of magazines - it ’ s the best of
Even though her daily tasks look very different now , she said “ I love what I do - our team at Double Bay is the best , they ’ re my other family .”
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