Douglas Elliman’s Noble Black has made two new eye-catching hires.
The first is former reality TV maternity guru Rosie Pope, who became a household name after she starred on Bravo’s “Pregnant in Heels” show in 2011 and 2012. And then there’s Nest Seekers International agent Chase Landow, who worked under Ryan Serhant since 2016.
Black confirmed the hires but said the timing was “1,000 percent coincidental” and did not represent a new expansion push for his team.
“I really never truly think about numbers,” he said. “This is not about growing a team.”
Black’s team closed $177.6 million in sell-side deals last year, making him one of Elliman’s top producers according to The Real Deal’s annual rankings.
For Pope, joining Black’s team represents the launch of a new career. Besides her tenure on Bravo, the maternity guru has founded baby clothing lines and lifestyle brands related to motherhood and parenting. But she said she’s now left the helm of her empire and partially sold her holdings to focus full-time on selling homes.
“It’s definitely a big transition for me but very exciting,” she said.
Pope said her interest in real estate developed as she would be coaching parents through every step of growing their family. On Bravo she helped new parents do everything from training their dogs to choosing baby names, and choosing a home would naturally come up. “The home part was always the missing piece for me,” she said.
As for her client base, Pope plans to tap into the network of executives she’s dealt with for years as she works on manufacturing, sales and investment deals for her brands.
The London-born agent also said she expects to expand internationally once she gets her New York City business off the ground.
Black said he first met Pope through his team member, Jennifer Stillman, and that he knew Landow for years socially before talks “organically” began this summer about the agent coming to Elliman. Landow declined to comment.
“There was no grand plan,” said Black. “There’s no one on the team that I’ve ever, for lack of a better word, poached.”