Today we’d like to introduce you to Cara Cipullo.
Cara, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
When I was 18 and entering college I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had no idea who I wanted to be. I was an average student with average grades and I didn’t have a plan. My biggest fear was public speaking, or speaking to anyone in general. My mother told me I had to go to college and that I had to figure it out. Somewhere down deep inside of me I knew I wanted more.
I grew up in a middle class household – my father worked non-stop, and still works 60-80 hours a week to provide. I admire him, but I knew that I didn’t want to have to work 80 hours a week to bring home a regular paycheck. I found that drive and motivation within me, applied to Cape Cod Community College (and some others), but decided on a start at CCCC would be best. After a year to find my way around, I got a job to pay for school.
Working full-time and going to school full-time proved to be challenging. I don’t regret any of it, and consider it to be one of my greatest accomplishments. I quickly learned that my skills were in writing (math was NOT a strong suit). I loved being creative, loved poetry and found journalism to be an interesting subject. I went in that direction and started to find myself. In 2007 I graduated with my associate’s degree and transferred into the Suffolk University program on Cape Cod.
Throughout my time at CCCC and the Suffolk Program I worked on the school newspaper, “The Mainsheet”, as news editor and reporter. I threw myself into communication classes where I had to speak in front of the class at all times and pushed myself harder each day. In 2009, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism with a minor in marketing/pr. Journalism is always changing, and it was in my best interest to have some marketing in there too.
Fast forward to 2012 and I was freelancing for the local newspapers. A chance to jumpstart my resume again with a few (local) front page news articles.
With some help from the newspapers and self-taught design work, I took a marketing assistant job north of Plymouth. Sometime after that my life changed when I came back to Plymouth to work. I interviewed and landed the marketing director position for a group of local restaurants in 2013. I don’t know why a switch is suddenly turned on and we get that jolt of motivation in us, but we do. I came in contact with the right people and became heavily involved with the Plymouth Chamber (my second business family). I ended up winning three awards between 2014-2015: Ambassador of the Year, BNI Rookie of the Year and Cape & Plymouth Business, 40 under 40. I was at the top of my game and making a name for myself. Sometimes what goes up must come down – In early 2016 I was laid off.
I truly believe that everything happens the way it’s supposed to. A few weeks (or less) after I was laid off I received a text from my dear friend (and business mentor) Peter Brown, owner of Tiny & Sons Auto Glass. He mentioned that Mike Guimares, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Spectrum was interested in speaking with me. Luckily Mike had watched me over the years, we knew each other. We had a great meeting regarding the direction he wanted to go in and I’ve been with RE/MAX Spectrum as his marketing director for over two years now. I’ve been able to stay in this community, keep my contacts and grow. Apparently I was meant to come to RE/MAX and I’ve never felt more at home. Here I can use my marketing skills along with my journalism background through The Spectrum Magazine we publish.
I’m now on the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce board of directors as the membership chair and the head ambassador. I also sit on the board of directors for the Plymouth Area Coalition for the Homeless, along with other active roles in our community.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At age 31 (closing in on 32) nothing went as planned. Does anyone’s life? Not the majority. The one thing I did want for myself was to be successful and I think I’ve achieved that.
The struggles and the challenges make us who we are, as cliché as that sounds. You couldn’t pay me to go back and relive my teens and 20s, but I’m glad I went through it. Both professionally and personally, there were a lot of struggles. Youth is awesome though!
One of my biggest struggles was getting through college, and paying for it on my own. I had many days where I didn’t know if I could do it anymore. I look back now and wonder how I got through that, but I did. Some of those days were 12-15 hour days, and over a period of five years. I believe that’s where I got my work ethic, it made me into this person I’ve become today.
I’ve also had to overcome being an introvert. If you ask any of my friends today they would be surprised to hear that, or any person I do business with in the community. I’ve been working on that since college and it’s not something I normally talk about. Over the years, and with a lot of hard work, I’ve adapted and became a much more confidant woman. I won’t lie, I have my moments and it’s a daily struggle. As outgoing as I can be, I still have to push myself more than I’d like. I spent the better part of my life as that person, and to try to get past it in a few short years is challenging. I do my best every day, and each day it gets a little easier.
RE/MAX Spectrum – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m the marketing director for local real estate agency RE/MAX Spectrum, on the South Shore and Cape Cod. We currently have 70+ agents, multiple offices and publish the local Spectrum Magazine (mailed to 30,000+ homes and businesses).
Mike Guimares is the broker/owner of RE/MAX Spectrum. Mike won the 2017 Plymouth Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year in January, a true testament to what this team can do, and to what a great leader we have. That award is a culmination of hard work and dedication to our community, chamber and much more. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see someone receive an accolade. For me, it was a proud moment to see such a humble individual get the recognition he long deserved. It was also a wonderful moment to see our agents show-up to support their leader who they look up to. Not everyone is born a leader, and I’ve come to learn what a leader truly is working for him.
I get asked all the time what makes RE/MAX Spectrum different. The real estate market is super saturated so what is it about us? Right away I always say that our agents don’t compete with each other. They work together to help one another, here we are one big TEAM. Although I’m not one of the REALTORS® I’m a very competitive person, it’s in my marketing nature. Now that I’m getting older it’s toned down (a tad), but it’s also been instilled in me that we support our competition as well. Mike has created a different atmosphere, a positive culture and “competition” isn’t in the Spectrum vocabulary. We support other businesses; we support everyone here.
TEAM and COMMUNITY is what continues to set us apart. We have a full staff here, from admins, a professional (in-house) photographer, tech manager and plenty of marketing tools. In regards to community, our Spectrum Magazine (free local publication) is more popular than ever, and we continue to sponsor local events throughout the year.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I have a few proud moments and they each have a different meaning. If I had to pick one, in January of this year I was asked to take a seat on the board of directors for the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce. At the same time I was asked to come onto the executive board to become the membership chair. This was a proud moment both personally and professionally.
It took five years for me to get to that point and it was a goal of mine. It took a great deal of dedication, and that work will be ongoing. I hold a very special place in my heart for the Plymouth Chamber. They’ve been there since the beginning, when I first started to make a name for myself back in 2013. I can’t ever repay them for what they’ve given to me.
Contact Info:
- Address: RE/MAX Spectrum
181 Court Street
Plymouth, MA 02360 - Website: SpectrumListings.com
- Phone: 508-746-8402
- Email: cara@remaxspectrum.com
- Instagram: remax_spectrum
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spectrumremax/
Image Credit:
Denise Maccaferri Photography
Alexis Marie Photography
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
