On Owning Manhattan, Jade Shenker Rewrites The Rules Of Real Estate

Jade Shenker just got back from playing tennis with the girls, not that you’d know it. She’s sporting picture-perfect waves and has a warm, vibrant air around her — in short, she’s every bit the poised go-getter fans got to know on Owning Manhattan, Netflix’s new reality show about Ryan Serhant’s eponymous brokerage.

Literally and figuratively, Shenker’s always got her eye on the ball. Case in point? Even when she’s sustaining a rally with her friends, she’s thinking about how the sport relates to her job. “You want to keep the game going, which is kind of like the deal — the back and forth, back and forth,” says the agent, 28. “You want to hit hard for your client, right? You want to be sturdy, and see how much you can get. You want to keep the ball on the court, but you still want to win.”

Clearly, that strategy is working. Shenker spearheads Serhant’s commercial division and has managed more than $650 million in luxury assets to date. Ryan himself has singled Shenker out for her success. “All of her stuff sold,” he told Page Six of the properties she represented on the show. “Not all of everyone else’s stuff sold.”

The daughter of a New York real estate tycoon, Shenker was born with a sense for the business. “I grew up in construction sites. I’ve managed so many different contractors, I can smell sh*tty construction,” she says. But if her real estate roots run deep, she’s not one to get bogged down by tradition. In a buttoned-up, male-dominated industry, Shenker stands out for taking risks, whether she’s making a sexy music video to sell one property or staging another with original paintings by socialite and erstwhile con queen Anna Delvey.

While Shenker’s business acumen is on full display in Owning Manhattan, so is a period of upheaval in her personal life. Over the course of the eight-episode debut season, she processes her sudden breakup with her husband, whom she’d been with since she was 19.

“It’s kind of like writing my own story,” she says of filming that challenging chapter. “Because I’m like, ‘OK, well, I just told them that I got cheated on.’ Everyone wants to know what I’m going to do, and I don’t know what I want to do.”

The season finale reveals that Shenker did, indeed, file for divorce. As for what’s next? She’s having fun figuring it out: For starters, there’s her ring, which she might want to liquidate for an investment opportunity — or remake into something new, à la Emily Ratajkowski. She’s also documenting her dating app adventures, reigniting her childhood love of horseback riding, and, of course, working hard.

“I would love to sell a building, or a set of buildings — a portfolio worth a billion dollars,” Shenker says. “That’s my goal.”

Below, Shenker discusses dating, her real estate tips, and the one thing she won’t do for reality TV.

On the show, we see that you’re a very spiritual person — from astrology to shamanism. What practice do you think will be next to hit the mainstream?

I think meditating is still a little bit taboo. People are like, “Oh, you meditate?” No, every single person needs to meditate.

I use an app called ThinkUp. You self-record affirmations, and you listen to it when you wake up and before you go to bed. When we’re able to hack our brain to absorb things that are not conscious to us — like hearing, “OK, I look hot” — you wake up, like, “Wow, I look great!” It actually affects our bodies and how we act and show up in life.

How does astrology affect your dating life?

I do a transit reading, where my astrologist tells me different energies that are in the air for, let’s say, a four- to seven-month range. I know certain things I should stay away from. I know certain things I should lean into. So for example, right now, work is really good. It’s very stable.

Sometimes, if the energies are attached to men being manipulative, or obsession, I’m going to be a bit more cognizant of going into things and act accordingly.

I also know that I would never date a male Pisces again. I have been on so many dates with so many Pisces and I’m like, “No.” We can be friends.

How would you sum up your journey in real estate so far?

All my life, I was never really taken seriously. I would intentionally work for free for other people, I would intentionally put myself in rooms where people are like, “What is she doing?” I just wanted to absorb information and be taken seriously. I am an only child, and my entire family line has been males, males, males. I wasn’t even really allowed to travel internationally until I got married.

Why is that?

My dad saw the movie Taken. You know, I’m a daddy’s girl! So when it came to business, it was me being like, “Look, I’m excited to do this. Give me a chance. Let me show you what I can do.”

If I’m going to be doing this, I want to do it my way — or at least try to. Why can’t I wear some pink, or a gorgeous dress with sequins? Does that dictate how smart I am? I graduated top of my class. I’ve always been a top-performing student. I wanted to make sure that as I got older, I would be somebody that the 12-year-old Jade needed.

I loved seeing your interactions with your Serhant co-workers. What was important to you about how you’d portray yourself on screen?

Women are indoctrinated, I think, to be catty and to bring each other down. I was like, “Who am I? Do I want to change myself for TV? Or do I want to be nice and support people?” I remember making that conscious decision during our test shoot, which they ended up using in the first episode during that sales huddle. Not that I said anything bad, but you get the energy where you’re like, “Wait, no. I will not be that person.” Especially because I’ve been on the other side where people are talking sh*t about me.

Obviously, you’re showing these very expensive and beautiful buildings — but is there a real estate tip you’ve learned that could apply to everyday buyers or renters just starting out?

Just being really honest about your needs. Let’s say we’re looking at a loft, right? That’s two floors. And somebody who cares about their family a lot, their parents babysit their kids all the time, their mother isn’t able to go upstairs — these are things we have to think through. So I’m very honest. And that honesty translates to $70 million properties, too, where we go through: “What is the goal here? Does this actually make sense?”

Also, be really nice to your landlord and your management company. That will take you so much farther than you can ever imagine — buy them candles, know their birthday, know your super. I’ve been on the ownership side, I’ve been on the management side. It works wonders.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.