When Nastia Banderovskaya immigrated to the United States in 2010, she never dreamed she would open her own ballroom dance studio, much less become a real estate agent.
Although the field was completely foreign to her, Russian-born Banderovskaya said real estate is in many ways similar to ballroom dancing, making her recent transition not that difficult.
“I love working with people,” said Banderovskaya, who works in Los Altos. “As a dance teacher, I help my students build and grow their personalities, and in the real estate industry, I help people find the perfect home. Seeing people's happiness and joy inspires me to work harder, too. I love being able to give people opportunities.”
Banderovskaya, a lifelong ballroom dancer and performer, said she moved to the United States to pursue her art and fell in love with teaching there.
“I started dancing when I was 4 years old and moved to Boston to pursue a career as a professional ballroom dancer,” said Banderovskaya, a former Los Altos resident who now lives in San Francisco. She “moved from there to Los Angeles.”
My main coach lived in Los Angeles, so working with couples in the studio and watching them grow made me realize that I wanted something bigger in my life.
Then I decided to open my own studio. ”
Banderovskaya opened her first studio in Santa Barbara;
Los Altos, Mountain View, San Francisco, San Jose, Campbell. But as her business expanded, Banderovskaya struggled to find qualified teachers, she said.
“Most of my students wanted to go to national or international competitions,” Banderovskaya said. “I taught as much as I could, but if you want to grow you need good teachers. I brought one teacher from Ukraine and he sponsored my work visa under my studio. It took a lot of time to find teachers and make sure they were trained.”
Despite facing barriers, Miki Katz, who worked at Banderovskaya's studio, said her dedication to her students was admirable.
“Nastia is very ambitious,” Katz said. “Even though she had to close her studio due to COVID-19, Nastia didn't use that as an excuse. She went to parks all over the Bay Area, everyone wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart. Vacant. She taught a lesson that way and never took no for an answer.
But as her business grew, Banderovskaya said she began to lose the joy of dancing and began devoting most of her time to managing the studio rather than teaching. After nearly 10 years as her studio owner, Banderovskaya turned to real estate in 2022.
Whether in real estate or ballroom dancing, Banderovskaya was never afraid of a challenge, which ultimately contributed to her success in both fields, Katz said.
“For many people, they take small steps to learn something, but Nastya actually does the opposite. She does something and learns it while doing it,” Katz said. . “I've worked with some companies, and usually there's human resources, accounting, and other departments. But with Nastia, she came in and said, 'We've got students by this day. I want to increase the number of employees by 100.'' She reached out to people online and got very busy without us even realizing it. She takes really high shots and learns along the way. ”
Banderovskaya said she never imagined herself doing anything other than ballroom dancing, but is excited to embrace the unfamiliar and grow with her new business.
“My whole life was ballroom dancing,” Banderovskaya said. “For me, I never imagined for a second that I would make the decision to move into real estate and leave ballroom dancing. I am very grateful to you.”
