Real Estate Mogul Ryan Serhant Shares Insights on Balancing Career and Family Life
Ryan Serhant, the well-known real estate entrepreneur and founder of the major brokerage SERHANT, manages an extremely busy schedule. He's also preparing for the second season of his Netflix series, \"Owning Manhattan,\" which is set to premiere on December 5, 2025, offering viewers a close look at his professional world. Alongside his successful career, Serhant is deeply committed to his family life, which includes his wife, Emilia Bechrakis Serhant, an attorney he married in 2016, and their six-year-old daughter, Zena. He has developed unique methods to balance his professional ambition with his personal responsibilities, ensuring he remains a present and influential figure in his daughter's life while navigating the complexities of public attention.
Maintaining an active presence at home is paramount for Serhant, and he attributes his success to meticulous organization. He has coined the term \"Dadurday\" for Saturdays, designating these days exclusively for his daughter, emphasizing the importance of dedicated family time. Serhant recounts a memorable \"Dadurday\" morning when Zena, imitating her mother by wearing an eye mask, enthusiastically greeted him at 4:30 a.m., his usual wake-up time. They spent the day together, starting with a gym session and culminating in a Broadway show, \"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,\" despite Zena being slightly below the recommended age. Serhant humorously admits to telling Zena she was eight for the show, a decision that later led to her using the \"I'm 8\" excuse to extend bedtime.
Serhant is passionate about teaching his daughter that hard work and curiosity lead to limitless possibilities. He believes his dedication to his career serves as a significant source of inspiration for her. A core aspect of his parenting philosophy is fostering strong self-confidence in Zena, a trait he believes all fathers should cultivate in their daughters. He constantly reminds her that despite the potential harshness of the world, their home is a sanctuary where she is cherished as the most beautiful, intelligent, and humorous girl, regardless of external opinions. This unwavering support, he believes, is crucial for her well-being.
Beyond verbal affirmations, Serhant and his wife encourage Zena to embrace failure as a learning opportunity. He notes that Zena often attempts new things, sometimes with less-than-perfect results, but always gains valuable lessons. This approach is rooted in Serhant's personal motto: \"I'd rather regret the things I did than the things I never tried.\" This philosophy stems from his own experience of pursuing an acting career in New York City, which, after two years of struggle, led him to real estate at a friend's suggestion, ultimately launching his highly successful career.
Serhant applies his professional negotiation skills to his parenting. He sees every interaction as a negotiation, much like his work in real estate, where he solves problems and delivers difficult news with a \"positive sandwich\" approach. This involves presenting bad news between two pieces of good news to soften the blow and maintain a positive outlook. For example, he might start with exciting plans for tomorrow, introduce the unavoidable cancellation of a different activity, and then reassure his daughter that the cancelled event will happen in a couple of weeks. This method keeps his daughter focused on future positive outcomes rather than dwelling on immediate disappointments.
Another effective technique Serhant uses, supported by experts, is offering choices to his daughter. This empowers children and reduces resistance. He believes in making children feel in control of their decisions, mirroring his sales strategy where he guides clients to make choices that are ultimately beneficial for them. He recently partnered with Adobe for Acrobat Studios, utilizing its AI Assistant to manage his busy schedule, helping him seamlessly transition between his roles as CEO, father, and husband. This technological assistance allows him to dedicate himself fully to each aspect of his life without feeling overwhelmed.
Serhant also grapples with the challenge of balancing his family's privacy with the demands of being in the public eye. His Netflix show brought unexpected levels of exposure, leading him and his wife to adjust their approach to sharing their daughter's image. While Zena will appear in the upcoming season, filmed last year, her parents have decided to no longer show her face on social media. Serhant emphasizes the importance of protecting his daughter's privacy, noting that she did not choose a public life. He believes that when she is old enough to make her own decisions, she can then choose whether to embrace the spotlight. Viewers of \"Owning Manhattan\" can anticipate intense deal-making, hirings, and firings, all unfolding in real-time, making it, in Serhant's words, the most emotionally charged television season he has ever experienced.