Lauren Shepherd knows how to go green.
She uses the primary color as her signature hue for her successful realty marketing campaign.
She often is spotted around the Fox Chapel area in signature green outfits as a Howard Hanna Realtor and drives the “Green Machine,” the playful moniker given to her personal SUV, which also serves as her professional car — think rolling advertisement for her work as a multimillion-dollar producer.
Howard Hanna’s corporate colors include lots of green.
“Everyone just about knows the Green Machine. It’s helped me to become very recognizable,” said Shepherd of Hampton. “Marketing is everything, and understanding your target market is important. It has to be a market saturation approach. It took me a long time to get to that point and realize that I need to do this more strategically.”
The Green Machine sports Shepherd’s cursive monogram on the driver’s side and her Realtor information is emblazoned on the back.
Shepherd relies on word of mouth and personal references for the real estate services.
“It doesn’t matter how amazing AI or social media is,” she said. “Somebody will take the trusted opinion of a friend or family member well over a splashy TikTok video.”
Shepherd graduated from Goldey-Beacom College in Delaware with a degree in human resource management.
She left a career in corporate human resources, real estate marketing and entrepreneurship after her twin boys were born.
“I chose to step away from the corporate world to be more present for my family and pursue my own business path,” Shepherd said. “Nothing was given to me. I’m passionate about helping others, and guiding my clients to achieve their real estate goals is my greatest reward.”
She became a full-time Realtor in 2018 with a work ethic motto of “Helping turn houses into HOMES.”
She was born in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood until moving to Delaware when she was a toddler.
Growing up in Wilmington, Del., was lovely, she said, but boomeranging back to Pittsburgh brings her full circle as she and her husband, Matt Shepherd, raise their four school-age boys.
“My family is my greatest support system and biggest cheerleaders,” said Shepherd, 38. “They inspire me every day to be my very best in everything I do. Family is the heart of my business, and my clients and their families’ best interests are my No. 1 priority.”
No 9 to 5
Wacky hours are par for the course in the real estate business, and Shepherd takes a concierge approach with clients looking to buy or sell.
She has sold more than $60 million in real estate, including 130 Pittsburgh-area homes.
Most of her clients hail from Fox Chapel, Hampton and Allegheny County, including the East End and the North Hills, but she’ll go anywhere in the Pittsburgh region in her Green Machine.
“Being a part of my client’s journey is the greatest reward. Whether it’s selling a family home of 40-plus years or purchasing a first home as newlyweds, these moments are deeply personal,” Shepherd said. “It’s a true privilege to be entrusted with guiding them through such an important transition.”
Shepherd recalled one client who was particularly sad about saying goodbye to their lifelong home so the owner took their belongings to their new retirement apartment and Shepherd handled the rest.
“I had a company come in and take care of everything else so that she could leave remembering her home as it was for her. She didn’t have to go through that emotional heartbreak,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd works out of the Fox Chapel office of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. She can be reached at 302-379-4577 or laurenshepherd@howardhanna.com.
