With the collaboration, Carroll and McKenna will generate original content directed at other real estate professionals through the company’s industry-focused segment and homebuyers and sellers through the brand’s more consumer-focused arm.
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Josh Flagg and partners’ Estate Media, a real-estate focused media company cofounded by the Million Dollar Listing LA star, has brought on two established top agents as talent: Chad Carroll and Dawn McKenna.
Carroll is a leading South Florida broker and head of the Chad Carroll Group at Compass with more than $7 billion in career sales, and McKenna made her name by elevating the Dawn McKenna Group at Coldwell Banker to the top of Chicago’s luxury market, but has since expanded to Naples, Florida; Park City, Utah; New Buffalo, Michigan; and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
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Estate Media CEO Griff O’Brien told Inman that in identifying new talent to partner with, the media company looked for agents with “incredible track records” who are at the top of their markets and have built a dedicated audience across both real estate professionals and consumers. When trying to fill talent holes in Miami and the Midwest, Carroll and McKenna were obvious choices.
Griff O’Brien | Credit: LinkedIn
“Chicago and Miami are obviously two massive markets and we couldn’t have picked and worked with two better people in those markets,” O’Brien said. “I really look at them as the foremost thought leaders and producers in both of them. And this is a broader strategy for us as a company where we want to reach and also speak to people in every market in America. So this is the start of what I would call Estate Media’s regional expansion to partnering with who we see as the most interesting, key, talented producer in all the major markets of the country.”
With the add-ons of Carroll and McKenna, Estate Media now has agent talent located in major luxury markets across the U.S. including Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Atlanta and Las Vegas. O’Brien said the company is also looking to expand in areas of Texas, Northern California, Seattle and possibly other key markets.
With the collaboration, Carroll and McKenna will generate original content directed at other real estate professionals through the company’s industry-focused segment and homebuyers and sellers through the brand’s more consumer-focused arm. The two leading brokers will join Estate Media’s luxury home tour series, Estate Elegance, which also includes Josh Flagg, Tracy Tutor, James Harris, David Parnes, Ben Belack, Jeffrey St. Arromand and Tricia Lee.
Chad Carroll | Credit: Jeff Remas
“Estate Media is doing something no one else is doing — building a real estate media platform that actually speaks to what’s happening in the market and behind the scenes in an engaging way,” Carroll said in a statement. “I’ve built my business by staying ahead of the curve, and this partnership enhances how I connect with my audience, share value and expand my reach.”
McKenna will also be joining Estate Elite, a premium membership category recently rolled out, which gives subscribers access to premium content, brand-building tools and a community network.
“I’m thrilled to join Estate Media’s incredible roster of talent,” McKenna said in a statement. “This platform is redefining how people engage with real estate — through entertaining storytelling that both educates and inspires. I’m excited to bring the perspective of growing a top-performing team across diverse markets and share the strategies, challenges and wins that come with building something meaningful in this industry.”
Dawn McKenna | Credit: Coldwell Banker
The media company also recently launched additional new programming, including “Laughs & Listings,” a comedic house-hunting series featuring Josh Flagg, Zach Goldsmith and Amanda McCants, and “Mansions & Martinis,” a luxury home tour and informal conversations series featuring Josh Flagg and Tracy Tutor. The shows are more entertainment- and consumer-focused, and came about after the company decided to more deliberately split consumer and agent content into two divisions early this year.
“We’ve built this really interesting consumer vertical which covers what we think are the most interesting aspects of real estate from a consumer perspective,” O’Brien said. “And so we’re continuing to lean in and focus on agent programming, but what we’ve done is separated out the brands to ensure that we’re providing great content for both of those audiences.”
As Estate Media moves into its second full year as a company, it’s ready to hunker down and focus on quality content and building its audience, O’Brien said. So far, the company has garnered about 255,000 social media followers of industry-focused content and about 2 million of its more general consumer-focused content.
“We have a much better idea of what audiences want, what they enjoy and are really doubling down on our successes across the B2B and B2C side,” the CEO told Inman.
“So for us this year, it’s really continued expansion of our programming, really leaning into the membership experience and creating a best-in-market, educational and community product, and continuing to grow and build a reputation and partner with our existing talent partners even more, as we’re doing with Chad and Dawn.”
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