Adrienne Albert
Adrienne Albert is the CEO and founder of the Marketing Directors, a
residential real estate sales and marketing firm. Founded in 1980, the
Marketing Directors has served clients on projects from Canada to
California. The firm’s current projects include the Sheffield (formerly
Sheffield57) and new Battery Park City condos Liberty Luxe and Liberty
Green. Albert, who has a master of architecture from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, was recently named a “Legend of Residential
Marketing” by the National Association of Home Builders’ National Sales
and Marketing Council, and inducted into its Hall of Fame.
What is your full name?
Adrienne Sue Albert.
When were you born?
February 26. Do you have to put the year? I’m a winter baby, but a summer girl.
Where are you from?
Brooklyn, and I lived there until I was about five. Then we moved out to the Island. I grew up in Great Neck.
You got a master’s degree in architecture from MIT. Why didn’t you become an architect?
Nobody would hire me. People thought a woman couldn’t run a
construction crew; I don’t know why. This was 1976. I was offered a job
as a receptionist in a tennis club [even though] I had been a partner
with two other guys building tennis clubs. I was also offered a job
drafting bathrooms in an architecture firm. Those were the two job
offers.
How did you end up starting the Marketing Directors?
I met a guy who had an advertising business. … I said, “I don’t
know anything about advertising.” He said, “Don’t worry, you’ll learn.”
A year and a half later we were the largest real estate advertising
agency in Toronto. It was essentially his business … so I moved on and
opened a [real estate advertising] consultancy for a year while I tried
to figure out what to do. Eventually the Marketing Directors was born.
You work with your son. What’s that like?
I have a wonderful son. He’s our IT guy. His name is Matthew
Brecher. Working together is the best. As your kids grow up, you don’t
get to see much of them. At least I get to see him.
How did you meet your husband [developer Oskar Brecher]?
He was at the business school at Harvard and I was at MIT. We like
to tell people that we met at Central Square, which is halfway between
the two. It’s not true. We were set up by a mutual friend and went on a
blind date.
Where do you live now?
I live at 923 Fifth Avenue. It’s a building my husband converted in the early ’80s [which the Marketing Directors worked on].
You also have a place on Fire Island.
Yes, I’ve got sand between my toes. When I was in college I went to
Fire Island for a weekend and I fell in love with it. Fast-forward 100
years. … My husband and I were newly married and we were already not
seeing a lot of each other. He’s working hard, I’m working hard. And I
said, This marriage isn’t going to last unless we spend more time
together … so let’s rent a house. That summer I became pregnant. So
from about ’84 on, we’ve been on Fire Island.
Why Fire Island and not the Hamptons?
It was the fastest place to get to from the city. And it’s a great
equalizer. Everybody walks around shoeless, in relatively old clothes.
There is no scene. You don’t know if somebody is the CEO of a major
multinational firm, or if they’re barely able to put two nickels
together. And it doesn’t seem to matter to anybody.
Why was the Marketing Directors founded in Canada?
I got my degree and moved to Toronto because my husband was working there. He’s from Montreal.
What made you move the business to New York in 1982?
I wanted my son born on American soil. I am boringly patriotic — too many John Wayne movies as a child.
What advice do you have for working moms?
I think it’s really tough to be a working mother. It was very, very
tough for me. Women of my generation were in the golden age of women’s
lib, where you really thought you could do it all. Today’s young women
are different. They aren’t trying to be all things to all people. I
think that’s a lot healthier.
What do you do for fun?
I play tennis — poorly. I’m a very good cook. I do a lot of
cooking, mostly in the summer because that’s when I have time, out at
the beach. I paint a little bit, I do some watercolors. I try to ski. I
ride horses. I love anything that has to do with a boat.
Do you have a boat?
No. Don’t you know what a boat is? A hole in the water surrounded
by wood into which you pour money. I don’t have a boat but I love to
rent a sailboat and go sailing for a week. I generally rent a captain
and a cook.
I like your pedicure.
I just did this. Hot pink, for the summer. When you’re in a
corporate environment you really can’t do too much. But you can have
fun with your toenail color. So sometimes it’s bright blue, and this
time I said, “Let me try a bright pink.”
But you’re the boss. Can’t you wear what you want?
No. We have an image and that is that we are professional and we
will handle your $500 million sellout because we are serious people. So
on those days I wear closed toes.
What kind of boss are you?
I’m afraid to guess. I’d like them to say I am a compassionate taskmaster.
