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Who

Shaun Osher is the CEO of the CORE Marketing Group, a boutique firm that markets and sells upscale residences, primarily in Chelsea, SoHo and the Flatiron district.

Backstory

Osher emigrated to the U.S. from South Africa when he was 19 and studied at Boston's Berklee College of Music—he had aspirations to become a jazz saxophonist—before dropping out and moving to New York. He later enrolled at the New School where he took weekend gigs playing sax at bar mitzvahs around town; to subsidize his musical career, he soon turned to real estate, showing properties as a part-time employee at the rental agency Elias/Burnstein. By the late '90s he'd jumped to Elliman and rapidly rose through the ranks, carving out a niche as an expert on downtown properties and scoring commissions to market entire developments like 260 Park Avenue South. In 2005, much to the dismay of Elliman CEO Dottie Herman, Osher left the Elliman fold to start CORE.

Of note

Osher and CORE have marketed some of the most buzzed-about developments in the city. Andre Balazs and Tamir Sapir, co-developers of the William Beaver House, hired CORE to push the financial district building; CORE is also the marketing firm behind the well-hyped Trump SoHo, which Sapir is building in partnership with Donald Trump. Other buildings currently on CORE's roster include 520 West Chelsea, the Annabelle-Seldorf designed building on 19th Street; 246 West 17th Street; and 141 Fifth. Osher's primary competitor these days is his former colleague Michael Shvo, who also started a flashy, downtown-focused real estate marketing firm upon his departure from Elliman.

Personal

Osher's wife is Lauren DeFranco, the Long Island reporter for ABC 7. They live in Sands Point in Nassau County, and have a daughter, Ava.

True story

When Osher arrived in New York from South Africa in 1989, he went to the INS building on 25th Street and Seventh Avenue to apply for papers to work in the US. Ten years later, in 1999, he marketed pricey lofts in the very same building, which had been converted into a development called the Chelsea Mercantile.