Shoua Thao didn’t want to clean teeth forever.

She started working in dental hygiene shortly after graduating from Tulsa Community College, and though she thoroughly enjoyed her coworkers while running operations — including training, acquisitions, purchasing new offices and working with contractors — for Lumio Dental, the second-fastest growing dental platform in the country, she had aspirations to pursue entrepreneurial interests.

Thao was ready for a change and to do something for herself, but she was initially hesitant about leaving a stable job and pursuing something new.

“Always telling myself that this is something that I want to do for myself and being able to control my own hours and work with people and just manage my own time really helped me continuously gear myself towards helping me move forward,” said Thao, a mother of four.

Luckily, those values correlated perfectly with real estate.

MAKING THE LEAP

Thao didn’t leave the dental industry right away, of course.

When exploring the feasibility of becoming a REALTOR®, she maintained her full-time job during her first six months of practicing real estate. She already had an interest in the field thanks to her growing portfolio of investment properties, so it didn’t take long for her to fully transition into being her own entrepreneurial boss.

Thao officially became a full-time real estate agent by late 2021 and is now a multimillion-dollar producer with RISE HOME Keller Williams in Tulsa.

“Now that I've gotten into real estate, I actually learned I love and enjoy doing it as a real estate agent,” Thao said. “I got into investment properties, and I just kind of started marketing myself and then went from there. I said I'd never go back (to a 9-to-5 workday), and there's no Plan B. I gotta keep on moving forward — this is it or nothing.”

She didn’t even have to learn a litany of new skills to seamlessly complete the career change. 

Her expertise and prowess from her previous occupation translated well to the real estate scene, helping her thrive in a short period of time. In fact, Thao was recently named the Keller Williams Oklahoma Region 2022 Rookie of the Year.

“What's carried on over to my real estate is that I naturally train people without really even thinking about it,” Thao said. “I always come from a perspective of a lot of people are either first time homebuyers or they don't know what they're doing, so you always have to kind of teach them and educate them. My brain is wired like that, so I don't forget to educate people. I think that's how I get a lot of people coming back to me or referrals because they're like, ‘Oh my God, we learned so much’ or ‘It was a breeze working with her.’”

MAKING MONEY

Thao’s production numbers speak for themselves.

“In my first year, I produced over $4.7 million in sales and in my second year, over $6.7 million in sales,” Thao said. “A lot of agents are like, ‘You were one of the top producers’, but I'm like, ‘Are you sure? I don't know. I feel like you guys are producing way more.’”

Buyers came in droves for low-interest rates at the time Thao started, which she said forced her to learn quickly in order to keep up with demand. Luckily she had an attentive mentor in Debbie Dennis, who helped Thao through the entire process in her first year.

Dennis’ guidance catapulted Thao into a real estate career of quick success and big money.

“The biggest thing was joining a broker that was big enough that had the processes in place and the steps in place to where I didn't have to reinvent the wheel myself,” Thao said. “Debbie just helped me through every single contract — to sentences, to paragraphs and understanding every single word. That really helped me a lot. I also grasp things pretty quickly, so I learned very quickly. It only took a short period of time, and I kind of just took the wheel myself.

“My second year of real estate, I joined RISE HOME of Keller Williams, and it was the best decision I’ve made thus far,” she added. RISE HOME of Keller Williams closed over $65 million in sales in 2022 and earned the Triple-Platinum award, making it one of the top Keller Williams producing teams in the Oklahoma region. Being a part of the RISE HOME team has really helped me advance my real estate career goals. Real estate is a different animal every day, and I am so lucky to be part of such a smart and supportive team.”

FARM LIFESTYLE

The lifestyle change real estate provided is another key motivator that keeps Thao moving forward in her career.

When she isn’t selling homes, Thao enjoys her 20-acre farm in Kellyville with her husband Kao and her four children, Roman (8), Karina (6), Jaron (2) and Nayla (4 months).

“To be able to be home with my kids was a big deal, too, given that they're so young,” Thao said. “They're all under 10 … I know that I could not go back to a 9-to-5 with four kids.”

On the farm, the family raises chickens and breed American Bully puppies. The breeding is a hobby for Thao and her husband, while the chicken-raising aspect is a tradition carried on from her parents.

Of course, farm animals are also a helpful tool in getting the kids outside and off their electronic devices. That is the lifestyle she and her husband want the youngsters to live, and the daily feedings and cleaning of the water troughs have gone a long way in teaching them responsibility.

“After school, the kids go outside with Dad to feed the chickens,” Thao said. “They’re very easy to maintain, and we’ve got a good system out there, so it’s not like it’s really hard. We try to give them their own pets or their own chickens, too, so they feel a sense of responsibility.”

So, just how many chickens does the family own?

Thao said she doesn’t know the exact number, but they certainly live a luxurious lifestyle.

HERITAGE PRIDE

Thao was born and raised in Spokane, Wash., as the oldest of five siblings, and her nationality is Hmong — her parents immigrating to the United States from Laos.

She takes great pride in her heritage and is fluent in speaking and writing the native language. According to Thao, the Hmong are an ethnic group in Southeast Asia.

During the Vietnam War, the Hmong worked with American CIA during the “Secret War” in Laos. Many families fled the country after the communists’ victory, settling in refugee camps and immigrating to the U.S. to escape the war-torn country.

“My parents spoke very little English, so being the oldest sibling really forced me to mature and learn at a very young age,” Thao said. “From becoming a young English translator for my parents, learning to read and write in both Hmong and English, being the first to learn the ropes as the eldest sibling and then guiding my siblings along the way as we grew up — I believe that has contributed tremendously to who I am today.”