CHANGE MAKERS MATTHEW BLESSO

is a serial entrepreneur and self-made real estate developer. He melds financial discipline with creativity and innovation to conceive, develop, and manage a diverse and distinctive portfolio of residential, commercial, and hospitality assets in New York, Panama, and Costa Rica. Since its inception in 1998, Matthew has intended for Blesso Properties (BP) to be a unique real estate development company with a mission to generate outsized returns while having a positive social impact. He has proven that the two goals are not exclusive but complimentary. His intellectual curiosity, inventive nature, and sense of purpose fuel Blesso Properties’ ability to develop a deep understanding of its customers and the world to conceive unique opportunities and executions that are missed by competitors merely focused on economics. BP has always been focused on art and design, community, and environmental stewardship and prides itself in its long-term relationships and reputation. Matthew has observed and experienced how living in community benefits wellbeing and counteracts the detrimental health impacts of living in isolation. His vision of a new model for living that would bring people together in community became the foundation of Shift Living, a company dedicated to transforming the way people live. A lifelong volunteer and philanthropist, Matthew has raised or donated over $300,000 for charitable causes to date. He has served on multiple nonprofit, cultural, and charitable executive boards, including:

• Worldwide Orphans Foundation

• Citizen Housing and Planning Counsel

• NYU Schack School of Real Estate Development

• Institute for Urban Design

• Fourth Arts Block (founding board member)

• Dixon Place

• Van Alen Institute

Tell us about your work. I've worked as an entrepreneur in real estate development and hospitality since 1996. My focus has evolved a lot over the years. I started in residential real estate development in New York City, and then I opened up some businesses in Panama, which I still own and operate, and then I came to Costa Rica in 2018. In the beginning, my focus was on making money and trying to differentiate myself from other developers. As I got older and started finding more success, the equation started shifting for me. I was making more money, but I was caring more about social goals and less about financial goals. Most developers don't really have social goals that coincide with their work: it really is a more financially-focused industry. I saw this as both an opportunity and a personal interest of mine. At this point in my career launching Shift is launching the second half of my career, really starting over in a different way, in a different country. Shift is primarily focused on social goals AND the money is there.

You have worked (and very uniquely so) to be successful in your field but have also put equal importance on having a positive social impact. How do you do this, and why is this important to you? I had the good fortune to make some real money at a fairly young age. I didn't grow up with a lot of money. The good fortune of it was not so much because I earned the money, that was nice, but it was more because I was able to earn a lot of it at a young age, and it made me realize that it wasn't the thing that really drove me. I know a lot of people spend their whole lives chasing the money, and many never get there, or they get there at a very late age and are like, “Now what?” This led me to begin to change my focus. I knew that I wanted to do impactful work and that I was not going to be satisfied with more money. The reason I wanted to work was to have a positive impact. I started a deep journey of trying to figure out how I can have the most positive impact in real estate. My focus became how to use housing to improve people's lives and to improve the world at large. There's been very little innovation in housing since World War II, and housing has been really bad for the environment. There is a reason that real estate developers generally speaking have a bad reputation. My idea was to come up with another way to live that actually could have a positive impact. I wanted to answer the question, "Can housing actually have a net positive?" We believe we have answered that question with the model at Shift.

There are three elements to the project: the first is the environment, which means building in a way that is not just reducing carbon footprint, but actually being carbon negative. The second element is the way people live. I believe that the way we're living is not working for most people; there is a pandemic of loneliness. The way that we have lived throughout humankind has been fairly consistent. People lived in tribes and villages and communities, and they supported one another. As we've gotten more wealthy as a society, we've gotten more separated, and there's a false idea that people are better off somehow. But as a result, people feel unsupported and lonely. The way we design our housing can have a real impact on this. We studied different housing models, and we came up with one that puts together what we believe are best practices of how to have more fulfilling lives by living in community.

The third element is the intentional type of people that will live in this community. They have shared values and principles. We have six shared principles (interconnectedness, environmental stewardship, self-inquiry, generosity, accountability, and play), and rather than just letting people come in and buy a house or a lot, they have to go through a vetting process. We are highly inclusive yet at the same time, highly selective. We want to be very diverse. We want to attract a wide range of cultures, lifestyles, demographics, and economics, but we want people who embody the six principles that Shift stands for. The thesis behind this is that we are putting together people who embody self-awareness and kindness. I believe these people will lead more successful lives, will be happier, and will have a greater impact on their own families and their friends in the surrounding community.

What areas of opportunity in your industry excite you the most right now? I want my work in Regenerative Development to be successful so that others will copy our model. I was doing sustainable development in New York, but

I was just being “less” bad. It took me a while to admit that to myself, that I was still part of the problem. My work now feels more like being part of a solution. If you're doing something that is truly regenerative, that's the social opportunity.

What is your biggest career failure/ challenge you have faced and what did you learn from it? I never had any mentors, and I had to learn a lot of things the hard way. I think if I had someone to teach me how important it is to work with the right people, that would've saved me a lot of heartache and money.

What do you want your legacy to be? That I was honest, had integrity, was selfless, and that I was fun and had good ideas.

What is the one piece of advice you would give to current MKA students? There's nothing as gratifying as having a positive impact on others.