Episode 7 - Building Beyond Luxury: Adrienne Russ on Values, Vision, and Community

Transcript

Wendy Cohen
(0:12) Well, here we are, Powerhouse Smart friends and colleagues, another fabulous podcast interview (0:18) to happen live here with a very dear colleague of mine who clearly fits what is really our pillars (0:27) for this Powerhouse Cool Collabs podcast, which is picking the coolest leaders in design, build, (0:34) and real estate who really are special individuals in themselves and they live the same values that (0:41) we have. And without taking away from our short interview that we get to have, about 20 minutes (0:47) every week, I'm going to let my guest and my dear friend for the last five or six years introduce (0:54) herself and share her story. So Adrienne Russ, welcome to Powerhouse Cool Collabs.

Adrienne Russ

(1:01) Thank you, Wendy. Kisses, kisses, kisses.

Wendy Cohen
(1:05) Yes.

Adrienne Russ

(1:06) Amazing.

Wendy Cohen
(1:07) Oh, you are too. You're a beautiful soul inside and out.So Adrienne, tell us your story and about (1:13) your being a woman in a man's world as we both are in this industry, a vice president of Fraser (1:20) Holmes and share with us, you know, what you've been doing and where you are today. You are (1:25) certainly a fabulous collaborator.

Adrienne Russ

(1:28) Well, so I am the vice president of operations for Fraser Holmes.Fraser Holmes has been (1:36) operating since 2011. It was founded by Mr. Andre Fraser, who is a master builder in the (1:46) Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Indiana area. So that is where we build and we have been (1:53) building fully custom, one of a kind, bespoke, never, we've never built the same house twice. (2:01) We've been building since 2011. And so my little responsibility is just to keep the (2:09) operation going so that he can be the greatest creative that he really is.

Wendy Cohen
(2:16) Wow.You're so, you're so humble. No, seriously. I know the vice president of operations is a (2:21) huge role.And since you've been working with, and Andre is your brother.

Adrienne Russ

(2:28) Yes. Yes.(2:30) So he's my little brother, big brother. So he's my little brother on paper, (2:37) but he's much bigger than me by stature.

Wendy Cohen
(2:42) Okay.Terrific. So, so I know what you do and what you've done for Fraser Holmes, (2:48) because obviously we've been connected and you've been a speaker for me for the Powerhouse (2:52) Luxury Conferences in Chicago and in other places. And I've seen you take Fraser Holmes to the next (2:59) level, truly a business woman that's got it together. So before you tell us about how you (3:07) did that first, tell us how did Andre get into the custom home building business and what were (3:11) you doing while he was before that?

Adrienne Russ

Okay. So Andre (3:18) he, once he left the university, so Andre has a degree in finance and real estate. And once he (3:27) left the university of Cincinnati, he went to go play for the Pittsburgh Steelers.So Andre has (3:35) two championship rings. So he helped them to do that, but that was really not Andre's passion. (3:42) Andre's passion has always been in the real estate world and architecture design building. (3:50) And so after he retired from playing in the NFL, he much like he did with the NFL, it's very (4:00) interesting that he just walked on. He was not recruited to the NFL. He just walked on.And the (4:07) same is that he just walked to a builder and said, listen, I want to understudy you. I want to know (4:14) what you're doing. And Andre worked for that builder for six months for free.

Wendy Cohen

Wow.

Adrienne Russ

Because (4:21) that is how much the knowledge was so much more important than the compensation.

Wendy Cohen
Sure.

Adrienne Russ

And Andre (4:28) was with that builder for eight years. They spent eight years together.

Wendy Cohen
Wow.

Adrienne Russ

And after the eight (4:35) years, then, and now all the while the builder knew that Andre was going out on his own. (4:41) And then that's what Andre did. I joined the company in the round of 2019.So I've always (4:52) done consulting. My background is really human resources management. When I got my degree, (4:57) it wasn't called that it was called personnel. And so that's, and so I've always consulted (5:05) a little bit, but Andre has always been very disgruntled and dissatisfied about my (5:12) contribution to Fraser Homes during that time period. And once I came down with COVID, I had (5:21) this kind of awakening, this kind of epiphany that there was something else that I needed to do. (5:29) And so I have been chugging along with Fraser full time ever since then.

Wendy Cohen
 (5:35) So when you say he was disgruntled, he just wanted more of you. Is that what you're saying?

Adrienne Russ

(5:39) Yes. Yes.He was saying I was being a bad sister and you know, that this is not what (5:48) my grandfather, so you can see this picture here. This is hand drawn by my grandfather, (5:53) who is the namesake, you know, obviously Fraser, and he was very much wanting us to take on an (6:01) entrepreneurial spirit, et cetera. And he would always say, G pop, that's what we called him, (6:07) would not be happy with your behavior.

Wendy Cohen
Oh, wow. Wow. That is wonderful to have him as that (6:14) inspiration.And look what you have done. Oh my gosh, you've created Fraser Homes, which (6:20) now tell me about the trajectory from when you joined in 2019 and where you are today, (6:26) because I'm so impressed.

Adrienne Russ

Well, so Fraser Homes really was very much a mom and pop (6:36) before.And I would say that I have spent a lot of time on the marketing aspect of Fraser. So (6:48) we have a very robust advertisement campaign. We work, we are very connected to the community now.(6:58) So I sit on several boards. One of the ones that's nearest and dearest to my heart is (7:03) Ronald McDonald, which in Chicago, that is the flagship in Chicago. So that kind of (7:14) community involvement.And so you'll see our tag is we build dreams, we build community, (7:24) we build different. So the community aspect obviously is with the building, but the types (7:35) of homes that we're building may not always be attainable for everybody, but we're still building (7:41) community. And so we're very happy about that.

Wendy Cohen
Oh, I love that. So you took Fraser Homes from (7:49) being a great, you know, core, good builder, you know, good craftsmanship and quality, right, (7:54) and a reputation. And you put that inspiration and that, you know, community and experience (8:02) to what it's like to be a client of Fraser Homes and to live in a Fraser Home to where you are (8:08) today, which is really special, really amazing, beautiful job, beautiful job.

Adrienne Russ

Yes, yes, yes. (8:15)

Wendy Cohen
And so one of the things that we talk about here is, you know, in order to really be the best we (8:22) can be in our industry, it takes a family, it takes a team, it takes a village, not only internally, (8:30) but externally as well. So talk about collaboration.What does Fraser Homes (8:35) do to collaborate and build other industry professionals?

Adrienne Russ

(8:40) Well, so Andre has just been nominated as the 2025 Home Builders Association President here (8:49) in Greater Cincinnati. Yes, he is the president. And Andre is working very hard to try to get (8:58) new trades and partners into the building space, particularly women.He is looking for women-owned (9:07) businesses to be in the space. And, you know, and he's doing a lot of recruiting. (9:17) And so I am very, very proud of him for that.We are, again, to the point of community, (9:28) we work with Cincinnati Public Schools on trying to get their students into the trades. As you know, (9:37) it has been hard to get our labor force to be very robust, but we've been working on that. (9:46) And then I sit on a committee called Business Leaders United.And that is where we work on (9:54) Capitol Hill to look for funding. So there's a lot of funding with Pell grants, etc. But we want (10:02) to make sure that there's funding for people to go and be a part of the trades and go through (10:08) apprenticeships so that they can build our beautiful houses.

Wendy Cohen
Wonderful. That's great. (10:13) And do you have a woman in construction community also in Cincinnati?

Adrienne Russ

(10:18) We absolutely do.We have women in construction. There is a chapter here and they are doing (10:28) amazing work. They work with some of the big names here in Cincinnati, Messer Construction, (10:34) Turner Construction.Those are the commercial GCs. And the women in construction, there are (10:43) some powerhouses. So as a matter of fact, they need to be part of Powerhouse Smart.

Wendy Cohen
(10:49) That would be great. That would be great. Well, wonderful.Well, I also believe in making sure (10:54) that this podcast helps elevate Frazier Homes. So if anybody's listening to this and they want (11:01) to work with you and be either a trade partner, like an interior designer or an architect or (11:07) a landscape architect or a low voltage integrator or kitchen bath people, (11:11) how do you guys feel about bringing in new resources and new trade partners?

Adrienne Russ

(11:16) Oh, we absolutely love entertaining new relationships. And, you know, because what (11:25) we have seen with previous builders or similarly situated builders is that you can kind of get (11:33) stale when you are not willing to see what's going on, what's trending, you know, and keeping (11:40) your finger on the pulse on what people want.And so if we're not open to new concepts and working (11:48) with new, fresh voices and talent, then we're going to be obsolete. So we want everybody to (11:58) feel happy about working with Frazier because it's also our intent to expand. So we're taking (12:05) over the market here in Southern Ohio, but we want to go further out.As a matter of fact, (12:13) Andre has been making comments about the tragedy that's going on in California and thinking about (12:19) what we can do to to be a part of the rebuild.

Wendy Cohen
That's fabulous, Adrienne, because I'm in part of (12:26) my, I live part of my life here in Southern California. I happen to be far away since I'm (12:32) on the Orange County side.So look, we've been very fortunate, but we have so many friends and (12:37) family and the devastation in Pacific Palisades and, you know, out further north is just crazy. (12:43) And there is so, I was just thinking that, that I'm in the design build industry. What can we do? (12:49) How can we help? And of course, we've already reached out to friends and family that are (12:53) displaced, that don't have a home, you know, that we have extra space in our home.And so that is (12:59) wonderful. I'm sure you and Andre will brainstorm. And if you want to, after this call, (13:04) I could connect you up with a couple other people that are really in LA proper, because I'm about (13:09) an hour away, but we're all thinking about what can we do.So I love that. Thank you so much. Yes, (13:15) California, Los Angeles is, it is really a war zone where a lot of times in the news, you kind (13:22) of wonder if this has been puffed up a little bit.There's a lot of devastation, truly. So (13:29) thank you for that. And the fact that you're considering expanding.So anybody who's watching (13:35) this and wants to reach out, there's going to be a link here to find Adrienne and to reach out, (13:40) to connect, learn and grow, which is what we're all about. And I do want to ask two other quick (13:46) questions, Adrienne, while I have your wisdom here. Coming from Personnel HR, how do you create a (13:54) culture of growth and empowerment within your own team? And so tell me what is special about being (14:01) an employee of Fraser Homes?

Adrienne Russ

Oh, wow, that's a really good question.Well, so if I go back to (14:11) my grandfather, he didn't know it at the time, but he was building our culture just by some of (14:21) his vernacular and the things that he says. So I'm sitting in my personal space. And so (14:32) you see, I have this photo, but then I have our family adage.And I won't read all of it, (14:40) but some of it, it says, so we start off and we say we believe. And so we believe we're positive, (14:48) we're friendly, we're determined, we're persistent, those kinds of things we believe. And so because (14:55) we have those beliefs that we're friendly, we're persistent, we're determined, we're positive. (15:01) Those are the same things that we share with our employees. We believe that we are an excellent (15:08) builder. We believe that we're an excellent team. We believe that we do excellent work. We believe (15:13) those things. And because we have that mindset and that mantra, it shows up in our performance (15:22) on the job and even in our collaboration together. It really is, we have a mindset of positivity (15:34) is the baseline and our approach, even on bad days, there's something to be grateful for.

Wendy Cohen
(15:42) That's fabulous. And being a recruiter in my day job, I always say, when I can take a really (15:49) talented employee, potential employee, and place them in a company where you feel like you never (15:56) work a day in your life because you love going to work and you walk into the supermarket after work (16:01) and you're wearing your logo wear and you say, I work at Fraser Homes.I mean, come on, that's (16:08) the way life should be, right? 

Adrienne Russ

Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Wendy Cohen

Thank you.As always, it's such a pleasure (16:15) being with you. I'm going to end this with a question that I often ask my podcast guests. And (16:23) so I already hear and know that you live with an attitude of gratitude.And I learned earlier (16:30) that that's actually one of your value proposition statements on your website. I didn't know that.

Adrienne Russ (16:36) Yeah.

Wendy Cohen

You know what? It's fun because you exude that. You don't have to read it on your website. (16:43) You are an attitude of gratitude, which is why I'm so thrilled that you're here.So I'll end (16:50) with a different question. And I know you're helping humanity with all the board positions, (16:54) but here's the last question. What is your definition of a well-lived life?

Adrienne Russ

(17:04) So if you would have asked me that 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago, I would have a very different answer, Wendy. (17:13) But today my answer is a well-lived life is one that is full of love (17:21) and one that is healthy. So I have very, very, very wealthy friends and they have experienced (17:32) some health crisis. And what they said to me was my money couldn't even buy my health. (17:39) And so if you have those two things, if you have love, okay, even if you're not the most (17:50) healthiest person, but to have love, there is something so magical and powerful about that. (17:57) And that is the most fulfilling life that anyone can ever have. 

Wendy Cohen

(18:01) Wow.That is so awesome, Adrienne, because you and I did not preview and you didn't know that (18:07) question was coming, but that is absolutely when I sign my emails, I either sign, depending on (18:14) who you are, I don't want to be too close, but I'll sign it with gratitude or I'll sign it with (18:19) love. And you know what? That is the definition of life is, well, love is a life lived in full (18:29) expression and that is love. And oh, gosh.

Adrienne Russ  Yeah. 

Wendy Cohen

So that was a perfect ending. I just loved having (18:36) you here.I can't wait to see you. I know you'll be in our Chicago Luxury Camp Conference in (18:41) November. And yes, I hope to see you even before then.And if there's, let's talk off camera about (18:51) how we can help others. So, okay. Thank you, Adrienne.

Adrienne Russ

Sounds good. Thanks, Wendy. I always (18:57) love to be with you.