From ballet to brokerage, Frances Katzen’s career journey is one of grit, reinvention and persistence.
Before leading one of Douglas Elliman’s top-producing teams—The Katzen Team—she spent over a decade captivating audiences as a professional dancer, performing at the American Ballet Theater and as a soloist at the Miami City Ballet and with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center.
Born in South Africa and raised in Sydney, Australia, Katzen moved to New York at 15 to study at the School of American Ballet. When an injury forced her to step away from dance, she pivoted hard.
Finding a new rhythm in real estate, Frances is a powerhouse in New York’s luxury real estate market, consistently selling over $350 million annually, with well over $3 billion in total sales.
Recognized as an Achiever on RISMedia’s 2025 Real Estate Newsmakers earlier this year, RISMedia caught up with Katzen to learn more about her unconventional dive into the industry, the lessons she’s learned navigating NYC’s luxury market and how she continues building her brand with purpose and passion.
Clarissa Garza: You had an accomplished career as a professional dancer; how did you make that shift from ballet to real estate?
Frances Katzen: I got my first professional gig at 16, and then I danced at the American Ballet Theatre, where I sustained an injury in 2000. I got a back injury; I fractured my spine and I was told that I would never dance again, and I went into rehab.
So I came back from the injury, and they were like, ‘Listen, you’re like a lame horse that didn’t produce. We’re going to move on.’ I went and danced elsewhere and then I landed up, competing with an amazing ending. I danced with Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center for her company, as a soloist, and then I was a soloist of Miami City Ballet up until 2006.
I had to really recalibrate. I had gotten my license while I was on break from the company. At that point, I sort of decided I should just have it because the person I was with was very helpful and said, ‘Look, you love architecture, you love people. Why don’t you get your license?’ I said, ‘Why not?’
I was a hustler. I knew that if I didn’t do it, I would have to go back to Australia, and I didn’t want to work in a sandwich shop. Dancers are all in or all out. It was a very quick shift, and I felt like it came quite similarly.
I liked helping people; I loved architecture, design and aesthetics. And I understood what a good space could do long-term, in terms of value.
The first time I got my first opportunity, it took me six months. I was in debt, and I was working really hard to break it. My first sale was $2 million, and I was able to pay the debt off. I realized, at that moment, I just made more than I’ve made my entire year as a dancer.
CG: Did you immediately enter the luxury market?
FK: I did everything. I did rentals. I did whatever came my way. I had no veto over what I was going to do. And I hustled. I tried to get as much marketing as I could. I even got a listing client who was a DJ, who saw an article on me—a dancer turned broker.
The entire thing was clad in white tile. It was like one giant bathroom. They were like, ‘Good luck with that.’ So, I staged it with my own furniture, much like I did the first one. It took me eight months to sell it, but I sold it. It was cutting your teeth on the hard stuff and sort of building up from there.
CG: What was it like starting at Douglas Elliman?
FK: I started at the bottom of the bull pit. I remember going to the printer, and there were guys, much older than me, with kids, who were taking this job very seriously. I quickly realized that people’s worlds were depending on what they put in. I understood, very quickly, that you eat what you kill, and you really need to get in there, figure it out and make it happen.
CG: What advice would you give someone just starting out in the industry, and what was the hardest lesson you learned?
FK: Whatever you do, don’t give up. You need to have a business plan. Even if you don’t have contacts, you still need to have a goal. Otherwise, you’re running on reactivity and not actually clocking in how to get to that next step.
The goal is to be working with a certain amount, so that you’re closing a certain amount. And, in order to do that, you have to think about how to approach it.
I think people assume that you’re just being given this information and these clients, but it’s one crumb leading to another crumb, leading to the next crumb. It’s never status quo. It’s always happening in real time. And I think people need to understand that good things take time.
The hardest lesson was not trying to fix it all the time. Less is more, and there is more power with silence than with talking. That’s what I learned—the art of not doing.
CG: Can you talk to me a bit about The Katzen Team?
FK: There are some teams that may not be as inclusive as others, and this team really strives to create agency within the team. They can have their own light, but at the same time, there’s this support and a platform and access, which is the reason they join the team. I genuinely believe that there is a very big trust in that. You have to trust that your agents will represent the best interests of the team’s methodology, which is articulate, down-to-earth, respectful and honest. It’s very much a part of what our particular team is.
Running a team is hard because you’re managing personalities. They’re not wallflowers. That’s why I hired them…I love having a team because I can rely on my team, and I trust that they will do right by what I put in front of them, and they do.
CG: How do you prepare for pitches with clients?
FK: I run comps. I analyze what’s going on in the market. I analyze the surrounding grid of active and sold, and I look at the delta of what’s traded in context to what’s asking.
I want to understand the condition of a building, meaning if there’s an assessment, if there’s a building going up in front of it, if there’s an underlying issue with the mortgage, if there’s a foreclosure in the building.
I want to understand what the seller’s motivation is, in terms of do they have to or is it a choice based on market conditions. I’ll assess accordingly and tell them the truth, whether this is their time or not.
I think you really have to be very straightforward about what you’re bringing to the market. In a market like this, it’s too frothy not to be. You have to walk them through the good, the bad and the ugly, so they have a lot more choice in the situation.
CG: You have over 25,000 followers on Instagram, a successful podcast with dozens of interviews with industry experts, over a hundred issues of The Katzen Report, analyzing market conditions and offering industry advice; you certainly have built a solid brand. How do you work on continuing that momentum?
FK: The Katzen Report—I started doing that in 2007. It’s been going for a long time. In fact, there have been magazines that have quoted it. I am really proud of that.
I think there’s an impact…and it’s just me. And I have to tell you, I think the reason it’s grown is because it has an opinion. It’s not fluffy with pretty pictures or ‘here’s my favorite restaurant.’ This is actually ‘Let’s talk about tariffs. Let’s talk about what’s really happening with rent. Let’s talk about the most recent election. How does this play into value? What happens to real estate? How are we impacted? What’s the long-term game?’ I think that having an opinion and actually speaking to it is fundamental in all of this.
For the podcast—I’m really lucky; I’ve had people who are real powerhouses. I think the point of all of this is, I don’t do it haphazardly. I do it deliberately. I want caliber, not quantity…I want it to be the right people, not just for the sake of doing it, and that’s just my own thing, because that’s how I roll.
For social media, I think it’s a very deliberate, consistent methodology…I try to keep it clean and to the point, which is, it’s a real estate lifestyle concept. It’s a little bit provocative with my own things that I like to post in the morning. Take it or leave it. Laugh at it. Scoff at it. Whatever. It’s my jam. It’s my thing.
I do get a lot of business through these portals. You have the ability to showcase information as a salesperson that you might not be able to explain to consumers who are trying to convert to owners. It’s a game; it’s a game of differentiation that sells.
CG: What transaction have you been the most proud of?
FK: Anytime you have a client that comes to you and says, ‘I really need your help. I need to get this done. I’m in the hole and I’d really like to not be selling at a delta, and I’d really like to get out whole,’ and you succeed—that’s the moment when I feel like I’ve really helped them.
For me, paying it forward is a big part of feeling good in the world. It’s been about impacting people who didn’t expect much in some prior experience, and then exceeding it. That, to me, is the ultimate success.
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