Mar 19, 2021
Jennifer talks real estate safety with former secret service agent, Melanie Lentz. Listen as Melanie shares her critical tips on self protection. If you are a real estate agent this is a must listen! Take steps now to protect yourself inside and out.
Episode Highlights:
Three Physical Protection Tips and Three Inner Protection Tips
Physical Protection:
1. Head on a Swivel (awareness and remaining informed, etc.)
2. Access Control (doors, windows, cars, and online/visual presence)
3. Intuition (if it doesn't look right, smell right, or seem right, then don't dismiss it because it probably isn't right)
Inner Protection:
1. Know your Legacy - What kind of person do you want to be? How do you want people to remember you?
2. Regular Situation Reports (status updates) - In protection, your status updates when a motorcade is coming needs to be "all clear" or the protectee isn't coming. In life, a situation report is an honest answer to the general question "How are you doing?" Are you overwhelmed, depressed, angry? What's going on? If you're not "all clear", then you need to take action. For me, I had to get help for my depression and it was one of my strongest moments to admit I needed help.
3. Monitor Inner Access Control - Access control IS protection. What deserves and needs access to me granted, denied, limited, or even revoked? It's a fine delicate balance in life, and it involves recognizing who and what controls my daily actions, feelings, and self-worth.
Links and Resources:
Buy Melanie’s book, Agent Innocent
About the Guest:
Melanie was one of the youngest female agents ever hired by the Secret Service at age twenty-two. She worked in the Los Angeles Field Office for approximately eight years where she worked financial crime cases, protective intelligence (threats against protectees), and countless protection operations for presidential campaigns, visiting foreign dignitaries, and current and former presidents and their families. Her last assignment was Former First Lady Nancy Reagan. She was the agent in the embalming room and a pallbearer at the private family funeral. At the time, she was going through a divorce, depression, and an eating disorder relapse. She left the Secret Service shortly after Mrs. Reagan's passing after realizing it was time to start protecting herself as well as she protected others. Melanie was also one of the only females to pass the Secret Service Rescue Swimmer Course.