“I don’t have to sell the island because I love it!” broker and owner of Island Life Properties Shelley Buffett tells me with a warm smile. “I go anywhere in St. Kitts and people know me. I grew up in a small Canadian town, so it’s like coming back to my roots,” she continues.
Shelley traded Nova Scotia’s rugged, lighthouse studded coastline for the Caribbean’s palm-kissed shores 22 years ago, making a major career pivot – albeit an accidental one – in the process.
“People often assume that real estate is a sales job, but I see myself more as an advisor. I’m passionate about putting my [16-year] caring profession and love of houses together,” she says of her job, which Shelley admits she “kind of fell into” after a brief stint in hospitality when first settling in St. Kitts.
With a background in psychology and sociology, Shelley spent the early part of her career helping ex-offenders make the transition to life outside of prison and working in Halifax’s Children’s Hospital.
Her altruistic nature isn’t just reserved for people. “I feed a million animals,” she says, adding “there’s always pet food in the back of my car!” Shelley rescued her one-eyed coconut terrier Daisy six years ago in downtown Basseterre. “For dog lovers, it’s the place to be,” she says of St. Kitts, which is home to a non-profit animal rescue center (BARC) and an international veterinary medicine school (RUSVM).
A longtime resident of Frigate Bay, Shelley enjoys dining out at local haunts like Marshall’s and The Sommelier’s and baking sourdough on Sundays. With no plans to slow down anytime soon, the 65-year-old tells me, “A lot of my friends are retired, but I’d go out of my mind!”