Egypt Sherrod, a prominent real estate broker and television personality, has built a successful career while maintaining a strong family life. Best known for her HGTV show "Married to Real Estate" with her husband Mike Jackson, Sherrod has become an influential figure in the real estate industry. This article delves into the details of her family, career, and the challenges she has faced along the way.
Early Life and Family Background
The eldest of four siblings, Sherrod grew up in Philadelphia with parents who divorced when she was young. At home with family, Sherrod had a supportive clan that thrived on the hustle of real estate and advertising. Her dad still works as an executive for the Pennsylvania Real Estate Trust Group, and her uncles worked for Century 21 as residential brokers. “Growing up, it was always a conversation about real estate,” Sherrod told Inman.
Egypt’s parents rarely make an appearance in the spotlight, but in the past, she has expressed that they both played a major part in becoming the woman she is today. Egypt’s father was a real estate broker, which inspired her side-hustle-turned-full-time grind. And Egypt's mom, Kim, is her “best friend.” In a 2015 interview with Vibe, the "Married to Real Estate" star said, "We’re hysterical together because we’re like Golden Girls the way we bicker."
They say that we all eventually become our parents, and Egypt said this is especially true when it comes to her and her mom. She added, "Whenever me and my mom are having our moment of bickering, my husband says, ‘Y’all two are just alike.’ He’s like, ‘I look at your mother, and I see you in 30 years.’”
Career Beginnings
While juggling classes at Temple University, Sherrod started building a portfolio of experience at radio stations in Philly as a host, program assistant, and eventually, music director at Radio One. Before she turned 20, Egypt Sherrod became the youngest radio station music director in the country and went on to become wildly successful on the air. Though her career in the media industry was thriving, Egypt saw the value in creating a viable backup plan. Today, Egypt’s Plan B makes her the big bucks.
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Once she felt established with a steady paycheck - and at the time, no children to provide for - Sherrod decided she wanted to start investing her hard-earned money to make it grow. Her family had taught her that owning real estate was a solid strategy for building wealth. So, still in her 20s, she experimented by buying dilapidated properties and flipping them. “The joke was on me because I got hit by the real estate bug,” Sherrod told Inman.
Real Estate Career and TV Fame
Sherrod’s entrance into real estate couldn’t have come at a better time either, since shortly thereafter she was laid off from WBLS when the station downsized. Once Sherrod got her real estate license in 2004, she thrived as an agent with Weichert, Realtors, earning rookie of the year status and quickly becoming a top producer.
“At first, the interest was more about money and keeping more of my bottom-line profit,” Sherrod explained. By 2004 she had obtained her license and affiliated with Weichert Realtors before finding her way to Keller Williams and launching her own team, The Egypt Sherrod Real Estate Group. “It gave me an opportunity to rebrand myself and that’s something really important,” Sherrod told Inman.
Sherrod was cast as host of the network’s “Property Virgins,” a show that highlighted the ordeals of first-time homebuyers, from 2007 to 2012, and then went on to host “Flipping Virgins,” in which Sherrod guided novice home-flippers, from 2015 to 2018.
As her reputation has grown, so too has her social media standing. “It’s a blessing and a curse at the same time because it requires a lot of maintenance and a lot of work,” Sherrod said of the social channels that have helped magnify her brand. “It’s just another way for folks to access us and to show a different side [of ourselves],” Sherrod told Inman. “People like to do business with those they feel like they know and can relate to and trust - that’s just a fact,” she added.
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HGTV’s Married to Real Estate stars Egypt and her husband, DJ Mike Jackson, Atlanta-based real estate brokers who specialize in making dreams come true. The series follows the couple as they help their clients turn their houses into homes. Along with their three daughters - Harper, Kendall, and Simone, Mike’s child from a previous relationship - the series also introduces us to the power couple’s immediate family.
“That’s how ‘Married to Real Estate’ truly was birthed - out of leveraging social media,” Sherrod said. “Married to Real Estate” was born out of the couple’s social media posting during the pandemic, simply chronicling their work and lives during lockdowns. After HGTV saw what they were doing, displaying their balance of work and personal life, they thought it would make a lively show.
Marriage and Children
Sherrod said working with her husband, whom she’s been married to since 2010 and has two daughters with, as well as a daughter from Jackson’s previous marriage, is a blessing. Mike Jackson and Egypt Sherrod have three children: Simone is from Jackson's first marriage and they had Kendall and Harper together. “I get to do what I love with the person I love,” Sherrod said. “We’re best buds too. So we have a lot of fun together. But there’s some days where I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need a break from you!’ It’s just as you would imagine with anybody who lives and works with someone.
“So my husband and I, we often look at each other and say, ‘Are we still ok?’ Because, we made a pact when we started this that if it ever affected our relationship or our children negatively we just wouldn’t do it anymore.
Egypt Sherrod did an exclusive interview with Essence in 2020 in which she shared the difficulties she had conceiving her two birth daughters, Kendall and Harper. With her first pregnancy with Kendall, the issues began in the third trimester, which caused the baby to come earlier than anticipated in January 2012, she explained. "I had preeclampsia and horrible edema that was spreading," Sherrod told the media outlet.
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Sherrod delivered Harper in February 2019 via C-section, but Egypt found herself back in the hospital just days later. "What was scary is I was checked out of the hospital two days after giving birth, and when I got back home and laid down to go to sleep, it felt like I was drowning. Thankfully, her husband, Mike Jackson, was able to take her to the hospital where the doctors explained that the c-section caused fluid to get into her lungs.
In one of the post's videos, Sherrod and Jackson can be seen giving their undivided attention to Harper during the hospital visit, and in one case after the surgery, the young girl was embraced and swayed back and forth by her mother who sported a simultaneously relieved and tense face. In the post's caption, Sherrod provided clarity on the situation, explaining: "Harper has been having trouble breathing at night and Mike and I have been taking turns holding her while sleeping in a chair so she can be upright and get air.
After Egypt Sherrod's first pregnancy with her daughter Kendall, she started to experience postpartum depression which affected her sex life with Mike Jackson, according to a 2019 Black Love interview. Sherrod said she did not know what she was experiencing following her delivery, but she knew that she knew longer felt "sexy" and struggled to be intimate with Jackson.
"I really couldn't tell him, 'I don't feel pretty, I don't feel sexy'... Jackson revealed the most frustrating part of the situation was not just being able to be intimate with his wife, but instead not knowing what had caused his wife to be different - at one point, the two considered getting a divorce.
"I had to sort through those feelings or else I could eventually lose what we had all together," Sherrod said. "I think as women we go through very real changes in our bodies and lives when we have children. The point is for us to be fair to our mates, and trust them and tell them this is something deeper ... We can't expect them to read our minds," she said.
Support System
“There’s no way that we’d be able to balance three businesses - because we have other businesses outside of what people see on TV, we’re serial entrepreneurs - there’s no way we could balance all we’re doing if we didn’t have a support system, family, a true village,” Sherrod told Inman. “So that’s my mom, his mom, aunties, etc. Our kids are constantly surrounded with love and family. And often, they may just be at work with us.
Challenges and Advocacy
With the power couple's real estate success, beautiful family, and sprawling home, it may appear as though their life is perfect. On a 2023 episode of the mental health podcast, "Girl Stop Playing," Sherrod revealed that when she and Jackson first started dating, she almost lost him as she was "mentally fighting and sparring thinking I had to protect myself and assets." These futile thoughts reared their head due to "baggage" from past relationships Sherrod had.
According to the real estate broker in an episode of "Black Love" (via XONecole), it was actually Jackson who caused Sherrod to understand that her thoughts were detrimental to their relationship: "It wasn't until he called me out on my mess and told me, 'You are taking it out on me - everything from every other guy that did you wrong and you're gonna run Mr. Right off.'" Sherrod took the comments to heart, did some self-work, and let go of all she needed to, to allow her relationship with Jackson to prosper.
One Sunday in 2022 while at a gas station in Kennesaw, Georgia, HGTV's Egypt Sherrod shared a video to Instagram where she said she noticed a man place a piece of tissue on a gas pump, then return to his car. "I'm out getting a tank of gas and I watched a man put this on a gas handle and I just had to run over to tell the little girl not to touch it," Sherrod said in the now-deleted video (via Black Enterprise).
While many of Sherrod's followers thanked her for the warning and applauded her for sharing the story, some people believed the entire thing was made up. Another Black Enterprise article reported that a blogger tried to frame Sherrod's heroism as a hoax, stating that the reality star did not call the police. Sherrod declared that kidnapping and trafficking are not hoaxes, and skepticism only offends victims and families who do not get media attention. "I will shout it from the rooftops if it saves a life. And please know that anything that I ever post is the truth and from my heart. I don't have time for anything else," she said while also providing evidence that she called the police.
In November 2022, HGTV reality star Mike Jackson took to Instagram to announce his cousin died from a pregnancy-related issue. Jackson's caption indicated that his cousin's death was a result of doctors not listening to her pain as he said, "Dear Physician's, Please listen to black woman when they say something's not right, something's wrong, I'm in pain, etc.," he said.
He further said: "My cousin could've still been alive if the doctors would've cared a bit more. Later in the caption, Jackson noted that racial disparities exist as three more Black women are likely to die in pregnancy than white women. On her own Instagram page, Egypt Sherrod shared on Jackson's cousin's case and encouraged healthcare workers to listen more to their patients.
"Healthcare workers, we love you, we understand that your backs are against the wall, we understand that you're understaffed - but we need you, if you're going to be in that position, to pay attention to the signs, and to listen, and to go that extra mile, because ... you guys have folks' lives in your hands," Sherrod said.
Net Worth and Achievements
Like her husband, Egypt has a net worth of $6 million. Along with the fortune she’s earned as a realtor, Egypt’s career in television has also been lucrative. In the past, she hosted Property Virgins and Flipping Virgins, and she also made a guest appearance as a celebrity judge on Brother Vs. Brother.
Egypt identifies as a Black woman, and she’s damn proud of it. She previously expressed the importance of representation and making a positive impact on reality television. “So we waited and stayed prayed up for the right opportunity that would show the world that WE can be funny, loving, build great businesses, work together without negative drama (although there is definitely drama on our show), and build an empire,” she wrote in a candid Instagram post.
It’s no wonder then that Sherrod says she and her husband hardly ever get a vacation. Real estate broker Egypt Sherrod and construction builder Mike Jackson aren't afraid to get personal on their HGTV reality show, "Married to Real Estate," and they've maintained a strong marriage all through their success.
Key Moments in Egypt Sherrod's Life
Here is a table summarizing key moments in Egypt Sherrod's life and career:
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| Early Career | Became the youngest radio station music director in the country. |
| 2004 | Obtained her real estate license and affiliated with Weichert Realtors. |
| 2007-2012 | Hosted "Property Virgins" on HGTV. |
| 2010 | Married Mike Jackson. |
| 2015-2018 | Hosted "Flipping Virgins" on HGTV. |
| 2012 | Gave birth to her first daughter, Kendall, after experiencing preeclampsia. |
| 2019 | Delivered Harper via C-section and later experienced fluid in her lungs. |
| 2020 | Shared her difficulties conceiving her daughters in an interview with Essence. |
| 2022 | Shared a warning about potential tampering at a gas station on Instagram. |
| 2022 | Mike Jackson announced the death of his cousin due to pregnancy-related issues. |
| N/A | Starred in "Married to Real Estate" on HGTV with Mike Jackson. |
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