Though Sebastien Sperano is a prominent real estate agent in Laval, his imprint on the community goes way beyond simply helping Lavallers buy and sell homes. Last June, Sperano was awarded the Quebec National Assembly Medal of Honour, a fitting recognition for his exceptional community engagement and community service.   

“It was a great surprise, a great honour,” says Sperano, on receiving the award.  “It adds fuel to this passion to do good around us, to inspire the people to do the same, starting with my children, and my immediate friends and family; it’s become almost like a snowball effect.”  

Sperano’s father was the first in his family to start working in real estate, and Sperano recounts that his father and stepmother’s implication with Opération Enfant Soleil was his initial inspiration for going beyond doing just real estate, but helping the community at the same time.  “For the longest time they were the ambassadors of their office with that organization, and I’ve been witnessing them since an early age giving back for this specific cause; doing things that were above and beyond,” explains Sperano.  

Despite joining up with Opération Enfant Soleil himself, Sperano sensed the opportunity to do more and joined up with more circles and participated in more fundraisers for the community.

Since starting his career as a real estate agent, Sperano has supported causes such as Opération Enfant Soleil and autism, has attended various citywide events such as sports tournaments and Halloween festivities and has partaken in several fundraisers throughout Laval in an effort to play a larger role in his community.  

Sperano points out that another major trigger for his approach was meeting a real estate broker from Thunder Bay, Ontario, named Vince Mirabelli, who was known for his implication in the community and for having a unique business model that was solely referral-based.  Sperano travelled to Thunder Bay to visit Mirabelli and learn about how he was conducting business, and was simply inspired by what he discovered.   

“It was just amazing to see his interaction and how people would reach out to him,” Sperano says.  “He was the go-to guy for everything and anything, and so that also keeled my inspiration to continue doing what we were doing, to do and be more than just real estate professionals, but really networking professionals, entrepreneur professionals, professionals at doing good for other people.”  

Sperano says that Mirabelli also assisted him in further innovating the way he works.  In a world where staying connected is increasingly easier, Sperano is one of the few real estate agents to innovate and hold a strong social media presence.  Sperano is active on Facebook and puts out a weekly video on his Facebook page called “From the Broker’s Desk,” where he invites various guests and discusses matters related to real estate and his personal experience in the business.  He says that engaging with the community in this way allows him to better get to know and serve the people of Laval.  As he puts it, “Real estate is a stepping stone for being able to do so much more for so many people.”