Shonika Proctor grew up in a family that built things—houses, race cars, and a work ethic that stuck. She was hanging drywall by 12 and took the first high school real estate class ever offered in her state. She launched her first business in the wireless tech space, building an extensive client base that included pro athletes, and high profile public and private sector entities. After exiting, she co-founded the first Cisco Entrepreneur Institute in North America (sold to Dr. Richard Caruso, NASDAQ: IART), helped Stanford University launch its Ignite MBA to South America, and raised millions inprivate capital and angel funding for startups from the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia. After a very unexpected divorce wiped her out financially, Shonika sought advisement from her long-time mentor and confidante, renowned international architect + developer, Marshall Purnell. She stopped outsourcing her money decisions and started rebuilding from the ground up. She quickly learned that equity equals wealth. And it was more sensible to build real estate equity verses startup equity. Real Estate investing became her saving grace, her strategy, and her way forward. Within 31 days of joining a commercial real estate mastermind, she found, funded, and closed her first deal. Six months later, she became the group’s moderator. Today, she’s a fund founder and the driving force behind Live Better Capital, a boutique commercial mortgage brokerage that connects commercial real estate investors to private capital—especially when the banks say no. She started Live Better Capital because she was tired of watching smart, scrappy investors get shut down—not because their deal was bad, but because the lending process was confusing and inefficient. She’s been volunteering since middle school and still does every week. When she’s not funding deals or at the archery range, she’s solving for the fastest way forward—and helping others do the same.