Toni Marmo pursued a real estate license originally to help her boyfriend buy a house and then discovered a passion for selling homes. She left college and hair styling because product sales and entrepreneurship fit her energetic personality better. The typical Realtor remains a 55-year-old white woman, while Marmo is a 24-year-old using TikTok to generate leads. Many Gen Zers are skipping four-year degrees to escape desk jobs, earn income earlier, and seek roles perceived as resilient to artificial intelligence. These paths include blue-collar trades, licensed professions like real estate and insurance, and influencer-driven side ventures.
Toni Marmo says she studied for her real estate license only to fix one quick issue: helping her boyfriend buy a house. But she quickly realized she loved the subject. Selling homes seemed like a better fit for her unfiltered, energetic demeanor than the three years she spent studying international business before dropping out, or the time she spent as a hair stylist, where she preferred selling products over styling. After leaving both behind, she moved to real estate last year. "A true entrepreneur doesn't need to go to college for entrepreneurship," Marmo says. "You've just got it. You just have it in your body."
The typical American Realtor is a 55-year-old white woman who went to college and owns a home, according to the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) 2024 member profile. That Marmo is not. She's a 24 year-old with 40,000 TikTok followers who pokes fun at stereotypes of her generation, and leverages her following to get leads in her home state of New Jersey. She loves it, she tells me, because like fellow Gen Zers, she is so over the 9 to 5. "You're working for someone else to make all the money, but you're putting the most of the work in," Marmo says of the corporate path. "If you could put that much work into yourself, why not do it?"
Some Zoomers like Marmo are ditching four-year degrees in favor of work that unchains them from a desk, puts money in their bank accounts sooner, and - they hope - will survive the artificial intelligence boom that is already starting to change once-hot professions like software engineering, consulting, and marketing. Some are turning to blue collar work like HVAC servicing and wind turbine installation. Others are trying to start their own ventures via influencing and side hustles. And some see the lure in the licensed white-collar job, including working in real estate or insurance.
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