O c to b e r 2 0 1 2 • v o l.1 0 • is s u e 5 - South Florida Social

Samantha DeBianchi.
(Photo courtesy of Kara Starzyk
and Society Scene, Sun-Sentinel.)
Annual Conine All-Star Classic
raises $255,000 for Joe DiMaggio Children’s
Hospital Foundation and Conine Clubhouse
HOLLyWOOD, FL. – More than 132 golfers hit the links
at the 18th annual Conine All-Star Golf Classic, one of
South Florida’s most successful and longest running
sports celebrity golf tournaments.
The event was an outstanding success, raising more
than $255,000 for the Foundation, which helps underwrite
operations of the Conine Clubhouse, a home-awayfrom-home
for families of children under care at the Joe
DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.
Former major league ballplayer Jeff Conine and his
wife Cindy hosted the event. Calder Casino & Race
Course returned as title sponsor.
“We were thrilled to partner again with Jeff and Cindy
and sponsor this amazing event,” said Austin Miller, president
and general manager of Calder Casino & Race Course.
Participating celebrities at the tournament included Jason
Taylor, Chris Volstad, Gaby Sanchez, Tony Nathan,
Bob Brudzinski and Anthony Carter.
1 Cindy Conine and Suzy Marsh. 2 Austin Miller, president and
general manager, Calder Casino & Race Course, and Jeff Conine.
3 Cindy and Jeff Conine. 4 Former Miami Dolphin Olindo Mare,
left; Chicago Cub pitcher Chris Volstad (former Marlin); Miami
Marlin pitcher Ricky Nolasco and Miami Marlin catcher John
Buck. 5 Kevin Janser, vice president and executive director
of I Children’s Hospital Foundation; Austin Miller, president
and general manager, Calder Casino & Race Course and Frank
Sacco, president and CEO Memorial Healthcare System. 6 Jeff
Conine and Greg Marsh, event co-chairs.
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Time out with…… Samantha DeBianchi
For a 28-year-old woman, Samantha
DeBianchi has already accomplished
more than most of us will in a lifetime.
Samantha is the daughter of real estate attorney
Paul DeBianchi and mom, Valerie, who
has been active in numerous non-profit endeavors
throughout the years while still dealing
with the debilitating disease, MS. Samantha
says her parents’ influence on her decisions
has allowed her to pursue her dreams.
Samantha earned her Florida real estate license
in 2009. Now a broker, she opened her own company,
DeBianchi Real Estate in July 2011.
She graduated from Florida Atlantic University
at age 20, with a major in communications
and a minor in sociology. She went on to Nova
Southeastern University where she earned her
MBA in business.
Her working life began in the nightclub industry
on South Beach. She was general manager
at Deck 23 right after her college days.
“When everyone else was out, I was managing
Deck 23,” she says. But the work paid off
as her position allowed her the opportunity to
meet the upper echelon in the hospitality business,
as well as many celebrities.
This gave her a built-in network of potential
clients for real estate, the industry that had
been her goal since she was a young girl.
“I was always good a monopoly,” she laughs.
And having a father who specialized in real
estate was an asset for her as well.
“My dad would often take me with him
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when he was going out to check on investment
property,” she said. Before her dad, her grandfather
also had influenced her as he, too, was
in the construction business and built many
homes in the area.
“From the first grade, I was interested in
selling. I would buy toys that I thought my
classmates would like, and sell them the toys,”
she recalls.
In addition to real estate, Valerie created
a course in nightclub management and now
serves as an adjunct professor, teaching the
course at Florida International University. She
had 84 students this semester.
But perhaps the biggest coup for DeBianchi
recently came about when Fox News network
contacted her to be a contributor when the network
was focusing a program on real estate.
She has appeared three times as of this writing,
discussing real estate in South Florida, her
opinion on interest rates, and when it is a good
time to invest in real estate.
But life hasn’t always been a perfect world
for this young woman.
“I was bullied when younger because of the
way I looked,” she recalls. The irony of that is
that she was recently featured on the cover of a
local magazine that was showcasing Broward’s
“hottest” singles.
This didn’t come about overnight.
“I came home from school crying every day,
wishing my parents would home school me.”
She also had health problems that had attrib-
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uted to her overweight. She also had an abnormal
amoung of facial hair, and it was during
this period that a doctor discovered she had a
brain tumor.
She underwent a surgery through her nose
to her head at age 15 to remove the benign tumor.
But it had stunted her growth, and resulted
in more health woes such as osteoporosis
and arthritis.
Today, you would never know that this beautiful
young woman had overcome so many setbacks
to her health when she was a young girl.
She is active in numerous charities, and, in
fact, says she gives five percent of her profit to
the client’s charity of choice.
She is co-chairing Beach Bash for the Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation, which will take place Nov. 1.
“I like helping people,” says DeBianchi.
She also admits that she is a perfectionist,
and sometimes allows her work to consume her.
That is likely the reason she has decided to
go on an African Safari with a friend this month.
“Someday I want to be a motivational
speaker,” she says.
“I am never going to retire. I want a big family.
Just need to meet the right guy.”
But for now, she says the best feature of her
life is the fact that she can wake up each morning
and do exactly what she wishes. You can
bet that wish will include pursuing her dreams
in real estate, teaching and working on charitable
causes.
— BETTy WILLIAMS
October 2012 | www.SouthFloridaSocial.com | facebook.com/SouthFloridaSocial