Once upon a time, seventeen years ago, a lovely lady was just minding her own business at Siesta Key’s “Beach Club”. As the live band played in the background and the salty breeze blew by, her friend returned from the bar with both a cocktail and a gentleman.

 

“Andy, this is Beth”, she said. Strangely enough, she’d been introduced to that guy before- three other times to be exact. He distinctly remembered that from her manufacturing days, ten years prior. Those other occasions didn’t really count. All those entailed were bad conference room coffee and mediocre banquet food, as they conducted business on behalf of their employers. This time was different. Long story short, that was a Saturday night. Come Tuesday, the two were romancing at Hillview Avenue’s old spot, “The Table”. There have been a lot more dates since then.

 

They married a couple of years later and repeatedly renew those vows each year on Valentine’s Day at the infamous “I do again” ceremony on Siesta Key’s beach.

 

Business, free market capitalism, and appreciation for the one-of-a-kind opportunities our country provides entrepreneurs are, perhaps, what brought them together. Both know the meaning of hard work and making it happen.

 

Beth grew up on a dairy farm that her family still owns and operates in Butler, Pennsylvania. She relocated to Long Island, New York for her father’s job when she was a child, but still returned during her summers to help care for the farm. She attended and graduated from Kennesaw University in Atlanta, Georgia. After years of working for both small and large corporations, she decided to get a real estate license right around the time she and Andy tied the knot. While she had some limited familiarity with commercial real estate, the residential side posed a bit of a learning curve. While working as an executive consultant to some of her former CEOs, Beth dedicated her time to learning everything there is to know about the industry. She made a bold move and hung her license with a brokerage in Siesta Key. In a city of thousands of realtors, the competition is obviously fierce. Beth came to the wise realization that it was necessary to do something different to stand out from the rest. The more properties she showed and sold, the more she discovered that most of them were second homes to her clients. She recognized an opportunity and created a niche- for not only herself, but for also the property owners. Owning secondary properties allowed owners the chance of renting them and earning extra income. Along with that, meant properties that needed to be managed while owners were away in other places. This led to the birth of Ascendia Property Management, Beth’s very own brokerage, founded in 2010. “It was Andy who created the name, from the word ‘ascend’, because most of the clients I sold properties to insisted on me managing them. I would move onward and upward, from the role of realtor to that of property manager. Real estate sales and subsequent property management of those homes complimented one another. This is still Ascendia’s differentiator. The company now manages 80 properties. We have extended the property management services to include home-watch and project management programs, especially useful for those homeowners who retreat back to the cooler weather during the summer months”, Beth explained.

 

Andy’s family relocated from Albany, New York to the Florida Space Coast when he was 5. His dad worked for RCA (the communications contractor for NASA) his entire career. Andy is thankful that he grew up around the space program in Melbourne, Florida. He later graduated from Florida State University. He spent most of his career in the insurance world, from which he technically retired back in 2019. His background includes holding executive positions in the 80’s and 90’s at FCCI and Riscorp, local domestic insurance companies. In 1995 he founded Unisource Administrators, a third-party claims administrator (TPA), general agency, and managed care company. Unisource provided over 300 jobs to the local economy. Andy sold the company in 2008. Since then, he has focused on his passion, working in C-level positions on an employment and consulting basis. He helps insurance entities turn their operations into a high performance and accountability-based risk management culture using data analytics. The metrics are focused on people and customers to provide increased levels of service and lower client insurance costs. He continues to provide those services for insurance entities today.

 

Although business brought them together, having fun has kept them together! It is no surprise that their marriage has been a blend of hustling and living their best lives.  As they say, “work hard, play hard!”. They do just that and enjoy one another’s company all the while. “On the Sundays we are not at church, we often walk to Bayfront Park while listening to our favorite podcast, ‘All In’. Our first stop is O’Leary’s, where we enjoy a cold beer and an incredible view of the bay. From there we proceed to Marina Jacks. We sit outside there and order lunch. We also love Legacy Trail. We bike to the trail from our house and travel all the way down to Venice.”, Beth said. Friday night is always local night, where they frequent the walkable favorites like Figaro’s, Meliora, Sumurai, Michael’s on East, etc. They especially enjoy top-notch pizzas with “Bruno”, the Pizza Pizzaiolo of Sarasota, at Mediterraneo’s bar downtown.

 

Other hobbies include all things active, music concerts, gardening, wine, entertaining, cooking and travel. Their birthdays happen to be ten days apart. They usually plan a trip to celebrate. In 2021, it was in Paris. Most birthdays, they spend a long weekend in another Florida city like St. Petersburg or St. Augustine, where they enjoy holiday activities like Christmas lights and events. They recently returned from a trip to Ireland and Scotland, an item on Andy’s bucket list. In Ireland they watched Florida State play Georgia Tech in Dublin, toured Jamison and Guinness manufacturing facilities, and enjoyed the wonderful, world-famous street music Dublin. They spent their time in Scotland touring Edinburg, and Andy played golf at St. Andrews. They returned to Dublin at the end of the trip to watch Coldplay perform in front of 80,000 fans. Beth called this their “best concert ever”.   They also got the chance to travel to Southern Italy, the Amalfi cost, and wine country in Bordeaux, Provence, Rhone and Burgandy regions in 2023. That trip was capped off with a humbling and patriotic experience in Normandy. They are currently planning Beth’s bucket list trip for 2025, a South African Safari. This has been a hope since childhood!

 

Faith and philanthropy are two very important parts of Beth and Andy’s lives. Both are actively involved with their church, especially with mission work. There’s also food, wine, and bible study time! Beth came up with this concept. She created an organization called “Pairings and Parables”, an unconventional approach to spirituality, where food and wine is paired with bible study… sounds pretty cool. The two enjoy watching Tyler Perry’s movie, “The Passion” the night before Easter and attend a special Easter Sunday sunrise service on Siesta Key’s beach.

 

Beth has spent several years involved with the Greater Sarasota community. In the Venice area, she served as President of the Chamber of Commerce and the YMCA. In the Sarasota proper, she donates her time to organizations like Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity. Andy is a Board Member of Bay Village, a local Continuing Care Retirement Community. He is also actively involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters and currently mentors a Little Brother.

 

The couple resides at 1940 Boyce Street with their two dogs, Lexie and Luna. They designed and built the beautiful property over a 2-year timespan, from 2017 until they moved into it in 2019. One feature they are particularly proud of is their professional kitchen, designed specifically as the center for entertainment. They have hosted events with up to 100 guests, often with the help of Morton’s Catering.

 

When asked about her favorite part of living in the neighborhood, Beth expressed how grateful they are to be here. She enjoys the chance to walk to all kinds of great places, be close to theaters and restaurants, and reminisce about childhood, as she watches the children walk to school. “We are a 10-minute drive to the number beach in the US! The very best part of living here is our neighbors. Every day we walk our dogs and meet so many incredible people. We know the names of all the dogs, but not always the owners”.

 

Watch out for “Griffin”, Beth. He’s that Golden Retriever in the neighborhood who can’t keep his tongue in his mouth. I’ve heard he jumps high and licks ears. Hopefully you remember his name and not that of his owner. I’d rather not be held responsible.