One of the best things a student investigating career options can do is to get an internship. Brayden Sherman started early and landed his first internship while in high school.听听
Sherman鈥檚 parents wanted to live close to the mountains, so they moved from the Naples-Fort Myers, Florida area to Anderson. Being in the fast-growing South Carolina Upstate was a plus for Brayden, who has a passion for researching business and economic growth.听 听
While in his sophomore year of high school, Sherman contacted a local real estate firm. After briefly working at a fast-food restaurant, someone at the firm contacted him, leading to a paid internship where he鈥檇 eventually learn about the world of commercial real estate.听
鈥淚 worked on that outside of school hours and had a meeting with them once a week,鈥� Sherman said. 鈥淓ssentially the whole job was talking to the different retailers to see if we can connect them with sites locally and get them into the market. Through that, I got a huge passion for commercial real estate and development. I even got some deals I helped put together. I didn’t officially put them together because I was not yet licensed, but I connected the chains, talked to the agents who were seeking tenants, and was involved in connecting different tenants to agents and property owners.鈥澨�听
When Sherman was looking for a college, he liked that 91福利社 is a Christian university and fell in love with the beauty of the campus. Since becoming a student at the 91福利社 College of Business, Sherman has had internships that align with his career aspirations.听
鈥淚’ve been an Intern at Anderson County Economic Development for close to two years now and was also at the local Chamber of Commerce for close to half a year,” he said. 鈥淭hese internships have provided me a great balance between being at a nonprofit organization such as the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, a government entity such as economic development, and the private commercial real estate sector.鈥�听
鈥淏rayden is an asset for Anderson County Economic Development. His substantial network of commercial entities is phenomenal,鈥� said Anderson County Economic Development Director Burriss Nelson. 鈥淗e has been very helpful to us in tracking and sourcing retailers that have recently committed or established operations in the county. He is tireless鈥攏o鈥攔elentless in his efforts. He may well be one of the hardest working interns I have had the pleasure to work with in this office.鈥�听
Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns stated that Sherman has contributed a lot through his internship at Anderson County Economic Development.听
鈥淏rayden does a lot of research on companies and commercial operations that might be a good fit for Anderson County,鈥� Burns said. 鈥淗e keeps up with business activity in Anderson County. He鈥檚 probably the best source of information on what is happening in the commercial, retail, and industrial markets in Anderson County… He is 鈥榳hip-smart鈥� and an absolute pleasure to work with.鈥�听
Sherman鈥檚 love of research led him to establish a Facebook group, which has surpassed 20,000 members鈥攏ot a small feat considering that the city of Anderson has around 30,000 inhabitants within its city limits.听
Sherman, a finance major, said, 鈥淚 got into liking doing the research back when we were looking for a place to move to, and after we moved here I kind of wanted to continue research of a similar regard. So that resulted in me starting that group on Facebook back in early 2019鈥� Originally this was supposed to be my way to personally keep track of my research results online. Maybe some people would join it and enjoy this new business research as well.鈥澨�听
A lot of the posts in his Facebook group, 鈥淎nderson County Business Development,鈥� are about new businesses locating in the Anderson area, business expansions, as well as buildings and sites becoming available for commercial real estate development. Also, after the area was hit by Tropical Storm Helene, group posts included information about resources available to residents who were impacted.听听听
Brayden Sherman posts commercial business updates in 鈥淎nderson County Business Development鈥� on Facebook, with additional pages on other platforms such as Nextdoor and X (Twitter) for people not on Facebook.听
Additionally, he鈥檚 active on LinkedIn and serves in the South Carolina National Guard.听
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