Sherry Daech earned her success the old fashioned way. She earned it.
Daech, a local real estate broker, is a self-made woman and arguably among the most successful women in Idaho. Her hallmark marketing endeavor, a bright red Hummer she drives around Ketchum and Sun Valley, is unmistakable.
Daech arrived in Ketchum in 1970, young, eager and practically penniless. She was raised in California where she graduated eighth of 850 students.
"I've had a very interesting life, but it all started here," she said.
It all started when she bought an old trailer and rented out two bedrooms to two other locals. A few years later she bought a lot in Warm Springs for $3,000 and built a four-unit apartment building, where many a local lived during their early years here. But that was the beginning.
"I've liked it all," she said with a shrug and a smile. "It's my life, and I've been very, very grateful."
Her real estate savvy eventually got the attention of one of the local real estate agents, Mike McCann, who is now one of Daech's partners in the firm McCann Daech Fenton Realtors.
"He said to me, 'Sherry you seem to be good at this ... you ought to get into real estate.' And I said, 'You know what? Maybe I should,' and I did, and it changed my life."
This grateful queen of the local real estate market has a soft heart, too, particularly for animals.
Several years ago, she purchased a seven-carat, emerald-cut diamond that she is planning to have auctioned off, with all proceeds going to the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley. Though she gives graciously for the benefit of all pets, she owns but one pet, a cat named Rover.
"I work seven days a week," she said, and cats are more independent and self-sufficient than dogs.
"I've had a really wonderful, fabulous career," she said. "I've met people from all over the world, fascinating people," and her office walls testify to this. Photos of celebrity residents of the Wood River Valley cover almost every inch of available space.
"My office is like a little memoir," she said. "Sometimes I look at these things ... and I'm in awe. From a little girl that started working so young ... to now have wonderful partners and a wonderful business—I'm very grateful."
Sherry Daech is a local success story in a league of her own.
