Shay Sellars

Shay Sellars is a proud Southerner, born and raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry. As founder of The Emerge Group, she integrates over fifteen years of experience in commercial real estate acquisitions, redevelopment, and investment in New York City, the Hudson Valley Region of New York, and the U.S. South. She utilizes her experience in underwriting, project management, and the permitting process of multifamily, mixed-use, infill, and new development assets to lead the vision and strategic direction of The Emerge Group.

The Emerge Group is a land justice and social equity practice dreaming of a new world. We are shifting power in the U.S. South and New York’s Hudson Valley Region by facilitating land acquisition, development, and conservation for the next generation of BIPOC land owners and stewards. As Black Americans and Black Caribbeans working in alignment with the movements to end racial capitalism, we are mobilizing our collective knowledge, skills, and resources to participate in the redress of this harm. We are steadfast in discovering what is possible when we put our hands to our plow and push forward toward our liberation.

The Emerge Group believes in freedom. We believe in every individual’s right to access land, water, food, and shelter. Under capitalism, these resources are hoarded, extracted, stolen, and the supply is often superficially restrained or increased according to what conditions allow keepers of power to remain in power. We believe that the most critical resource that is kept from disenfranchised communities is information. Accessible information, along with land, water, food, and shelter, is held by very few. The Emerge Group will serve as a bridge and stand in the gap between those who do not have access and those who create barriers to it.