Alexandra Harper’s motto: Make a decision every day that terrifies you.

“Really, without making those hard decisions, there would be no room for growth,” the 31-year-old Nashville native said recently. “In every circumstance, they always are the most beneficial and rewarding things.”

For her, one of her life’s biggest, most terrifying, and genuinely unexpected decisions landed her as a cast member on a reality television show, Selling the OC, a popular Netflix series about a set of high-powered real estate brokers in the Los Angeles area.

“Anytime I tell it, it never makes sense,” Harper said of how she landed on the show.

Harper majored in journalism and had been picking up jobs here and there in technology sales, website design, social media—you name it. In 2023, she ran into an old friend, Adam Devillo, the television producer behind several successful shows, including MTV’s Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and The Hills and Netflix’s Selling Sunset franchise, which includes the show Harper stars on today.

“I was just catching up with him, and he was like, ‘Would you like to come try this out? Come meet the cast and see if you are a good fit,’” Harper recalled.

That’s how she found herself stepping off a plane in Orange County, California, for the first time in her life. With no real estate experience, she walked into a multimillion-dollar mansion and joined some of the top real estate brokers in the country. During the most recent season, which was released in May, she worked to get her real estate license.

The whole experience was not something she had ever imagined herself doing.

“No way in the world did I ever think that I would put myself in such a vulnerable position being on this show and in a career like this of luxury real estate in Los Angeles,” Harper said. “But I don’t need experience to be interested in something and to go for it.”

“I think that if you have the X factor, you can do whatever you want. It’s about genuinely believing in yourself and loving yourself.”

Harper said she learned some tricks of the reality TV trade during her time on the show. One is being incredibly self-aware and careful with your words. (“You can say one thing, and it could be detrimental to the rest of your life.”) She has also learned to choose those she surrounds herself with wisely. She’s made some missteps (“There’s a scene I like to call ‘the window knock’ that was heard around the world”), but she’s also made incredible relationships and lifelong friends — some will be in her upcoming wedding.

“If I had gotten there, and everyone was horrible or mean to me, I wouldn’t have wanted to stick around for this,” she said.

She got to step into some of the most incredible properties she’s ever seen, including a waterfront mansion with a private dock that sold for $24.5 million. She got to live in Laguna Beach, a smaller city with a sense of community that reminded her more of small towns in the South and with some scenic views she could only have imagined. “There’s actually a spot called Top of the World, and it’s the most beautiful view ever.”

However, Harper said the most intriguing part of her experience on the show was seeing all the agents’ different sales styles, how they develop relationships, and their tactics. The show follows real estate brokers from The Oppenheim Group.

“Not everyone gets the chance to shadow incredible agents from an outstanding brokerage,” Harper said.

Despite enjoying the experience, Harper said that when her time with the show is over, she doesn’t plan to relocate to California; she will instead return to Nashville, where she was born and raised, and possibly sell real estate there.

“I know Franklin County so well, like the back of my hand. This is my home,” she said. “So selling southern homes, and homes and styles that I’m familiar with, and also just the connections I have here, that’s a possibility.”

Like many Nashville natives, Harper grew up vacationing in the 30A area, a string of distinct beach communities located along a scenic highway in Northwest Florida. (“I’ve stayed in every nook and cranny from Blue Mountain Beach to Rosemary Beach.”)

During our interview, Harper had just returned from taking two castmates, Kayla Cardona and Alexandra Rose, to 30A to celebrate the release of the show’s third season.

“They just absolutely died,” Harper said. “I think for them, Orange County is this place with beautiful, perfect weather. Laguna Beach looks like a fairyland. I mean, it’s crazy how perfect those places are, but then they came to 30A, and they were like, I can’t believe a more perfect place even exists.”

Harper said the real estate in places like Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach also took her friends’ breath away. But when asked, she noted she doesn’t know of any plans for a Selling 30A franchise and hopes there never will be.

“I kind of just want to keep 30A from everyone on the West Coast,” she joked. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything in the world that compares to 30A—the way of living, the people, the beaches, the water. I mean, the most beautiful beaches you’ve ever seen, the shops, the bike riding. You are in a little bubble, and it’s my safe place.”

To learn more, follow Alexandra Harper on Instagram. Selling the OC is now streaming on Netflix.