There’s no doubt that every episode of Selling Sunset is jam-packed with drama, but when fans heard that infamous instigators Davina Potratz and a then-pregnant Christine Quinn would be temporarily replaced on the show, many were concerned that the drama would leave with them.
Instead, a pair of newcomers made their debut on the series, with one of the two bringing one of the juiciest plot lines the show has seen.
Meet Emma Hernan.
Dominating the real estate market in Hollywood, Hernan is one of two new members of the cast, alongside Vanessa Villela. While the show’s two most entertaining members are missing in action, the pair join real estate forces with our favourites, including Chrishell Stause, Mary Fitzgerald, Heather Rae Young, Maya Vander, and Amanza Smith.
With Selling Sunset‘s fourth season currently streaming on Netflix, there’s no better time get acquainted with the newest Oppenheim recruits that you’re sure to obsess over for the foreseeable future.
Here, everything you need to know about Emma Hernan—from her multi-million dollar food company to her cheating scandal with Christine.
Hernan Is The CEO Of A Her Own Plant-Based Food Company
According to her bio on The Oppenheim Group website, Hernan is a “self-made multi-millionare”, thanks to Emma Leigh & Co., a food company that’s become known for its plant-based empanadas with Beyond Meat.
“I self-taught myself, just by reading and learning and that’s how I got into investing,” she told Nylon in 2021. After saving enough money, she moved to Los Angeles in her twenties to start her own business.
“Being in the food industry is a huge part of my story and also transitioning into real estate,” she told People in 2021. “A lot of the ties that I made from that—and from being a woman CEO and a woman entrepreneur—mean I’ve met other CEOs who are now purchasing homes. So you’ll see it unfold [on screen], but it makes a big difference, me coming on and having that entrepreneurial background, for sure.”
Hernan was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts and credits her grandfather for inspiring her to start a food company business, as per her website. Her grandfather, Gerry McAdams, was the founder of Yankee Trader Seafood, a seafood company he founded in 1994.
“Learning at the feet of master professional chefs, I have always been driven to make generations of my family proud. It’s in my blood.”
She Used To Be A Model And Competitive Swimmer As A Child
As a teenager, Hernan also took part in a spot of modelling. Dipping her toe into the industry at around 12 years old, by the time she turned 16, she was walking runway shows in Paris.
But those aren’t the only talents she bares. Hernan was also a competitive swimmer as a child, and started competitively swimming at six years old, thanks to to her mother who was known to have the best backstroke in the history of their town.
“I ended up getting a time that qualified for the Olympics,” she said on Life Stories with Joanna Garzilli in April 2020. “I knew that I was talented. I took after her. She pushed me but just enough so that I wanted to do it. Down the road that’s what made me qualify.”
Hernan Has Personally Known Jason And Brett Since 2017
Hernan is far from new to the world of luxury real estate and to twin brothers Brett and Jason Oppenheim. Starting in real estate back in 2018, she purchased her first home with Jason Oppenheim in 2017.
“I was always going around looking at real estate with Jason and Brett every weekend and they were like, ‘You have to get your license. You pick up knowledge like a sponge,’” she told Nylon.
“And I thought, you know what? That makes sense. I’m going to be buying more property myself, whether it be an investment property or property for my family or whatever it may be and and that’s how I transitioned into, ‘OK, I’m gonna focus on getting my license,’ and Jason was like, ‘You have to get it and you have to hang your license with me right away,'” she explained.
“So that’s how I ended up getting into real estate and obviously, of course there’s no better brokerage to work with than the Oppenheim group, and Jason and Brett are genuinely like my big brothers”.
She’s Known Many Of The Selling Sunset Stars For Years
While she looks to have gotten off to a less than favourable start with Christine, Hernan has actually been quite close with several members of the show for some time. According to Amanza Smith, Emma is far from a new to their real estate agency.
“Emma and I are really good friends,” Smith told Cosmopolitan UK. “I’ve known her probably six, seven years, I knew her before she ever joined the cast. She’s [always been] a real estate agent and is friends with the group.”
In fact, she’s so tight-knit with the group that she was even invited to Heather Rae Young’s wedding to Tarek El Moussa and has clearly found her feet within the Selling Sunset crew.
“People are like, ‘You don’t get to pick your coworkers,’ but it just happens to be that if I could pick my coworkers, they would be all of the people that genuinely work at The Oppenheim Group,” she told E! News. “They are like my family. I formed… such a great bond with filming and stuff like that… they’re genuinely my closest friends.”
Hernan Has A *Very* Dramatic History With Christine
In perhaps one of the most controversial plot lines of the series, Selling Sunset’s newest recruit isn’t exactly as close with Quinn. As a trailer for the show revealed, the two previously dated the same man and according to Quinn, she and their shared love interest had broken up only two months before he and Hernan announced their engagement.
But what does that mean? Well, Quinn is insinuating that Hernan and the mystery man were likely an item throughout his and Quinn’s relationship.
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