Southern but Savage

By Shelton Wilder

Shelton Wilder filed for bankruptcy, got sober, cried on national television and started a real estate career eight months pregnant with zero transactions and a 17-dollar ring light.

She is now one of the top luxury real estate agents in Los Angeles, with over a billion dollars in career sales.

Southern But Savage lives between those two sentences—it’s hilarious, heartfelt and packed with hard-won wisdom that no real estate course or brokerage training will ever give you. Both Wilder’s story and a playbook for building a business you love in real estate or any field that rewards grit, personality and the willingness to start before you feel ready.

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Southern but Savage will teach you to:

Start before you feel ready and survive the cringe on the way up
Build a brand so authentic that clients choose you before they've ever met you
Hire the right people, protect your culture and fire the wrong ones without guilt
Navigate offers, inspections and escrows without losing your mind or your clients
Take radical responsibility for your results and discover that when everything is your fault, everything is also fixable
Show up for your life the same way you show up for your business—fully and intentionally

Every chapter closes with a Positron Practice—real action steps rooted in Shelton's philosophy of grounded, intentional optimism. Not the fluffy kind. The kind that actually gets you off the couch and into the arena.

You don't need a perfect past to build an extraordinary future. You just need to show up. In heels, if possible.

About the Author

Shelton Wilder is the CEO of The Shelton Wilder Group, one of Los Angeles's top luxury real estate teams. With over 1 billion dollars in career sales and 170 million dollars closed in 2025 alone, Wilder ranks among the Wall Street Journal's top 250 agents nationwide and RealTrends' Top 20 by Sales Volume in Los Angeles. Known for her laugh-out-loud honesty and her Positron philosophy of grounded, intentional optimism, Wilder has built a career on showing up fully and refusing to shrink.

She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Clark and their two sons.

Southern But Savage is her first book.

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ISBNs:

978-1-968339-79-1 (Hardcover)
978-1-968339-76-0 (Paperback)
978-1-968339-75-3 (Ebook)

Genre:

Personal Memoir
Business Strategy
Leadership Development
Commercial Success
Inspirational Nonfiction

Themes:

Total Accountability (realizing you control your outcomes ensures you can correct errors)
Transparent Marketing (crafting an honest personal image secures buyers naturally and effortlessly)
Fearless Initiation (launching a venture prematurely forces you to endure early discomfort)
Practical Positivity (exercising structured, hopeful habits drives people to take daily action)
Strategic Staffing (recruiting top talent and dismissing poor fits preserves company values)

FAQs:

Q: What is Southern But Savage about?
A: Southern But Savage is a witty, emotionally raw chronicle and professional roadmap that charts a woman's meteoric rise from financial ruin and personal struggles to the pinnacle of California's high-end housing market. The narrative offers readers a transparent look at overcoming personal rock bottom while simultaneously outlining a tactical blueprint for corporate growth.

Q: Who is Shelton Wilder?
A: Shelton Wilder is a former Shark Tank contestant and University of Georgia marketing alumna who utilizes her background in fashion design, elite coastal property sourcing and local philanthropic leadership to empower female entrepreneurs. She actively pairs her academic business training with sharp negotiation skills to secure exclusive off-market listings and manage high-value residential transactions across competitive California markets.

Q: What makes this book different from other Personal Memoir or Business Strategy books?
A: Unlike books that rely on textbook theories or superficial encouragement, Southern But Savage blends vulnerable storytelling with concrete behavioral exercises that translate directly into marketplace victories. By integrating actionable "Positron Practices" at the end of each chapter, the text functions less like a passive autobiography and more like an interactive, field-tested coaching program.

Q: Who should read Southern But Savage?
A: Independent business operators, ambitious sales professionals, individuals overcoming personal setbacks and readers who appreciate bold, unvarnished mentorship will enjoy reading this book.