28 | APRIL 27 • 2023 

L

ike millions of Soviet 
Jews who left the 
U.S.S.R. in pursuit of a 
better life, Yelena Nisnevich 
and her family (the Pliskins) 
immigrated from Kiev to Oak 
Park in 1992.
The 35-year-old KW 
Domain director of 
operations, who was 4 at the 
time, learned many important 
lessons from her family’s 
sacrifice that she carries with 
her today.
With Soviet higher 
education degrees being 
virtually unusable in the 
United States, her parents had 
to start over and rebuild their 
careers from scratch. It taught 
young Yelena and her older 
brother Victor the importance 
of perseverance and hard 
work.
Always interested in 
business and marketing, 
Nisnevich worked multiple 
jobs and applied for and won 
scholarships to pay for her 
undergraduate and graduate 
education in full. It was 
something she wanted to do 
on her own, and her tireless 
effort paid off.
She graduated from Wayne 
State University with an MBA 

in business administration 
in 2011, where she was chief 
operating officer of the School 
of Business Administration 
student senate and event 
planning director.
While attending college, 
Nisnevich got a taste of real 
estate. What she didn’t know, 
however, is that it would one 
day blossom into a successful 
career.

LEARNING THE REAL 
ESTATE TRADE
Working a front desk job at 
Coldwell Banker Weir Manuel, 
Nisnevich learned about 
entering listings and real 

estate processes. She did such 
a good job that her colleagues 
eventually asked her if she 
wanted to be on their sales 
team.
Nisnevich said yes, and 
began to create virtual tours 
on Windows Media Player and 
videos for real estate agents 
for their listings — something 
that was new at the time.
Eventually, the Bloomfield 
Hills resident realized it would 
be beneficial to become a 
licensed real estate agent. 
She built up her career and 
was instrumental in growing 
business at Coldwell Banker 
Weir Manuel.
Then, in 2014, she received 
an offer from Howard Hanna 
Real Estate Services to open 
a new real estate office in 
Birmingham. It was a chance 
for Nisnevich to blend her 
business background with her 
hands-on experience in real 
estate.
Just 26 at the time, 
Nisnevich was tasked with an 
enormous duty: to help find 
a location, recruit agents and 
develop the operations that 
would eventually drive the 
business.
“I was the boots-on-the-
ground in Birmingham,” she 

says. “I went to as many events 
as possible and met with as 
many agents as possible to get 
them to consider joining us.”
Her goal, she says, was to 
“keep things moving in the 
right direction” and to grow 
the business. “I had to figure 
out how to do that,” she 
laughs. However, figure it out 
she did, and Howard Hanna 
opened a successful real estate 
office in Birmingham.
Nisnevich went on to 
get her broker’s license and 
became the managing broker 
of the office in 2015. She 
worked there until 2020, later 
taking a role at sleep brand 
Reverie as director of special 
events and then director of 
operations. There, she ran the 
COSTCO sales partnership 
and managed the relationship 
with the wholesale giant.

A RETURN TO HER ROOTS
In summer of 2022, shortly 
after becoming a new mom 
to her firstborn, Finley, 
Nisnevich received an 
opportunity to return to 
real estate and pursue a 
dream career. She joined 
KW Domain, a top luxury 
brokerage, as director of 
operations.

Full 
Circle

Meet KW Domain director 
of operations and Ukraine 
native Yelena Nisnevich.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Yelena and Boris Nisnevich 
with son Finley, who 
turned 1 on April 8

MIKHAIL STEINBERG

EUGEN MUNTEAN

NEXT DOR
VOICE OF A NEW GENERATION