A new name in New York! The Real Housewives of New York City’s upcoming addition, Barbara Kavovit, is a woman to know.
Us Weekly confirmed that the businesswoman would be joining the hit Bravo series for season 11. She spoke exclusively to Us earlier this month and dished on her friendships with Luann De Lesseps and Dorinda Medley, what it’s like running her own company and her goals for the future.
Scroll through and get to know Kavovit before she joins the hit Bravo show!
She’s Already Well Acquainted With the RHONY Cast
Kavovit revealed to Us that she’s already formed friendships with a few of the ladies. “I actually have known Lu for a while now. We met at a playground,” she said. “[Lu is] a great girl and I know Dorinda as well.”
She Works in Construction
Although she earned a college degree in finance, Kavovit has always had a passion for tools which she developed at a young age by watching her handy father doing work round the house. “We built many different projects together besides the building of something that was so tangible,” she told Us of making her own bunk bed with her dad. “You know, it was a transformation with your dad and the fact that he was so patient and caring and nurturing. It was someone that, as a young girl, I was so impressionable. I mean, that really gave me the love for this feeling of self-esteem.”
She’s an Entrepreneur
Talk about a go-getter! Kavovit founded her own home improvement company called Stand-Ins before negating her own two-year contract with IBM. She is also the CEO of Evergreen Construction and created her own trendy tool kit, DIYVA by Barbara K.
“I mean, it’s really exciting to be able to be the boss,” she raved. “I like to call myself ‘boss lady,’ being the CEO of a construction company and having 75 guys at any given time on your job site, and being the person that is ultimately responsible for the schedule, the budget, change orders, making sure everything happens on time because there’s so much money at stake at all times.”
She’s a Feminist Through and Through
As a leader in a male-dominated field, Kavovit hopes to “inspire women to pick up a hammer to give those essential tools that they need, so they don’t have to rely on their father or their next door neighbor, and they can do it themselves … that’s what this is all about,” she told Us. “Being confident, being self-sufficient — and it goes from my construction job and being in my own home — and being able to be self-sufficient as as single mom of a son. I want to show him that I don’t need to rely on anybody else, that I can do it myself.”
She’s an Author
Kavovit will also be sharing her own experiences and career path with a book: “I knew that the story had to be told and it was just a matter of getting someone to believe in the story.”
