If you’ve had the pleasure of buying or selling a property in Monrovia in the last decade, then you’re undoubtedly familiar with the powerhouse duo of Gina Ammon and Donna Baker. These two forces combine their expertise and ethics, daring to make real estate as enjoyable and worthwhile an experience as life in their cozy communal corner of the San Gabriel Valley. That’s why we’re anything but surprised that this award-winning team has earned not one but two Hey SoCal Readers’ Choice Awards for 2025: Best Office and Best REALTOR® for the San Gabriel Valley. Before they added these accolades to their already-impressive collection, Gina and Donna took some time from their busy schedule to discuss balancing Monrovia’s rich history with its future, the vital importance of community involvement, and how a corporate background can lend to a rare resilience in Southern California’s often complex real estate market.
Congratulations on winning Hey SoCal’s 2025 Reader’s Choice Awards for Best REALTOR® and Best Office in the San Gabriel Valley! These aren’t the first awards you’ve received in your careers. Not even close, actually. Can you tell me a little about what the Best REALTOR® Award means to each of you personally?
Donna Baker: For us, it means that our friends, families, and clients have all taken the time out of their schedules to go to the Hey SoCal website and vote for us. First, we had to get nominated. Then, they narrow it down to three finalists, and then they vote again for the best of the best. It’s reassuring to us to know that people consider us the cream of the crop as far as REALTOR®s are concerned, and that our office is a standout office in Old Town Monrovia and throughout the San Gabriel Valley as one of the best of the best.
Gina Ammon: Obviously, we are honored and thrilled to have this designation. We’ve worked very hard to get there, based on our trust with our clients, our integrity, and our reputation, which is very important to us. These are people who know, love, and trust us, people who we’ve done business with, past clients, people we know through our professional network, and our community, so the fact that they have taken the time to vote for us, to trust us, and to call us the number one agents in the San Gabriel Valley is a huge honor. But it’s definitely been blood, sweat, and tears to get here.
How about the Best Office award? You have a very special connection with the JohnHart Monrovia office. Can you tell us a bit about your history there?
DB: In 2013, I moved to this particular location with a different broker, but it eventually became JohnHart Real Estate in 2024. At the time that I first established our office, there were no other real estate offices located in the Old Town area at all, and so we stood out from the crowd. I think that when everybody saw us, they decided it was a good place to be, so now I think there are like five real estate offices in Old Town. We were definitely the trailblazers. (laughs) I think it’s still the perfect location. I also specialized in historic properties, so this historic building, to me, was significant as far as putting my money where my mouth is and having that niche in a location that had the history of Old Town Monrovia. It’s been there since at least the 1920s. In fact, on Monday, I went to the Monrovia Chamber’s office and saw an old photo there from back when our office was a cafe. I just think that location is premier, and we’re happy to be there.
GA: Absolutely. I’m part of the Old Town Monrovia Advisory Board (MOTAB), which allows a group of seven local merchants, myself included, to volunteer our time to coordinate the community’s events, like the Wine Walk, Halloween, etc. We come up with ideas to promote Old Town through marketing initiatives and business improvements, and we help create a budget, so being right here in Old Town is great, because we can be part of that Business Improvement District (BID). It makes sense for us as business owners because of how involved we are with all of the community’s events. It’s an absolutely beautiful office, first of all, but the location is prime, and we’re obviously thrilled to be there.
“These are people who know, love, and trust us, people who we’ve done business with, past clients, people we know through our professional network, and our community, so the fact that they have taken the time to vote for us, to trust us, and to call us the number one agents in the San Gabriel Valley is a huge honor.” – Gina Ammon
Anyone who follows you on social media can see that you’re both very community-oriented. What ways do you most enjoy connecting with your Monrovia community?
GA: We are very connected: we sponsor a lot of events, but we also do events that are free, like the Fall Festival, where we do arts and crafts in the street and meet people from the community. We also do the Wine Walk. As you probably know, we’re sponsoring the Taste of Old Town Monrovia next month, which is a huge event that the Kiwanis puts on. I would say it’s the premier event in Monrovia, but we haven’t had it since 2019. It gets us out in the community, but it’s also fun! We network with people whom we know and whom we don’t know, and we get to meet new people while being where we love doing what we love, which is giving back to the community.
DB: I think that people notice us as being sponsors of many of the events in our area, most of which are targeted at youth organizations and charities that support our younger community, because we feel like we’re developing new leaders by doing that. It’s very important to us that we continue to do those kinds of things as well. We’re also very involved with various community organizations. For example, I’m President of the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce, and we’re both very involved in the Arcadia Association of REALTORS® at different levels. I think people realize that we get involved in our community, and I think that helps us get noticed.
GA: We don’t really want to say too much about this yet, but both Donna and I were invited to participate in a really interesting event that’s happening in 2026, which is going to be a citywide event in Monrovia based on a book through an organization I’m involved with called Monrovia Reads.
DB: Both of us are starting work now on the committee for this event, called One City, One Story. The entire community is going to read this one book. They’ve picked a book that has a bear in it, because Monrovia is kind of famous for our bears.
We look forward to hearing more about One City, One Story as it develops! What made each of you realize that your true calling was in real estate?
DB: I had no idea! I had been an executive assistant for all of my professional career. Then, I got recruited by an internet company that used a headhunter to offer me a lot of money. Within a year, I went from having millions of dollars of potential stock options (they never filed to go public) to not having a job. I was 50 years old and a highly-paid executive assistant with old-school skills, and all of the new, younger executives were self-sufficient, so they didn’t really know how to utilize somebody like me. Then, a friend of mine suggested that I get into real estate. I had never even considered it. And here I am, 24 years later, still doing it! (laughs)
“I think that when you sell something that you believe in, that you’re often much more successful at it. And I definitely believe that people should have the opportunity of homeownership.” – Donna Baker
Was this a fish-in-the-water situation where it just came naturally to you?
DB: My dad was a salesman, and I had never sold a thing in my life, but I think that I found it very easy to do because, first of all, I probably had that skill in my blood, but also, I think that when you sell something that you believe in, that you’re often much more successful at it. And I definitely believe that people should have the opportunity of homeownership. That made me feel like I was really doing a great thing. So, yes, I just kind of took to it like a fish to water!
GA: I got my license in 2005. My son was born in 2004, and I realized soon after having a child that the career I was in previously, which was the fashion business as a sales and merchandiser for a European textile company, was probably not going to work with my schedule after having a newborn baby. I was driving downtown every day, hours were long, and lots of changes were happening in that business as well. My sister said, ‘You’d be so good at real estate. It’s so flexible.’ So, I thought, ‘I’ll get my license.’ Even though it’s more sales, and I was more of a creative, I find that having that creative edge behind me helps me with the design factor of homes, the staging, and the overall vision of what a home could be. Even when you walk in and it looks pretty bad, I have an idea of what people could do to make changes or design details that would help, that sometimes clients can’t see, as well as creative ways of thinking, too. We’re very creative sellers, not just with the aesthetic but with getting offers accepted and getting over challenges. You have to be a creative salesperson in real estate. This is not a widget. It’s a home. It’s emotional.
You’ve both been loyally serving the Monrovia community for years. What do you feel has changed the most about the Monrovia housing market and real estate industry?
GA: It’s definitely more challenging. We’re seeing a lot of different players in the market, whereas we used to know every person who would list a house. Now, it’s like, ‘Who’s that?’ But I think that’s where our reputation and social media presence come in. Both Donna and I have a very loyal referral base with our clients. We’re also realizing more and more the changes needed to maintain a really good social media presence – all the things our broker at JohnHart keeps telling us to do with our Google Business page, etc. Our social media outreach is more important than ever before.
DB: When I got into the business, it was just going computerized. We had to use a dial-up modem to access the MLS. So, the technology has definitely changed. I came from an executive assistant background, where I had created websites, so I was the only agent in the area who had a website that was my own, even in 2005, when Gina got started, it was really basic. Social media didn’t really catch on until 2008. I’ve always been one of those people who embrace technology, so I think that we’ve been ahead of the curve as far as technological changes are concerned. But I also think that Gina is absolutely right, that there are so many more agents now. It’s prolific. Everybody knows five agents. I did a poll once, asking people ‘How many real estate agents are in your friend circle?’ The average was five to seven. When I got into the business, I was fortunate that I had established myself as a community activist, so I was successful right away. I don’t think that you could do that in this day and age, because you can’t really establish yourself from the crowd so easily. I was lucky that I had a very large sphere of influence.
I’ve heard both of you mention what a special place Monrovia is on numerous occasions. What do you think makes Monrovia feel like home to you?
DB: I moved to Monrovia in 1987, and it had a pretty bad reputation then. Everybody asked, ‘Why did you move to Monrovia of all places?’ We had actually moved here to be closer to my mother-in-law, who was moving into a retirement community in the neighboring city. We bought an old Craftsman home (old houses have always been my focus). But I’ve watched this town go from ‘Why would you want to live there?’ to ‘I can’t afford to live there now.’ I think the reason it’s been embraced by so many more people now is because our political leadership here in Monrovia really made an effort to make this a place where people wanted to live. It’s very diverse as far as demographics. Everything that you could want is here in Monrovia. I think that people are drawn here because of that community feel. They feel like they belong.
“You have to be a creative salesperson in real estate. This is not a widget. It’s a home. It’s emotional.” – Gina Ammon
GA: That is definitely the case. I moved to Monrovia in 2003, so I came a little bit later. I’m from Chicago. I was in Santa Monica prior to living in Monrovia, so it was quite a different feel. When we came to Monrovia, a lot of people would say, ‘Oh, it’s kind of like Mayberry.’ It took me a minute to understand what that meant. But there are street fairs every Friday night when they close down the street, and they have local vendors and people you know enjoying a real sense of community, and the projects like the tree lighting at Christmas, the Christmas Parade, Monrovia Days (which is a big celebration of Monrovia’s birthday), carnivals, the Wine Walk, and Halloween (they close the street for Halloween and thousands and thousands of people come in droves from other cities). Our city takes so much pride in these events. Then, as you’ve lived here five or 10 years, knowing people through the community, through your boards, through your children, through your groups that you’re involved in, and even through going to the grocery store, you really notice this huge sense of community. The people of Monrovia really do care about each other, and they care about the community and the city, so it’s legitimate. You don’t have that everywhere because not everywhere has such an amazing downtown, or a city that really cares about doing these events. Even the One City, One Story event has no financial gain attached to it. It’s not a fundraiser. It’s just to bring people together. The fact that people want to do that is what Monrovia’s all about.
DB: In 1995, Monrovia was also named an All-America City through the National Civic League. We got that award because of all of the local effort that our community put into making this a great place to be. But we’re so proud that we won it for a second time in 2024. We have won it not once but twice, which is a major achievement!
Do you think that the community is 100% responsible for Monrovia’s rise to the city that it is today? Or do you believe there are other factors at play, like geography, that influence a city’s efforts to revitalize itself? In short, could this sort of story happen anywhere, or is Monrovia unique in this way?
DB: I think Monrovia is small enough to allow people to feel neighborly, but not so small that everybody’s up in your business. Small enough that when you go to the grocery store five times, on the sixth time, they recognize you, and they call you by name. Or you go to a restaurant regularly, and pretty soon they see you coming and say, ‘Oh, I know, you want to order the passion fruit iced tea.’ Those kinds of things make people feel like they belong here. I also think that we’re geographically desirable because we’re close enough to everything. We’re close to the mountains, we’re close to the beaches, we’re close to Downtown LA and Hollywood. We’re very centrally located. And we have such a great diversity of homes here. Many of our homes are Victorian, 1880s homes, and we go from that to new construction, so there’s something for everybody.
GA: I think you obviously need to have the central downtown location. The cities that have a downtown are a little more conducive to the community, because there’s a place to gather, there’s a place for the events. Not every city has that little village area. But I also think it’s the amazing people who work for our city who are really excited about these events and the creative thinkers who keep coming up with new ideas. For example, I went to another little city in our area, and they had these really nice lights at night. I thought, ‘Gosh, these lights are so cute! Why don’t we have these in Monrovia?’ And then I went back to the Monrovia Old Town Advisory Board, and I took pictures, and I showed it to them, and they said, ‘Well, we can.’ Now we have the lights. They’re open to ideas. They’re collaborative. It’s that type of place. People are open, and it’s a small enough town where most people know each other. It’s not a huge city where it would be impossible to do that.
DB: Gina’s implying as well that the city’s staff is pretty stable, and its politicians are static. It’s not going to be the same people sitting on the city council forever, but most of the staff working for the city stay for a long time. They end up retiring from the city, because it’s a great place to work. The fire department guys – some of them live here in town. The police department – some of them live here in town. It’s required that the city manager live here. They want his decisions to affect him personally so that he doesn’t make bad decisions for the rest of us. So, I think that the city government is very focused on ensuring that Monrovia stays our little best-kept secret. I’m not sure we want that secret to get out – but we do! (laughs) We want people to buy houses here!
GA: I’m not sure it’s a secret anymore.
(both laugh)
“Everything that you could want is here in Monrovia. I think that people are drawn here because of that community feel. They feel like they belong.” – Donna Baker
I get the impression that Monrovia’s history, right down to its historic structures, is very important to you both. How do you reconcile preserving Monrovia’s past with looking to its future growth?
GA: We do have homes that are under the Mills Act or landmarked, which preserves the integrity of those homes. The owners can’t do certain things, and they have to do certain things to maintain the home. I know that when Donna and I have a home that we list that is not landmarked or Mills Act-ed, and we feel like it could be, we encourage our homebuyers to explore that option.
DB: As someone who was on the Historic Preservation Committee and who helped landmark 100 buildings and other structures while I was on the commission for 20 years, I think a lot of REALTORS® in this area have a false negative opinion of having a Mills Act-ed home. I don’t think they understand that it helps preserve our architectural history. And if somebody famous lived there, it’s pretty cool to say, ‘That’s the house where Theodore Roosevelt made a speech from the balcony.’ We actually do have a home where that happened! We both think it’s cool that our history is so important to the city of Monrovia that they took the time back in 1995 to put together a Historic Preservation Ordinance that’s voluntary, not mandatory. They are not going to dictate what you can and cannot do. They just want you to do it right. But in regard to how that coincides with new development, you constantly have to keep up with progress. We have to find out exactly which home matches what our clients are looking for, and sometimes that’s not going to be an old house; it’s going to be new construction. I also wish that there were more opportunities for people to buy into the local Monrovia community rather than rent, because, besides the clear benefits of owning versus renting, I think that personal investment enriches the community in numerous ways.
You primarily work together as a team. What led you to decide to join your talents to become such a force in Monrovia realty (and beyond)?
DB: I’ve been doing this for 24 years now, and I was 50 when I got into it. I’m not a young whippersnapper like I was when I was 50. (laughs) So, I started to feel like it was getting harder to keep up, mostly with buyers. I had always thought about the idea of partnering with somebody, but never really found the right fit until Gina joined our office. I observed her work ethic, and I watched how much she cared about her clients and the community, and her volunteer efforts. I felt like she and I really gelled. We have different strengths and different weaknesses, so we complement each other. Last night, we were on a panel discussion for top-producing agents, and somebody texted us afterwards, saying that we were so compatible as a team that they saw why we were so successful. I think that is really true. Originally, a lot of people were naysayers and thought we wouldn’t make a good team. Boy, have we proved them wrong! (laughs)
GA: Absolutely. I was always an individual agent, and that worked for me. My business was on an uptick when Donna approached me and we started working together. I felt that, since she had such a dynamic reputation in Monrovia, and that was primarily where I was focusing, it made sense to join forces versus competing against each other. We definitely do have different strengths – thankfully! Of course, it took us a minute to figure out how to navigate emails and phone calls. We’re two people, so it’s a bit of a juggling act of coordination. But we have it down by this point.
“I’ve even cried at some closings because it’s so sad, but it’s also so happy. Connection to our valued clients isn’t just about referrals. It’s legitimate, it’s a relationship – it’s being human.” – Gina Ammon
Both of you have said that you regard each transaction as the start of a friendship. How important is that connection to your success as top-performing real estate agents?
GA: Extremely.
DB: I think it’s ultra, ultra important. We want people to refer people to us, and to not only say, ‘This was a great transaction and a great experience for us, and we saw how professional, ethical, and honest Gina and Donna are, ’ but to also recognize that we’re a lot of fun. Even though buying or selling a home is one of the biggest things people may do in their lives, we try to make it fun so that they feel, at the end of the day, not only did we do a great job for them, but we made it enjoyable. We send our buyers client gifts, we make sure that we have a client event every year where they all get invited, and people who refer people to us also get that invitation, so they tell other people, and pretty soon it’s a rolling stone gathering moss. We treat them like family.
GA: Most of the people we work with are referrals. If they’re not a friend, they’re a friend of a friend, and so we know them either through the community or our sphere of influence. I’ve had several where you get really into their heads. I remember one client in particular whose husband had passed away, and we really got to know her, and when she moved away, it was really sad, because it was like, ‘Oh, we’re so excited for you and this new beginning,’ but we knew the history. You get to know people, and it’s like a very quick, intimate relationship, and when it ends, you go, ‘Oh, it’s sad. We don’t necessarily want this to be over.’ For both of us, it’s legitimate, it’s sincere. It’s not phony or fake. We hear people’s life stories. For example, our newer Altadena sellers and buyers – they’ve gone through it. I’ve even cried at some closings because it’s so sad, but it’s also so happy. Connection to our valued clients isn’t just about referrals. It’s legitimate, it’s a relationship – it’s being human.
Do either of you have a career milestone, high point, or anecdote that was particularly special to your career that you wouldn’t mind sharing with us?
DB: I’m very proud of the fact that in the second year of my real estate career, I was the number one agent in my office, and I’ve consistently remained the top agent in whatever office I’ve worked in. With Gina as my partner, that has just continued to grow. Monrovia’s not a great big office now, but we’re at the top of the San Gabriel Valley.
GA: I agree, and I will say the same. I was the Rookie of the Year my very first year in real estate.
DB: I was, too.
“Even though buying or selling a home is one of the biggest things people may do in their lives, we try to make it fun so that they feel, at the end of the day, not only did we do a great job for them, but we made it enjoyable.” – Donna Baker
GA: My excellence as a Sales Agent was further recognized in 2011. But I was also distinguished as Top Producer in both 2014 and 2016. Through the years, I also earned several awards from my previous brokerage, most notably the President’s Circle Award in 2018, Lead Edge Award in 2019, Gold Award in 2020, President’s Award in 2021, and Platinum Award in 2022. The same year, my team secured the number 4 spot among California Small Teams in Transactions, and, in 2023, we got number 5 for Transactions, number 9 for Gross Commission Income, and number 10 in Sales Volume. Obviously, we’ve done pretty well at JohnHart. I won the Platinum Agent Award in 2024, and Donna and I were number two last quarter among all of the agents in the brokerage.
DB: When I worked for a large international brokerage, I was in the top 100 agents in the United States for that particular broker. To me, that was a huge accomplishment because I came out of nowhere. I firmly believe that Gina and I have been so successful in our careers because we came from a corporate background, and we were able to segue what we knew from working in the corporate world into the real estate world, which was really a benefit for us. When people have done nothing but real estate, they don’t understand the entrepreneurial spirit of running a real estate business. But Gina and I both have that entrepreneurial mindset, and I think that has contributed to our success.
GA: I would agree with that.
What advice would you have for someone who was planning on moving to Monrovia?
DB: Do it now before you can’t afford it!
(both laugh)
GA: And use us as your agents!
(both laugh)
DB: I know a lot of people focus on Pasadena, and Pasadena is lovely. But it’s so big, it’s such a big town, that you have a neighborhood more than a community. Like Bungalow Heaven is a neighborhood where people gather, and they embrace that neighborhood. But Monrovia is a community.. So, I think that’s why people are drawn here, and why they should want to be here. They’re going to just love that feel of a small town that’s not so small you’re going to run into your ex every five seconds, but small enough to feel connected.
GA: And also, explore the different pockets of Monrovia. There are different areas and different possibilities, so work with a local person who really knows the inventory and can guide you through the various pockets and areas, and maybe even knows of upcoming listings.
Is there anything you’d like to say to your clients, friends, and the supporters who voted for you for these awards?
DB: Definitely! Thank you, we feel honored that you took the time out of your schedules to nominate and vote for us. We hold your opinion of us in high regard, and we want to live up to your expectations, so we will continue to keep doing what we do as well as we can do it and put our collective community at the top of our priority list.
GA: Yes, and we intend to keep our ethics, and we appreciate you trusting us. It is a huge honor, and we definitely plan on being full-speed ahead with our community involvement.
With a brand that says as much as JohnHart’s, Senior Copywriter Seth Styles never finds himself at a loss for words. Responsible for maintaining the voice of the company, he spends each day drafting marketing materials, blogs, bios, and agent resources that speak from the company’s collective mind and Hart… errr, heart.
Having spent over a decade in creative roles across a variety of industries, Seth brings with him vast experience in SEO practices, digital marketing, and all manner of professional writing with particular strength in blogging, content creation, and brand building. Gratitude, passion, and sincerity remain core tenets of his unwavering work ethic. The landscape of the industry changes daily, paralleling JohnHart’s efforts to {re}define real estate, but Seth works to maintain the company’s consistent message while offering both agents and clients a new echelon of service.
When not preserving the JohnHart essence in stirring copy, Seth puts his efforts into writing and illustrating an ongoing series entitled The Death of Romance. In addition, he adores spending quality time with his girlfriend and Romeo (his long-haired chihuahua mix), watching ‘70s and ‘80s horror movies, and reading (with a particular penchant for Victorian horror novels and authors Yukio Mishima and Bret Easton Ellis). He also occasionally records music as the vocalist and songwriter for his glam rock band, Peppermint Pumpkin.
