Born and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn and a product of first generation middle-class Haitian immigrant parents, Jude Bernard had humble beginnings. His dad worked as a taxi driver and his mother as a housekeeper. Although their earnings may not have left much excess for material items, they instilled values of education, hard work and good moral character to their son.
Jude’s parents continuously made efforts to keep him on the straight and narrow path of education so that he could land a good job. Jude always had a mindset for figuring out the world on his own and before he was of age to drink, he was already displaying his love of hard work by holding down several jobs and small businesses while attending school. He graduated from the prestigious St. John’s University and shortly after graduation, he started his first and only job after graduation at Verizon as a telephone repairman.
In just 6 months, he received two promotions and was quickly in a management role. With increased earnings, Jude began to purchase rental properties to support the lifestyle he always dreamed of. During this time, Jude also began working on his MBA, in belief that this tool will help him excel in corporate America. He quickly realized his lack of passion for this path and withdrew from the MBA program with a higher focus on acquiring more rental properties.
2005 was the year that Jude was terminated from Verizon. His income from his rental properties made his job at Verizon become a low priority. The consequence equaled Jude being terminated from his position. Instead of wallowing in this news, he took his termination letter to be framed, mounted and laminated. On that day, Jude Bernard vowed to never work for anyone again. That termination letter remains on prominent display in his office as a personal reminder of this promise to himself. To this day, Jude has remained his own boss.
Over the last two decades, Jude has become a well-documented entrepreneur through his impressive real estate portfolio and other successful businesses. With over $100M of personal real estate transactions under his belt, his name is highly recognized and respected in the real estate industry and his local community.
Jude Bernard currently wears multiple hats of a Licensed Real Estate Broker, Licensed General Contractor, Real Estate Developer, Business Consultant, Landlord, Public Speaker, Philanthropist and Financial Empowerment Educator. He has received numerous awards and accolades for not only his community work, but excelling in business.
Jude recognizes that his personal journey has not been a straight elevator ride up. He prides himself on learning from mistakes and bouncing back from numerous setbacks.
During the 30+ year span of his entrepreneurial career, Jude has successfully overcome many trials and tribulations. One of his proudest feats has been beating a personal gambling addiction and successfully exiting the most recent recession without losing one property. The Great Recession left him in constant litigation which most individuals would crumble under, yet, he pushed through. Another notable curveball was the Dot-Com bubble burst, which left many day traders at a complete loss. Jude’s resilience got him through all of these along with some other personal challenges that at times brought him to the brink of insolvency. Yet, with all these adversities, his resilience has brought him to a place of prosperity.
Jude’s true passion has always been his community service. His first taste of the joy of giving back occurred during his college years, after he pledged to the fraternity of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. In recent years, Jude has shared his wealth of information and personal experience to local schools & community organizations to help others avoid the mistakes he has made and successfully navigate their own financial freedom.
In 2017, he founded the nonprofit organization The Brooklyn Bank whose mission statement is “to promote financial empowerment and overall betterment of OUR communities”.
The Brooklyn Bank constantly has small programs of financial literacy for the community.
Jude has also funded the following annual programs through The Brooklyn Bank:
Instagram: @mr.judebernard Email: jude@thebrooklynbank.com
Telephone: 917.309.4571
Working with Jude Bernard was a transformative experience for our team. His insights and guidance have propelled us to new heights
Working with Jude Bernard was a transformative experience for our team. His insights and guidance have propelled us to new heights
Working with Jude Bernard was a transformative experience for our team. His insights and guidance have propelled us to new heights
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