Long gone are the days when real estate development was the exclusive domain of men. More than 170 women are pursuing a degree in real estate at the USC Price School of Public Policy – and the school’s real estate alumnae total more than 2,000.
Every year, the school hosts a luncheon that includes a panel of distinguished real estate alumnae from Price who share their professional experiences with the largely student audience. This year’s panel, which was held on March 5, was moderated by Lynn King-Tolliver, a director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, a joint venture of USC Price and the USC Marshall School of Business. The panelists featured USC Price alumnae from the Bachelor of Real Estate (BRED) and Master Real Estate Development (MRED) programs.
Here are some of the insights they conveyed to the audience:
“… it’s not that there necessarily is ever a “No’ or ‘This can’t be done,’ but you’re expected to come to me with what is possible, what can be done. Even if it’s the smallest improvement from ‘No’ or ‘It can’t be done,’ at least that’s a starting point of the conversation and we can build on that together.” – Madison Baker (MBA/MRED, ’19), Development Manager, Goldrich Kest.
“I think if you just focus on what you’re good at, what you want to accomplish, and what you’re there to do, all of the other stuff is kind of fluffy. You can be more girly, you can have two exclamation points, and you’re still closing that deal, nobody cares.” – Jenny Rocci (MRED, ’17), Vice President of Development, Madison Capital Group.
“Especially right now … you’re going into the workforce, and no one is expecting you to know everything. So, ask every single question. It is so much better to be the person that’s asking questions than the person that doesn’t know what they’re talking about and everyone knows it. Don’t be afraid to not know.” – Natalia Romo (BRED, ’18), Senior Project Manager, Park Lane Projects.
“… there’s no such thing as wasted career experience. Just because you don’t want to end up in commercial real estate finance for the rest of your life doesn’t mean that those two years of my work experience were wasted. I carry so much of what I learned in that first job and in my second job into my third job. And it’s really great to land where you want to be, but the route to get there is not a missed opportunity.” – Leora Hakim (BUAD/BRED, ’19), Project Manager, Thomas James Homes.
“Be just infinitely curious and willing to ask. There’s so much information that’s available to us. You could Google it, but the experts are going to also tell you the nuances of how something is applied that doesn’t come through in the Google response.” – Lynn King-Tolliver.
