On a steamy Friday in late July, hundreds of real estate professionals filled a Midtown event space to learn about opportunity zones, deal structuring, affordable housing and other hot-button topics. Also on the agenda for the two-day conference: a frank discussion about what it takes to succeed in real estate as a minority.

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Diversity and inclusion have become watchwords across corporate America, but real estate remains one of the most homogeneous industries—especially in New York City, where connections are everything. Although women have made strides in the profession, its workers are overwhelmingly white....

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"It has impact on communities, impact on livelihoods," said Adeola Adejobi, founder of Avant-Garde Network, the career-development group for professionals of color that organized the Diversity in Commercial Real Estate event. It drew a crowd of 600 millennial-age professionals of color. READ MORE!

One of the city’s biggest commercial real estate diversity events drew over 600 professionals to Columbia University last week to hear from an A-list roster of speakers and learn how to succeed in the business.

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Former REBNY president John Banks and L+M Development Partners’ Lisa Gomez were among the speakers out to raise awareness of a gaping racial imbalance among the ranks of C-Suite professional.

Adeola Adejobi, founder and president of Avant-Garde Network, which organized the two-day conference, noted that minorities comprise less than one percent of senior level executives in commercial real estate. READ MORE!

NEW YORK CITY—What’s it like to be a developer? “There are so many different components that have to come together all on the same track,” Lisa Gomez, partner, and COO, L & M Development Partners, told a room filled with people attending Avant-Garde’s Diversity in CRE event. “If you’re a person who isn’t comfortable jumping into the deep end of the pool without floaties, it’s probably not for you.”

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Founded in 2011 by Adeola Adejobi, a graduate of Spelman College and Cornell Law School, the Avant-Garde Network promotes diversity and inclusion. She says people of color make up under 1% of the C-suite in real estate. To change that, her organization provides its 3,000 members business and professional opportunities that foster a strong network. One of the sessions from the two-day conference focused on being a developer. READ MORE!

Commercial real estate is among the least diverse industries on the planet, according to Adeola Adejobi, attorney and founder of New York-based Avant-Garde Network, an events company that advocates for diversity and inclusion for professionals of color. In July, Avant-Garde hosted its first Diversity in Commercial Real Estate Conference at Columbia University in New York City.

 

The event drew more than 600 attendees to hear some of the industry’s top players of color, including former Real Estate Board of New York President John A. Banks, WeWork’s Global Head Craig Robinson and Goldman Sachs Partner and Urban Investment Group Head Margaret Anadu, among others. NREI recently spoke to Adejobi about some of the key takeaways from the event and the state of diversity in commercial real estate today. READ MORE!

THE WOMAN BEHIND THE "DIVERSITY IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE CONFERENCE", ADEOLA ADEJOBI, ATTORNEY AND FOUNDER OF AVANT GARDE NETWORK

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Question: Why are there so few people of color at the top when it comes to real estate?

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Adeola Adejobi: First thing is, Historically, people of color have been kept out of real estate through red lining and things like that. But we have to have this lost around and anti-discrimination and things like that, that allow us to enter into the industry.

Capital, in order to buy a property or invest a property you need money. If you are being paid less for equal work it's going to take a lot more time, lot more effort and energy for you to be able to buy. It's been harder enough for people to get enough capital. WATCH NOW!