Taking a break from the constant moving stream of the Mortgage Bankers Association’s secondary conference back in May, I made my way to a smaller conference room nestled in the corner of one of the main floors at the New York Marriott Marquis in the heart of Times Square.
The smell of food quickly caught my attention since the day didn’t allow much time to break for food. Coffee, thankfully, was always readily available.
But once I got past the two loaded buffet tables and looked around, the room filled with hundreds of the top women in real estate finance, grabbing my focus.
All I could think was, “This is rare.”
To the woman of housing – we may be few, but we’re fierce and a force to be reckoned with. #MBASecondary16 #slay pic.twitter.com/tPX5bGAyIv
— Brena Swanson (@BrenaSwansonHW) May 17, 2016
The MBA dedicated a lunch on one of the conference days to the women in real estate finance, featuring speakers Kim Azzarelli, chair and co-founder of Cornell Law School’s Avon Global Center for Women and Justice and partner at Seneca Point Global, and Marcia Davies, chief operating officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In an industry flooded with males, it was amazing to walk into a room filled solely with female powerhouses.
And nothing against you males, but the fact of the matter is this industry is 75% males, which only emphasizes the importance of HousingWire’s Women of Influence awards this year.
In its sixth-year running, HousingWire is excited to announce the esteemed list of its 43 Women of Influence. Check here for the full list.
Ranging from marketing and technology to economics and compliance, these ladies have all left an incredible impact in their fields, and they deserve to be recognized.
It was an honor to sit in a room with the women in this industry, including some of the ladies on this list. (Thanks for chatting with me as we grabbed food, Marina Walsh, vice president of industry analysis in MBA’s research and economics department. And you, too, Debbie Hoffman, chief legal officer with Digital Risk.)
So as someone who gets to interview and speak with many of you, I would like to extend my deepest congratulations. You deserve all the recognition.
