Plenty of people are investing in the commercial real estate space (CRE), with the exception of the recent funding malaise caused by high-interest rates and a lack of bank funding options. But no matter the economic status of the industry, one thing has remained constant – women are still underrepresented.
According to the CREW 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Benchmark Survey, women represent only 36% of commercial real estate professionals, a number that’s been unchanged over the past 15 years. Even more glaring is the fact that women hold only 9% of C-suite positions in the sector and earn less than men, with a fixed salary gap of 10% and a commission and gap in bonuses of nearly 56%.
“First of all, when you’re dealing with CRE, it’s an industry heavily involved in numbers. There are more women in residential because it’s more relationship-based,” said Rose Vitale, an angel investor and managing partner of DRA Family Office, which invests in early stage and established businesses. “I think that mindset has to go in a different direction.”
Vitale, originally from Detroit, now resides in Southern California, where she arrived in 2006 “with a suitcase.” A former partner with Cricket Wireless and then AT&T Inc., she was instrumental in helping T-Mobile acquire MetroPCS. That decision came after the Federal Trade Commission shut down AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile.
“I started with no formal business education and did everything trial by fire. I didn’t even know how to apply for a business license at that time,” Vitale told Benzinga. “Fast forward to today, and I’m on my mission to transfer the flow of capital to women.”
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That mission includes her launch of FundHer World Capital, a private equity/venture capital fund specializing in investing in women-led companies.
The number of women in the commercial and residential real estate industries slumped by 5% from 2017 to 2021, and women are still making less on average than their male counterparts in both sectors, according to JLL.
Vitale believes another issue facing women is they aren’t getting the support they need. The 2022 CREW survey of women in commercial real estate workplaces found that just 56% of respondents said they had access to a mentor or sponsor in the last two years.
“There’s a lot of people in the investment space that have been born into or given money. As a woman who didn’t have this advantage, I was really fortunate I got a chance to see things at the ground level and change the narrative. I found some amazing partners,” Vitale said. “Women who get venture funding get less than 2% of what’s out there. I’ve made it my mission and my purpose to change the flow of capital to women and create history.”
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