Mastering the Market: Growth, Grit, and Real Estate with Mimoza Novaj

Are you one of the many busy professionals working in offices day in and day out? Do you wonder how some people grow their wealth fast, retire early and play on work days? Well, you're in luck because Ginny Bolling hosts this show Pivots of Prosperity where she interviews people that can do just that play on work days. Many guests have become financially free. She also interviews people that are on their journey and people that are in support roles like attorneys, contractors, brain brokers and others. Commercial real estate is the common element. She is on a mission to be sure. Busy professionals know they can own substantial commercial properties too, like apartments, self storage facilities and others and not have to do the work managing them. Passive investing is the key. Syndications are the typical method. Tax write offs are some of the biggest rewards. Ginny and partners find the deals, build a strong team and business plan, then offer the investment opportunities to passive investors. New episodes are released every Tuesday at 12, so watch for new releases. If you want to get involved, let us know. You need to get pre qualified to hear about most deals. See the show notes for contact information.

Hello, hello. Jenny Bowling here with Pivot to Prosperity brought to you by Pivotal Real Estate Investments where we help investors build wealth and income through commercial real estate that also improves communities. And today we have Mimoza Navai here and thank you, thank you, appreciate you coming on.

Thank you for having me.

We met through crew, the commercial real estate women chapter in Orlando, Florida and I love that organization. I wish I had.

Absolutely, yeah. I mean it's, it's, it's definitely something that I am a huge champion for. Any time I come across anybody within the commercial real estate industry, I'm like, are you part of crew? Have you joined even, even with my travels now and I meet any amazing women or even some phenomenal men that are supporters of women in this industry, I'm like, have you checked your local chapter?

Even the guys, you're right, I don't do it that much with, I don't think I've asked any guys actually.

But yeah, yeah, I actually try to seek out the men because I selfishly kind of want more men being involved with this women aspect of it in the sense of do you support what we do in our industry? Are you okay with this whole boys club scenario or are you against it and feel like women do have a stronger position in certain, certain areas or let's just say most areas of the industry. And if they do, I say, well, you really need to join crow. We need more men who support women joining and Speaking up for us.

That's so true. And yeah, we should go there right away in this topic here. And like we were saying, men that can get used to strong women because the women here are professionals, they have gone through and had the higher level education. So it's very knowledgeable, experienced professional women and guys that aren't used to that can get used to it faster by being around it.

Exactly, exactly. Less intimidation when you're around it.

For sure, for sure. Well, so tell us, tell us about your journey a bit, if you would.

Sure.

You know, coming into to. Well, start where you want, put it that way.

Well, I figured I'd start with the fact that with the unique name, people are probably wondering what my background is. I am Albanian from Kosovo, very small third world country within Europe. And my parents brought me to the US when I was two years old. And with that I grew up in a very, very unique household of trying to hold strong onto traditions that my parents grew up with and simultaneously assimilating to the US culture and being raised in New York. I mean, I don't know if you could really say a US culture, more of a melting pot of cultures. It was a phenomenal upbringing for me being surrounded by all different types of backgrounds, religions, food, I mean, name it. It's a huge, huge proponent for how I started growing up and becoming the person that I am at this point in my life and you know, still trying to cater to my parents desires of holding onto tradition. It was very, very contradicting in my upbringing. I had to be this very pure innocent, raised to be eventually a Stepford wife. While I'm being educated and being told, but you're strong, you should be an independent person. You don't have to do what the old school tradition told you. So it was conflicting growing up. It was tough as I got older situation and without going into full, full detail and disclosure about what brought it to that point. But I underwent two arranged marriages before I was 25 years old, first one at 18. It was right after the war in Kosovo. For those who are not aware or remember the history, as we do have some younger generations listening as well. During Kosovo it actually happened early 70s into the 80s where Serbia was trying to pretty much take over the country, claiming it as their own. They started movement into Bosnia Herzegovina and they created mass genocide. Anybody that was not them. And Bosnia for the most part had Muslim religion background, shifted on from Bosnia and moved right into Kosovo. My parents did not want their children being raised in this type of scenario. The way I could Explain it best is my father said, anytime you set foot outside the house, you had Serbian soldiers with guns to your head following you. And that is not something that I wanted for my children. We came to this country and worked. I mean, I don't know. My. My parents didn't have done anything else besides work hard to make a living for us to be here and to get the best education that we possibly can. And unfortunately, that. That was the public school, fortunately. And unfortunately, fortunately, public school system, it gets a lot of bad rap. It really does. I mean, I don't think it's the greatest now. It's definitely not been the greatest as I'm seeing generation moving forward. But it was what we had. And it was that or it was staying in Kosovo and being educated based on whatever the Serbians wanted us to be educated on, or frankly, not see life beyond a certain age. Because unfortunately, through that war, I lost relatives and a lot of people lost relatives. I grew up hearing the stories. I watched it until 2001 when the US got involved, NATO got involved. They stopped it all. They found out about all the genocide that was happening. They uncovered mass graves in Bosnia. And unfortunate to the world that a lot of people did not like. Chime into the news as much about Kosovo. But we had a similar scenario in Kosovo, and for what? For land. All this happened for land. How do you grow up understanding why this took place? And it became a factor for me of understanding and trying to understand people and why hate was such a huge thing and still is such a huge thing that divides us. Yes, I had a different background and upbringing, but at the core, all my friends who were also from different backgrounds and upbringings, we still related to each other. We still connected. So I just, it's. It saddens me and it sickens me sometimes when you hear such hate going on in the world. And I just try to very much so dive into connecting with people and trying to connect with the community and trying to navigate how to absorb more about cultures and backgrounds of all types. So it. It makes me feel whole in a sense, because I don't feel like I'm. I'm now ignorant to everything else around me. I. I'm learning about everybody and what makes them them. It's really not that far fetched from me with that. Being raised Muslim, a lot of people are like, she's not Muslim. She's not covered up. We weren't in our household. It was an option. It was a choice. Do you want to? Do you not want to? I chose not to, because that's not how I was. My mom wasn't that way. I would, I chose not to. But after nine, 11, and then a whole bunch of other stuff that happened. Hearing conversations and being in part of conversations where people in that table did not know that I was Muslim, talking about religion the way they did. I had to stop and sit back and just listen and listen. And I let them finish their entire conversation where I said, you, you do know I'm Muslim. No, you're not. Well, I know I am. I, I, I am, I am, I'm Muslim. And you know, it's unfortunate you have extremists everywhere. It's not just Islam. Right. Let's leave it at that. That also catered to how the upbringing that I had of restriction and, and very uniqueness being this told that I was going to be the Stepford wife. You're holding on to your culture because you are using school just to buy time until you get married. What? No. What was the point of sending me to school altogether? But my father, very, very contradictory person as well, wanted his daughter to finish school. But you want me to also be the separate wife. So which one is it? Well, you still have to cater to your husband, but I want you to finish school because in the event you never. Tomorrow is not guaranteed with relationships and marriages. And I'm like, oh, my head's spinning. I don't know which way I'm going now. But with that, my father saying what he said, I grew up watching my mom being abused by this individual who wants his daughter to finish school because tomorrow is not promised with a relationship. It became something that we laugh about now. We do. We laugh about the fact that his daughter went from being this very. You have to get married. I went through two arranged marriages to now I'm a, I don't. Marriage is not something I think about for me. I say it's not in my cards ever again. I'm very fine being independent. I'm very fine. But he's like, who are you? I'm like, I am exactly what you told me to be. Finish school, do what you need to do to be able to support yourself. Well, the, the other side of that is I have to learn to do everything on my own without a man. Therefore, this is what the outcome of that is. Yeah. Yeah. So very, very stubborn, stubborn personality. Because of my. Both my parents are both stubborn. So the apples do not fall far from trees. And that is very true statement. Yeah.

Whether we know it or not or want to admit it.

Or not. Whether we want to admit it or not is the reality of it. I'm admitting a whole lot more of it these days.

Now, is your dad still around?

My parents, thank God, are still around. My father's health is. Is unfortunately declining. He just. In January, he's a New Year's baby, has reached the age of 80, thank God. But he's lost his last sibling that he had alive, and it. It. It took an. It took an impact to him, and his health has not been the best, so I can only hope that he fights through it. But, yeah, he. He's alive now, and that's. That's all I can hope for at this point.

And he's good with where you are today.

It was a couple of years ago they came to visit me because my parents are. My family's all up in New York. I moved to Florida nine years ago, and it was a couple of years ago they came. My parents came to visit me. And he walked around and he saw the life that I created for myself here, alone, without a man. And he's like, I'm proud of you. And I'm like, can you repeat that? Did you just tell me you're. You're proud of me? He's like, of all four kids, I'm proud of you. Like, can you call my siblings and tell them this? Because I don't think this is going to be believable to anybody at this point. And it brought tears to my eyes, because that's one thing as a child, as much as you live your life for yourself, you also don't want to significantly disappoint your parents. And for a while, with the two arranged marriages failing and me not being married and not having children at nearly 42 years old, I thought I was becoming a disappointment to them. So hearing your parents tell you late in life that they're proud of you is. Is. It's a huge impact. Huge impact.

Yeah. Especially with all that you've been through. I mean, geez, that's amazing. I wanted you to share that part of the story, too.

We were raised marriages. I mean, yes. So my sister had married her high school sweetheart, and as I stated, being Muslim and being Albanian, she married her high school sweetheart who is not either of those things. And my father has very. Or had a very large family of relatives in. In the Bronx where I was raised, and watchful eyes, judgy eyes. And with my sister going off and marrying somebody who was not of our upbringing and background, it became a very much. Everybody was talking about it became the talk of the town within our group. And my father walked around with his head down. He felt, like, very disappointed that this had happened instead of now. Today he sees it and he's like, I don't understand what I was thinking. But at that time, it was impactful. Seven years older than me. So I was 15 when she shared that she was going to be marrying him and move out. And my parents disowned her. For about three years, we didn't talk to her because you put shame on the family name. How dare you? All eyes went straight to the other daughter. Well, your golden child, the holy grail of your children, has now shamed your family. What. What is she gonna do? I was the black sheep. Nobody even paid attention to me up until now. Why are you. No, no, don't. Don't ignore me. Let me live. Nope. Pressure. So right after the war had subsided, I went to Kosovo with my father for the very first time since bringing me to the. To the US at 2 years old. So I don't have any recollection at 2 years old of anything over there. So being as naive as I was at that point in my life, I thought, finally, I get to go. Right before the war literally broke out, broke out. All my other siblings had gone, even my younger brother who was born here. And I'm like, why am I the only one who has not gone? Like, what. What is the deal with that? So my father said, oh, for your winter break, we're going to Kosovo. And I'm like, really super excited. We went for the entire month because I had a month off from school, and lo and behold, I had no idea what the actual reasoning for sending me overseas was. It was to get me accustomed to the background and the culture, even dive in, further into it, and eventually find my match.

Did you find him on that trip?

My mom's side of the family on the first one found him for me. And unfortunately, it was a combination of me wanting to not disappoint my parents, because I already saw the heartbreak that they felt about my sister and the pressure of them saying, you're not going to be allowed whatever your friends are doing over there is not something that we're allowing for you. You're not going to be able to just meet somebody and date somebody, and. No, you learn to love the person that we're going to tell you is okay to marry. I know. I was never one for the fairy tales. Believe me, I. To this day, I'm not about the fairy tale life. I don't believe it. It's storybook stuff. But in my head I'm like, but I thought you're supposed to kind of get to know a person and then marry them. This is very backwards than what I'm thinking is supposed to happen. No, does not matter. It does not matter. 16 years old, they found my match. 17, I got engaged. 18, I had to bring him here through a K1 visa. Fiance visa. So for anybody who watches the 90 Day Fiance series on TV, I lived it in a very bad way. So now when somebody's like, oh, did you watch it? I'm like, why? I lived it. I don't need to watch it. It was horrific. To please my parents, I had to make myself small in a very, very big way. I had to become the Stepford wife that I. I was trying really hard not to be. And he was, he was so abusive verbally. He messed with my head in such a way. And that is I. At 18 years old, I. At the prime of when you're learning who you are, I started going in reverse. I, I stopped growth, in a sense. And it just, it put me to a point where I was losing friends. My family was, you know, constantly fighting me because I would go to them with what I thought were issues. And looking back at it now, they were issues. But my family did not know any other way except how they were raised. So they kept saying, you're making a big deal out of now. Well, it got to a point where we're nearing almost a year of marriage and I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't, I could not, I could not stay married to this person who was consistently putting me down, who was consistently making me feel so small. And all I kept thinking is all the years of me as a child seeing my mom cower to my father in these abusive times, because my father was a very, very abusive man because he listened to all his relatives around him badmouthing about my mom. And I just, in my head, could not fathom being that I grew up watching this. Why would I want to be that? I tried every which way. But culturally, we are told in arranged marriages there's gotta be actual evidence and proof of the person having this abusive behavior. How do you prove verbal and mental abuse? I took it a step. I took it a step, a little extra than I really think I ever thought that I had the strength to do. And that was pretty much, tell my mom, do you wish your daughter dead at the age of. At this point, 19. And I was like, I would Rather die than stay married to this person. And then I packed a bag and went to live with my sister, who, mind you, I did not have the closest relationship with. So, needless to say, I took shelter at my sister's place with her husband for about a month. And that is when my parents realized, okay, this. There's something obviously happening. It was not an easy breakaway, because traditionally, when you hear the stories, if you've ever heard the story of how all the men have to make the decision for that arrangement, that is. That is genuinely the scenario. The men of both parties have to sit down and talk about what brought the couple to this point. I didn't have a voice in this, in this, that setup to explain what happened. It was them poking at every issue about me and never about him.

I'm the problem usually is the woman.

Yep. But we managed to navigate out of that. And unfortunately, to my father's disappointment, because now I have yet again brought shame to the family name. My sister did first and now me, because I'm no longer pure and now unwed. That's not a scenario they. They wanted for me. And the pressure became again on me to bring light to the family name somehow, some way. And the only way to do that is through yet again going through that scenario. So fast forward a very short few years, 23 years old, I get married again. And again brought somebody else from overseas. By this point, husband number one had passed on because he had developed a brain tumor after we parted ways and did not survive it. I think he. From diagnosis to passing was maybe six months and very, very, very caveman mentality and very not. I don't even like calling it old school, because I don't even think this is old school. Just very ridiculous thought process. His family wanted out for blood because apparently being married to me would have saved him. Being married to you, what, being married to him. If I would have stayed married to their son, he would never have died. He would have. He would have survived this tumor. I don't know where the logic, but they wanted blood. They literally threatened that if I ever went back to Kosovo, that they would have my head. And I now this is again where slow, slow strength started coming through because of what I witnessed. My mom, I'm a US Citizen. Try me. I will report myself to the embassy before I take this trip out there, Let them know of the scenario. And then if something ever happens to me, good luck trying to get out of that alive. So that did not stop me from going overseas and having this arranged marriage. Number Two now my father's side. So I'm no longer talking to anybody from my mom's side of the family who did me dirty with the first marriage, you kind of willingly did the second. I felt like I had to save face. And again, it was not me being able to select the process and everything. It was them telling you, this is who you're marrying. And I'm just like, okay, brought him over. This one was very interesting though, because lo and behold, and, and, and I can't believe that, you know, this, this even happened. My father's side of the family knew very much about this person's background, knew very much about who he was and frankly is. And decided not to share this information. A year and a half of marriage of verbal abuse. He would run to tell my parents that I was not a good wife. I was in school full time, getting my degree in forensic psychology at John J. College, Criminal justice, cuny. Yep. People who are disturbed always end up going into psychology because they're trying to learn about themselves. And instead of learning about themselves, they're learning how to analyze other people now. And that's kind of been me. So turns out that he came to this country to use me to stay in this country, get his green card, to eventually get his citizenship because he was already married.

And they knew that.

My dad's side of the family knew that. And not one of them shared this with my father and my family. Not one of this came, none of, none of them came forward to say, yeah, we, we don't think this is a good idea. You're the ones who brought him to me. But yeah, there was, there was intention there. And I'm to this day trying to navigate what that was. But anyhow, he told my parents I wasn't being a good wife while I'm going to school full time. I took on a full time job while I was going to school full time and I was a housewife. I was getting about an hour and a half of sleep each night because he would come home from work because he took on a job in construction. He would come home dusty. I had to get his clothes cleaned, get him dinner ready, make sure he was good, then get back to my studies after a long day of work. And I would not wrap up until Lord knows what time and get an hour and a half sleep and just repeat. But he was telling my parents I wasn't a good wife and I was holding on because after, like I've already complained about husband number one, things went sour there. Now I really have to just kind of stick to this. It was a year and a half later where he has now pulled me away from any friendships that I've had. He's turned my family against me. But he took it an extra step further, decided to review all of my phone bill records to see who I communicate with throughout the day, Started calling the numbers on my phone bill. I don't know what number he called. That ended up being some guy that picked up, started accusing me of cheating. Where am I going to find time to cheat if I'm in school full time, working full time, I'm your wife full time and I'm barely getting an hour and a half of sleep. Do you think mentally I could take on cheating? And I just, I couldn't take it anymore. I flung my phone across the room, it almost nearly missed him. And he came charging at me. And when he came charging at me and raised his hand as if he was about to swing, I blacked out. And all I imagined is my mom. And the first time I witnessed my mom getting abused by my dad, I was four years old and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. And I just remember being in the closet with my mom in the corner, crying, scared, looking up, coward into a ball, worried that he's going to come back for more. And I went off on my husband. When I finally came to, I see I'm on top of him, a 6 foot 4, 235 pound muscle man on the floor, doing this with his hands up to his face like in shock. And I'm just punching. I didn't, I don't like, I don't even know where the strength came from for me to take him down to begin with. But eventually I, when I realized that he wasn't even attempting to swing back, I got off him and I said, you will never ever even look at me to think you're going to put a hand on me. That will never happen. And we're done. I thankfully had a friend who was really good at hacking computers and I said, there's something going on here. I'm being accused of cheating, I'm being accused of all these things. And there had been several scenarios when I would come home from work where he beat me from work and would get home from his job earlier than me. And I come home and would find him, snap, like turn off the computer real quick. And I couldn't understand why he was like such in a rush to turn off the computer. So I begged my friend did not want to do It. But I begged my friend to dive in a little bit. We waited. About a month after this situation of the fight, he decided to get a traveling document to be able to travel to go visit his family, his mom and his sister. Down the line, I find out he went to go visit his wife. He was out for about. I don't even know. I think it was like four or five weeks going to Kosovo. It was at that time that I had my friend go in and start diving into the computer to see what exactly was going on here. Three email accounts that he had. One was with his mom and his sister. One was with his uncle. Both emails bashing me left and right, saying, I'm a horrible wife. In one of the emails, saying, it's just a matter of time before I have to get this green card and then this marriage will be over. And then he ends up making mention of this name, and he'll bring this person over. And I'm like, who are you bringing over the dive in More and more and more to find out the email of this person and to find out this is. This is his wife. He's married. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm married to somebody who's already married. What the heck is going on here? So he. He ended up hacking the third email. And the third email was a slew of women that he had been communicating with. He's been cheating on me. The accuser is always usually the. The one who's partaking and what they're accusing you of. I'm not in the right state of mind. An hour and a half asleep while I'm doing all this stuff, and I'm losing myself. I've already. I had already lost myself with marriage number one. Now at this point, I'm just a shell of a person, and I'm just like, oh, this is interesting. This is so phenomenal to me. At this point, I'm printing. Printing all these emails from all three accounts. I created a folder, and I eventually went to my parents, and I'm like, I'm no longer doing this. I've done this the first time, and it did not work out. I'm now in the second situation. And you guys want to believe whatever stories he's telling you about me not being a good wife, but here's the situation at hand, and I dropped the folder and I say, he's married already. He's using me for papers once he gets his green card or even his citizenship at that point, because you can't bring somebody as a Green card. You have to be a full on citizen to be able to start bringing people into this country. He's using me for him to bring his other wife. My father was like in shock. My mom was livid. He came back from overseas to find a bunch of garbage bags out front with all his stuff in it and it was done. Unfortunately, divorce was not that easy. That took about another four years because lord knows getting divorced in New York was not easy. But eventually it ended and my parents stopped pushing the agenda of me getting married or having arranged marriages in that nature.

Thankfully you've been through a lot. It's like crazy. I, I appreciate you sharing that and I, I want to be sure we still get to talking.

Yes, yes, yes. So.

Well, you went from being like a victim in so many ways and, and.

Then I'd like to call it, I'm a survivor. Yeah, you're.

Yeah. Surviving all that and being in a male dominated field.

Right.

Talk about that. Talk about how you.

So I was, while I was. The full time job that I had was in residential property management and in Res Use, a project management service. We were the project managers. We navigated bringing in contractors and stuff. And I did not care for the day to day of the residential world because your phone does ring after hours, late at night, early mornings. So I had decided that I wanted to dive into the commercial industry and understand that realm a little further still in property management. But now I'm doing construction because yet again we didn't use project management other than for capital improvements. So for tenant improvements we kind of navigated that ourselves. I really enjoyed construction. I enjoyed taking these spaces, demolishing them into just bare bones and then rebuilding them and then seeing the end user come in and just be so happy and their face lighten up. And I took it metaphorically as my life. I became this shell of a person and I'm working to build and construct myself into something that's going to make me happ. And that's kind of where my, my thought went into. I'm going to focus on, on my career because I enjoy this. This is what I want to do. This is who I want to become. So I decided to take a very large step in my life and say I, I don't like this world of New York. It's, it's as much as opportunity as there is in New York, it's also an extremely competitive world and it caused for me to work insane hours. I don't, I don't think there was ever a time that I Did not work past midnight. I took the step of packing myself up, no job lined up in Florida and decided I'm heading for Florida with whatever savings I have. I know me, I don't sit and get comfortable. I will go straight into finding work. I'll find anything until I could find what's the right fit. And Cushman and Wakefield. I moved here January 2nd of 2016. I took about two weeks off just to kind of evaluate what where I'm going, how I'm heading towards things, what companies are around in this Orlando market. And then went to Apple one, which is an employment company, a recruiting company and did all their testing and stuff, told them what I desired. And fast forward to about March is after doing some odd jobs here and there in March is when I got called in about this opportunity with. They didn't tell me the name, the company or anything at that point until I accepted the whole process. And then they said, okay, so you're reporting to the Cushman and Wakefield offices in downtown Orlando. And it would be for a project coordinator's position. And I'm like, okay, it is attempt to hire. They obviously want to try you out first. And at that point I met my boss who's now my dear friend Tracy Tom Palambo. And she actually went from being a design person to seven. I want to say it's been a little over 17 years now. About 17 years ago, she's the one who built up the project development services team for Florida for Cushman and Wakefield. So sat down with her, her from Boston, me a New Yorker. She's like, you do realize there's that. I was like, no, no, Florida. We're all, we're all northerners. We don't. There is no differentiation between Boston and New York. We're just northerners. But she hired me as a tempo and not even a month later she's like, this is very hard for me because I've been burned in the past. Things go really well initially and then. But I feel like I want to take a chance on you. Did she ever. My fast paced New York personality did not slow down in Florida and has not slowed down in Florida. And she loved that about me. And within a short year I was not just doing project coordination. I started running projects for some of the managed properties that Cushman had in the central Florida market. And I, you know, am beyond, beyond happy that she took a chance on me. It became a scenario of me taking from her, her being my mentor and, and kind of molding me into, further into what I become today. And that's something that I will never forget and I consistently share with her. But that is, that was the starting point of my life, is what I'd like to call it. That was the starting point of I took this person a lot of my upbringing had. And then the two arranged marriages that faltered. It made me feel like I didn't. I never got the growth from age 18 to. At this point now I'm 30. At that point I was 32. I'm like, I lost all this time of myself. I don't even know who I am. So now this became me, my foundation, the starting point of my foundation of being this strong person. And Cushman and Wakefield took the chance. Wanda Riley, I love her to pieces. She's also past president with CREW and the Florida State director for, for Cushman and Wakefield. She. When she came across my resume for this position, she. And she tells me still to this day, when I heard your name, Mimosa, all I kept thinking is, I don't know if I want to hire this girl because every time I hear her name, I'm just going to want to drink. I'm like, I'll take it if that made you want to, like, have me around. And yes, I'll take it. Yep.

Use any synergy, right?

Oh, my goodness. Seriously. But the unfortunate nature is Tracy down the line with, with having kids and wanting to be more focused on being a mom. She had stepped down from being this lead role for Florida and the other individual. I will not name names, but I, I, it would. Anybody in the industry knows who this person is. She didn't see in me what Tracy saw in me. She was out of Tampa, I'm in Orlando. We barely work together. I went above and beyond my position in my role. I was a project coordinator, still managing projects. As a project manager, I was training all the other project coordinators in the state, simultaneously running the AP&AR for project management in the state. I did all this and I was not being valued. So as much as you know, Tracy tried to fight for me, I had to take a step back and navigate what do I do here. So I did shift over to jll and I spent four years at jll and this is where further growth happened because I became the sole project manager for all of the Central Florida managed properties and worked closely with the property management team. I did not have any assistance. I didn't have a project coordinator. I had to, from start to finish, run my project with no administrative support, financials everything and simultaneously working through the variety of processes from each landlord that they had, which is vastly different. But that strengthened me further in my skill set as a project manager. I had to start thinking outside the box. How. How can I. How can I be better than all of these other PMs out there that frankly, PMs get bad reps. We do. We do. There's a few out there that will go in with a one and done like mindset. I'm here just to finish my job and walk away and never stick around to kind of navigate any issues that happen afterwards. My property management background is what helped me be as good as I am today. Because I see it as a landlord doesn't want to hear that you have like 100 pages of punch list items and you just walked away because you don't care. I'm a. I like to hone in on that relationship and build that relationship and grow that relationship because I want you to be a repeat person. I want you to keep thinking of me and keep wanting to come back. Phenomenal four years. But it got to a point where I'm like, I need growth. I need something to like kind of up the ante here and I'm not getting that support right now. It was a different state lead at that time and it just became a scenario of like, this is. This is not where I want to be. Where do I go? I went back to Cushman awake. I never blame a company for my experiences. And similar to life, I don't blame a situation on the entire group. It's not an entire company's fault that I had a bad experience with a specific individual. So. And that was the scenario I pushman and frankly, same scenario with jll. I do not hold JLL accountable or responsible for that. My experiences with a individual who's no longer there. So I would push come to shove down the line. I will always teeter back and forth to JLL and Kushman until there's like a sweet spot for me to retire.

They're both good firms.

Yeah, they're. They're both phenomenal companies. They for the most part are very, very huge on this whole work life balance. But they both also have very strong individuals representing them in, in the sense of if you are motivated, they will find a way to help you. And when I left jll, I decided to kind of change course because I wanted something different. I've been doing the managed property work for some time, but there's got to be more out there. I mean, there's people who do the ground up work, there's people who do hospitality. So when came to do account specific work and the account being Humana, I inquired a little further on what the position was and they said it's, it's clinical work. You're building these senior center wells nationwide because you would be a what they consider, they isolate Florida from non Florida. They're like, you're, you'd be on the non Florida expansion team. And I'm like, oh, are you being able to travel? And I'm like, wait, hang on. I went from the Bronx, New York to Florida with very minimal travel other than to overseas motherland. Yes. I'd like to navigate this route. I'd like to travel and see things. I definitely ended up, you know, at Cushman and Wakefield taking the, the Humana account role. Within a year I ended up becoming a senior project manager, got promoted to a senior pm and after about two and a half years of doing or two years doing the clinical work, Humana was pretty impressed with my abilities of going above and beyond and my communication style and completion of project. They now plucked me off of the clinical side and have pulled me into just straight Humana office construction nationwide. So that's what I'm doing right now. I've been surrounded by phenomenal, amazing women, strong women, motivated women, determined women. And I literally am grateful for being here, being part of crew, surrounding myself with very, very strong women because it's helping me build what I was trying to get to. But I never had the opportunity to where I was. And frankly, I just keep growing from this point and it's, it's, it's phenomenal. And you know, I, I know as far as we had discussed Sprig starting this podcast about maiming a pivotal person in my life, there's so many, there are so many. But I am going to go back to Wanda Riley on this. Wanda Riley, having raised two phenomenal kids, one graduated and one still in college and running a state, as far as for Cushman Wakefield, still a crew member, as a past president, still involved, still pushes for women to be successful. And she backs you up 100% when she sees that you have that drive and passion. And she's definitely somebody that I look to as, as who I would like to continue to grow to be. I like being the person that when I see the younger generation asking me, well, what made you get into this industry? I just happened to be good at it and I just genuinely enjoyed it and. But you're surrounded by men I don't care. You have to walk in there and know that you will be humble enough to ask the questions. If you do not know the answer, do not be afraid to say, break that down to me in layman's terms. I know nothing about that. I don't know everything about MEPs. I know how to look at drawings. I know I've learned enough to have me do my job. But when it comes to the weeds of it, I'm not a certified electrician or a mechanic or plumber. So I will ask the question to learn, and I'm not afraid to ask it. You can't go in there seeing yourself as a woman who's afraid to ask. You're a person in your career who's learning. And that. That's pretty much how I end up relating to the younger generation, who, frankly, I hope not only do they continue to further crack the ceiling because we have not broken the glass ceiling. I want to be real, really honest about my thoughts on this. The generation before me has cracked the ceiling. I'm cracking it further, but we have not broken that glass ceiling 100% yet. And I can only hope. Hope that this next coming generation fully breaks through, because as women, we are strong and we are amazing at what we do, because we come from a nurturing, analytical. Some men would like to think that we overanalyze. I don't think we overanalyze. I think we're very cautious about how we approach things. And I don't see how that does not become an advantage, because we're looking at it in every.

Any.

In every scenario possible and thinking of all the different outcomes of each scenario. And I'd rather take a slow and steady approach to things than just like, bulldoze through. Bulldoze through it all, because Lord knows I can bulldoze through life in any other regard. But when it comes to career, I like to try to navigate things and logically approach it.

Yeah, yeah.

It's.

It's different when you have all the different age groups included, too, with all the different traditions even Americans have.

Yeah.

So then you have multicultural here, too.

Yeah.

So the diversity is a power, though. It really. I think it really helps to have perspective that really will help to develop sound plans.

So, 100. 100.

Well, that's great. I'm afraid we're running out of time here, so.

I know. I'm sorry.

That.

And.

And now I've got that. And so do you want to nominate Wanda as a pivot?

I would. I would like to nominate Wanda, because I. She is a fascinating person, and I think she could definitely bring something to the table here for the viewers, for the listeners, and I'm convinced. Yeah.

Do you want to let her know or do you want me to.

You. I will definitely let her know, and I'll let you know once I've done so. So you could follow us. Okay.

That's great. Well, so grateful that we got a chance to really chat and.

And.

And really, I want to stay in touch and. And wish you well with your new position.

Thank you.

Seeing you at the crew. Yeah. We've got some stuff coming up, I think.

Yes, ma'. Am. And I'm looking forward to it as well. Good.

Well, thank you again. That's great. I'm afraid we're running out of time here, so.

I know. I'm sorry.

That.

And. And now I've got that. And so do you want to nominate Wanda as a pivot?

I would. I would like to nominate Wanda because I. She is a fascinating person, and I think she could definitely bring something to the table here for the viewers, for the listeners, and I'm convinced.

Yeah. Do you want to let her know or do you want me to.

I will definitely let her know, and I'll let you know once I've done so. So you could follow up off. Okay.

That's great. Well, so grateful that we got a chance to really chat and.

And.

And really, I want to stay in touch and. And wish you well with your new position.

Thank you.

Seeing you at the crew. Yeah. We've got some stuff coming up, I think.

Yes, ma'. Am. And I'm looking forward to it as well. Good.

Well, thank you again.