Celebrating influential women in real estate for Women’s History Month

Women have long made significant contributions to the real estate industry. The Jim Allen Group is part of a massive industry where women are critical to the success, and we are proud to celebrate the JAG team and the many women who fill major roles within our organization.

In fact, data from the National Association of REALTORS® shows that women are at the forefront of the real estate market, as 62 percent of all REALTORS® are female. As we continue to celebrate women in real estate for Women’s History Month, we wanted to highlight some of the influential women in the history of real estate throughout the years. These women not only helped shape the industry, but they also helped pave the way for many others. Here are just a few of the names you may not know.

The name Elizabeth Arden probably sounds familiar, as it’s a global skincare and makeup company found in stores like Ulta and Macy’s. Its namesake was a businesswoman and philanthropist who founded the cosmetic company that helped her build much of her net worth. However, Arden also invested heavily in real estate and owned properties — including commercial salons in New York, Washington, D.C., London, and Paris. By the time of her death in 1966, her real estate properties were valued at over $100 million, which contributed significantly to her total wealth.

Many people know Barbara Corcoran as one of the sharks on the ABC television show, Shark Tank. However, after what she has said were many failures throughout school and into her early 20s, she launched a real estate company in New York City that remains the top brokerage firm in Manhattan today. Her success in real estate means that she is now a regular small business and real estate contributor on major networks, and she’s helped over 100 businesses launch new products and services. She’s not only an advocate for real estate, but for women in business as well.

Zhang Xin is a businesswoman, philanthropist, and entrepreneur who built SOHO China, a leading real estate company in China, alongside her husband. Due to many collaborations, which she led with internationally sought-after architects, she is known as the “woman who built Beijing.” Much of her work focuses on innovation and sustainable approaches to real estate development. She has also been a visiting professor at Harvard and has focused her philanthropy on educating Chinese undergraduate students and on the arts.

Debra Cafaro is the CEO of Ventas, Inc., an S&P 500 company that owns approximately 1400 properties across North America and the United Kingdom, and which is a capital provider to numerous healthcare and research companies. In addition to being named one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, she has chaired Real Estate Roundtable, which is a public policy organization that brings top real estate firms together on national policy emails. She is also active on numerous boards in Chicago and is active in creating educational opportunities for students in the Chicago area.

Ebby Halliday was known as the “First Lady of Real Estate” after founding her real estate company in North Texas in 1945. Despite creating her company during World War II, she ensured its success and earned numerous awards for her philanthropy, where she gave back to North Texas for her lifetime. While Ebby passed away at the age of 104, her legacy is still thriving today, where Ebby Halliday Realtors remains one of the top firms in the country. There’s even an Ebby Halliday Elementary School in the Dallas area.

MaryAnne Gilmartin is the CEO of MAG Partners, an urban real estate company she founded in 2020 that is quickly rising as one of the most successful on the East Coast. Her team has designed, built, and currently operates more than seven million square feet of office, residential, and mixed-use projects, including multifamily rentals, commercial developments, and master-planned developments. She also teaches at the Real Estate Institute at Fordham University in New York.

Women are so influential to the real estate industry that they should be celebrated beyond one month alone. Fortunately, the women above are just a sample of the many people who are critical to the real estate industry and who can inspire future generations to do incredible things within the market.

Is there someone we left off the list that should be recognized? Feel free to share her name in the comments below.The Jim Allen Group provides access to information on this blog/website as a public service for educational purposes only. Although reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that all of the information made available is current, accurate, and complete…[read more]