Next week I am sitting on two panels. One in Miami, one in Long Beach.
I am the only woman on both panels I am sitting on. I found out the way you always do: scrolling the speaker page and playing a quick round of "one of these things is not like the other." (Navy blazer, navy blazer, navy blazer, me.)
Before anyone gets the wrong idea, this is not a complaint post. Some of the best mentors, partners, and advocates I have had in this business are men.
So here is what being the only woman on the panel actually gets you.
1. The shortest bathroom line in commercial real estate.
I have never once waited in line at an industrial conference. Not once.
2. Nobody forgets which one you were.
After a panel, nobody says "wait, which one was she?" Every hallway conversation starts with "you were on that panel." That is free name recognition and I will happily take it.
3. A different lens, not a better one.
I come to the table as a third-generation family business operator and a mom who left a two-year-old at home to be there. That shapes the questions I ask, about time horizon, about who is really carrying the risk. A panel works better with a mix of perspectives for the same reason an IOS portfolio works better with a mix of tenants. Nobody moves in lockstep, and the whole thing gets more resilient.
4. A chance to make it look normal.
The best thing I can do from that chair is not make a speech about it. It is to show up prepared, say something useful, and make the next speaker page look a little more mixed than this one.
Someday I would like Eleanor to scroll a speaker page and not notice anything at all.
Who was the person who first put you in a room you did not think you were ready for yet?
The Only Woman on the Panel
