“I looked around early on in my career, and I really struggled to find more senior women even actually more junior women to have personal informal relationships with” – Adina David
In our latest episode of devcast… Hannah Taylor – Manager of Investment and Finance was joined in the studio by industry trailblazer Adina David – Executive Director at MGT.
Hailing from the US, Adina is currently the Executive Director at MGT Investment Management, following her three-year period at Greystar. Adina launched Ladies in Real Estate as a way for women in the property industry to meet informally once a month, taking the concept across the Atlantic following her move to London from New York in 2016.
From Romania to Real Estate
Adina shares how she was born in Romania and moved over to America when she was just 10 years old. Bouncing around Europe and the US growing up, she landed herself a career in real estate with Knight Frank in 2010 in commercial brokerage. Loving it immediately, she found an inspiring mentor within her first boss, who ignited her passion for the market that they were building, which was the prime office market in Romania.
Determining this was the career for her, but maybe not the location, Adina returned to New York in 2012 landing herself a place in the esteemed NYU graduate programme in real estate finance. Whilst accomplishing this, she happened to find herself a role within the emerging market of multi-family/Build to Rent. Missing the 'sex appeal' of the commercial real estate and Europe she moved back to London to join Greystar.
Adina worked on enviable development acquisitions, such as the Ten Degrees project, which is the world’s tallest modular building located in East Croydon. Adina shares she is now getting back into the more diversified rental living space with MGT, across the spectrum from urban to suburban. She has remained committed to the rental living space after stumbling into it a few years back and is driving a focus on the middle-income earners, driving affordability for the renter profile who fit within that category.
The origin of Ladies in Real Estate
Beginning as a humble brunch club with friends from grad school, Adina reveals the idea for Ladies in Real Estate derived from wanting a place to build personal relationships with other women in the industry. A place to exchange views, talk about the market and ultimately making friends in an informal and easy environment.
In wanting to make this a regular occurrence, Ladies in Real Estate was born, and Adina bought the concept across the Atlantic to London. Adina discloses that she had to adjust to the market, as brunch wasn’t proving too popular, and that’s where the breakfast concept entered the picture.
It must be 50/50…
Adina openly shared that when you looked around in her early career, she struggled to find senior or junior women to form personal relationships with. She noticed how it is easier for men to attain this within the industry. Realising that with creating gender equality, men needed to be bought into the conversation to avoid creating resentment from those that should be allies. The 50/50 breakfasts aim to show just what a balanced room should look and feel like and normalise that feeling within the property sector.
Click here to learn more about Ladies and Real Estate, and her incredible passion for cycling.
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