Realty ONE Group International, one of the country’s fastest-growing franchisors, celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8—but the company has its own mission to forge a more gender-equal world in real estate and beyond.
“It shouldn’t be something that trends one week on social media or is talked about every now and again,” says Vinnie Tracey, president of Realty ONE Group. “Bright, bold, powerful women are driving our industry to the extent that we shouldn’t celebrate their impact on a single day each year. In fact, I’m hoping we won’t even be talking about a gender gap in real estate soon.”
According to the Center for American Progress, only 7 percent of top executives in Fortune 100 companies are women, and while 63 percent of REALTORS® are female, according to the National Association of REALTORS®, only 12 percent are in president, CEO, executive director or similar roles.
In contrast, Realty ONE Group’s employee mix is 67 percent female to 33 percent male, with 56 percent of women in leadership roles.*
“Women’s International Day is an opportunity for all of us to celebrate progress but to also recognize how much more work we have to do to make our workplaces equal and accepting of all people,” says Margaret Kelly, a former real estate CEO who was recently named to the Realty ONE Group’s Advisory Board.
“Until women in leadership roles becomes the norm, we have to go out of our way to make sure they’re showcased for their talents and promoted for their comparable skills and experience,” says Tara Johnson. Johnson was one of the first females appointed to an executive role with Realty ONE Group. She’s been with the company nearly 10 years, and serves as the president of CORE Partners Group for Realty ONE Group.
More recently, Realty ONE Group promoted seasoned industry veteran Kathy Baker to vice president of Learning and Cory Vasquez, who was hired as VP of Corporate Communications in 2018, was promoted to chief marketing office late last year.
Realty ONE Group recently donated $11,111 to the Beverly Carter Foundation during the National Association of REALTORS® convention to help raise awareness for the foundation and create new tools for agent safety. For Realty ONE Group’s CEO and Founder Kuba Jewgieniew and the executive team, the focus is not only on REALTOR® safety, but on recognizing who Beverly Carter was and her immense contributions to her local real estate community.
“It’s so rewarding to see more women dominating their housing markets and all-out killing it, doing whatever they choose to do,” says Jillian Batchelor, one of Realty ONE Group’s top-producing real estate professionals who serves on her local REALTOR® board. “The only discussion we should be having about women is how to get out of their way.”
Batchelor was part of a Women’s Leadership Luncheon hosted at the company’s annual ONE Summit in Las Vegas this past February. That event also featured all-women keynote speakers, including Taya Kyle, Eileen Collins and Pamela Meyer.
Realty ONE Group International now has more than 12,000 real estate professionals in over 270 locations in 41 states, Washington D.C. and Canada. The company has grown faster in the past 12 months than in the first 12 years.
*Includes Realty ONE Group, CORE Partner Groups and Affiliated Services
For more information, please visit www.RealtyONEGroup.com.
