Harry Norman, REALTORS® has announced REALTOR® Ashoo Sharma, was recently recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2023 Corporate Counsel Awards. Sharma has been awarded Diversity Champion for being an outstanding attorney who makes an effort in their organization and in the legal community to promote equality for women, minorities, the economically disadvantaged, and the LGBT community. Sharma will receive her award at the 2023 Corporate Counsel Awards being held at Bishop Station on May 4, the company announced.
“From the very beginning, Ashoo has demonstrated her passion for diversity and inclusion, actively seeking out opportunities to apply her specialized education as an attorney to influence positive change. Ashoo is authentic, takes action and is an integral part of our organization,” said Jenni Bonura, president and CEO of Harry Norman, REALTORS®. “She readily volunteers for extra responsibilities, both inside and outside our company, because it has intrinsic meaning to her. Ashoo’s compassion and motivation are genuine, with her goal to make a difference rather than to collect potential accolades or be in the limelight. Yet, I am delighted that she is being celebrated once again for her vision and impact.”
Sharma is the vice president and general counsel and People and Culture Council Ambassador at Harry Norman, REALTORS®, where she leads the efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“To me, a diversity champion is someone who turns talk into action,” said Sharma. “I have always focused on helping a company, industry, and community be better than before so when social injustices revealed more work needed to be done, our company made it a priority to elevate our culture towards kindness, respect, and acceptance in an authentic and sustainable way. We are stronger together and this recognition would not be possible without the collaboration of vision and action of all those within our company who embrace diversity as not only the right way to be but the right way to do business.”
Having been in her role for eight years and reporting directly to Bonura, Sharma oversees all legal matters and leads policy changes for consumer protection and professional services that become adopted industrywide. In 2020, Governor Kemp appointed her to the Advisory Board of Georgia’s Commission on Equal Opportunity to help safeguard Georgians from housing discrimination. Sharma also serves as founding member of the HomeServices Foundation for Racial Equity, which was launched a little over a year ago to increase home ownership and generational wealth for people of color through education, investing in people, financial assistance, and community reinvestment, the company said.
Additionally, Sharma is a lifetime mentor to young professionals from diverse backgrounds to support them in their blossoming careers through various organizations, such as the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association, South Asian Bar Association of Georgia, and the Georgia Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel where she has served as the board’s vice-chair for professional development of in-house attorneys. Sharma has received many accolades for her work including The Legal 500 (Legalease) GC Powerlist Atlanta, 2023; Diversity Initiative Award, Georgia Legal Awards, 2022; OnCon Icon Awards (Top 100 Corporate Counsel), OnConference, 2020; and the GC Impact Award, Georgia Legal Awards, 2017, the company noted.
For more information, visit HarryNorman.com.
