There’s a video that Andy Hunt, Vieth Director of the Vieth Institute for Real Estate Leadership, wants everyone to see. In it, Jimena Perez wears a purple, floor-length dress as she stands at the podium of the Wisconsin Club’s conference room, looking out at hundreds of commercial real estate professionals. She’s just a freshman, but she speaks with confidence beyond her years about the center’s accomplishments — and of her own story.
“You stole the show, Jimena!” Hunt told her afterwards. “Thank you for representing the best of us.”
“I felt so relieved when it was over and that I’d had the chance to share a little about myself,” says Perez, now a sophomore studying real estate.
The story she shared with the audience detailed the way she came to love real estate: through the MKE CRE Summer High School Immersion Program, a weeklong, industry-focused camp for economically disadvantaged Milwaukee-area students. The camp is a partnership between the Vieth Institute and NAIOP Wisconsin. Perez attended the camp as a high school student and liked it so much that she not only came to Marquette to study real estate, but she also came back to the camp as a counselor.
“I’m a very hands-on person and I was a little bit all over the place on what I wanted to do in high school: physical therapy, real estate, maybe even paleontology,” Perez recalls. “I liked it way more than I expected because I loved talking to people and watching things grow.”
Commercial real estate is generally made up of people who look little like Perez. Only 6 percent of the American CRE workforce is Hispanic. Women also make up just over 36 percent of commercial real estate professionals, a figure that has not substantially improved over the past 15 years.
Learning about real estate through MKE CRE gave Perez a vital pathway to the industry through connections with like-minded people. Paloma Muro, a rising senior in the real estate program, was a counselor when Perez was in the camp and was crucial in her choice to attend Marquette.
“I don’t look like everyone here and that made me nervous at first, but not being afraid of trying new things and having an open mind got me to where I am right now.”
Jimena Perez, Marquette sophomore
“She did such a great job of making me feel welcome here at Marquette and I just want others to feel the same way, that they’re like us and that they can have these opportunities,” Perez says.
That sentiment is widespread among the guest speakers who chat with students over the course of the week.
“I’m often struck by the lack of diversity on a lot of the deal teams I’ve been a part of,” says Larry Whitley, a commercial real estate finance attorney at Northwestern Mutual. “I know people notice that I’m a Black attorney when I show up. Part of my calling is to make these deal teams more diverse, so I try to show up as an example of what you can be through education and intentional pursuit of your goals in life.”
“Many of these real estate projects that are being developed are happening in communities where these students live, so it’s really important to have them represented in the boardroom so they can be a part of the conversation about what that should look like,” says Jade Bolen, vice president of investor operations at MLG Capital, a real estate investment company headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Now that Perez is a counselor, she is guiding students through a week very similar to the one she experienced just a few years ago. The group toured the Deer District and Fiserv Forum, even meeting with former Milwaukee Bucks player Pat Connaughton, who founded his own real estate development company Three Leaf Partners. Students also got a look at St. James 1868, a Milwaukee wedding and event venue, as well as the Iron District, an area adjacent to the east side of campus where a new soccer stadium will be built.
Perez sees the group’s reaction to all of this and can’t help but think of her younger self.
“At first, they were so nervous and that was just like me in the beginning of the program,” Perez says. “But by the end of the week, they loosen up and they begin to ask more questions. I just want to let them know that I was in their shoes last year and I’m here to help.”
As for herself, Perez envisions working on developments that bring the community together. Perez interned at the Urban Ecology Center in high school. Seeing how the center convened people of all ages and economic backgrounds inspired her to get involved with projects that have the same focus. Her dream embodies her philosophy of being the change you want to see in the world.
“I don’t look like everyone here and that made me nervous at first, but not being afraid of trying new things and having an open mind got me to where I am right now,” Perez says.
