The heads of a Kansas City collaborative geared toward boosting women in real estate have taken to the digital airwaves to reach a wider audience.
WIRED KC — Women in Real Estate Development — this year launched a podcast meant to spotlight how different female developers, brokers and investors rose within the male-dominated industry, plus their experiences and lessons learned along the way.
The show represents WIRED's latest initiative to foster mentorship among women in real estate, ranging from younger aspiring investors to commercial real estate professionals looking to transition across different practice areas.
WIRED was founded in 2017 as an informal organization by Audrey Navarro, managing partner of Clemons Real Estate, and Sheryl Vickers, owner of real estate firm Select Sites LLC.
"We decided we were going to launch WIRED to be the mentors we wish we had in the Kansas City market," Vickers said during a recent podcast episode. "We wanted to intentionally create a group that would've changed the trajectory of our careers had we had it in our early years."
Now, Navarro said WIRED holds monthly happy hour and coffee gatherings, and has an ongoing goal for members to collectively purchase one new property per year. A committee evaluates potential acquisitions not just for strong investment opportunities but potential community impact projects.
In late 2018, 22 WIRED members acquired their first property, a small retail building west of the Country Club Plaza.
Navarro told the Kansas City Business Journal that the group's members also were better able to weather the Covid-19 storm last year through idea-sharing about area of real estate focus.
"I think a lot of people were able to rally together quickly to collectively solve problems that they were experiencing in their sector of the industry," she said.
Launching a podcast
The idea for the WIRED podcast emerged from conversations between the group's founders and Nooshin Shahlari, an emerging real estate investor and current podcast host.
Navarro said the podcast medium serves as an informal alternative to real estate industry events or luncheons, particularly for younger women facing time constraints early in their careers. The episodes also have the potential to resonate with listeners beyond city boundaries.
"I feel like this is an opportunity for us to cast a wider net outside of just the Kansas City market, to invite and inspire other women across a much larger geography to participate and collaborate with us," she said.
The WIRED KC podcast is available on the Audible and Spotify websites.
