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Building a table

Osby joins Sara Hopkins team as effort to create more balanced culture for women CRE professionals continues

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Heather Osby has joined the Sara Hopkins Real Estate Team as senior commercial real estate associate, joining Abi Reland who became the firm’s president of commercial real estate in 2024.

Osby’s addition is part of what Reiland describes as her effort to build a table that will have seats for other women who are seeking a culture that will allow them to pursue their careers in commercial real estate while trying to balance their home life.

Osby, 42, is a married mother of three boys, and found the appeal of working in a more flexible, understanding environment a draw when she decided to join Reiland.

She previously worked in residential real estate and said she was looking to transition to another role now that her children are a little older, and found a good fit working with Reiland, whom she described as a friend.

“I was trying to find what’s right for right now that also has this trajectory that we can really build and grow over time,” Osby said. “It’s a long game I think we’re trying to play here.”

Joining Reiland at the all-female Sara Hopkins Real Estate team provides an opportunity for the career growth she’s seeking while also being able to better fulfill her responsibilities as a mom, said Osby, who officially joined the team in early September, becoming just the second person at the company dedicated to commercial real estate.

She said there remains a gap in understanding in the real estate industry that can create challenges for women.

“There is this feeling inside from a professional standpoint that I have a lot to give here, I have a lot of my own personal goals that I want to be able to achieve, but I also want to be a good mom,” Osby said. “So just being around women who feel that, because it’s a push and pull, and you never find that right balance, but I do think when you’re around people who feel that, too, there is a sense, a calmness of understanding.”

Reiland said Osby is a natural fit for her team, which she expects to continue to grow over time.

“She’s not the conventional choice, but neither was I, but she’s well networked, she understands real estate in a general sense, and she’s so smart and involved in the community,” Reiland said. “It’s just a good fit.”

Osby said she initially has some apprehension about the transition into commercial real estate.

“It’s a whole different world,” she said. “It’s learning the x’s and o’s of how you price property, how do you do a market analysis on a commercial property? I always want to maintain my integrity and make sure I am the best person for the job.”

Osby said her past career experiences in real estate will lend her well in her new role, but gives credit to Reiland for showing her the ropes along the way.

“The ability to be with her and to learn through [her], she’s cc’d me in on every email, and I’m reading and taking notes and asking questions,” Osby said. “I don’t know that I would be confident to go this direction if I didn’t have her to help me learn all the pieces.

“I have the marketing piece of it, and I just need to sit back and be a beginner for a little bit and be comfortable being uncomfortable not knowing everything and know that it will come,” Osby said.

Reiland said she sees the growth opportunity in Osby and the team she wants to continue building as well as the culture she wants to foster for women in commercial real estate.

“It may start small and slow but I think we can snowball into something really fantastic,” Reiland said. “I think that will align with our stage of life.”

She said it’s important to her to build a team that can be understanding and supportive of women who have families and provide a space where they can be successful at work as well as at home.

Reiland said the industry culture of needing to be available 24/7 is hard to sustain and can be exhausting.

“And for me, personally, that’s not how I want to live, professionally or personally,” said Reiland, a mother to a 12-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son.

That led her to her effort to create a different environment at the Sara Hopkins Team. Reiland likens it to building a table that has room for like-minded women in the high-demand, high-stress industry.

“I don’t want it to just be my table,” she said. “I want it to be a community table, a support system that is positive, that is understanding and that is hard working, ambitious, intelligent. All of that is so important. I think you can build a really cool thing when you start from scratch.”

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Michael Crumb

Michael Crumb is a senior staff writer at Business Record. He covers real estate and development and transportation.

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