Meet Stephanie.
She’s a yogi, chef, Jew and a total and complete badass.
At 25-years-old, Stephanie manages 40 employees in the commercial real estate field. What was supposed to be a headshot photo session turned into a Soul Chat for my blog because I was so inspired by Stephanie’s humility and bravery. Learn more about her below.
Name: Stephanie Kardon Weber • Age: 25 • Hometown: Bryn Mawr, PA • Profession: Account Manager and Head of Research
What do the Institutional Advisory Group and the Targeted Acquisition Services team do?
My business partner, Bruce, started the Institutional Advisory Group in 2012. The two of us kind of divide our time 50/50 between that and the Targeted Acquisition Services.
Organizations that acquire real estate for their portfolios typically have a team called an acquisitions team. What we noticed, though, is that a lot of these companies spend their time focusing on what comes in instead of looking for new opportunities.
So we said, “ok, we can be your outsourced acquisitions team.” [The client] pays a monthly retainer and then we take the amount from the retainer and subtract it from our commission fee. It gives us the ability to pay cold callers up front and researchers and whatever else we need to make the process move forward.
And that’s what we call Targeted Acquisition Services. A key difference is that we source all off market opportunities —nothing that you see listed; [it’s] a privately organized sale to large institutions that have huge acquisitions, pension funds, private equity firms, etc. Everyone wants an off-market opportunity because they want to be the only person at the table– and they’ll pay a premium to be the only person at the table. Since it’s inception, we have spread to a lot of smaller institutions like family offices and private investors as well.
What is your day-to-day like?
I get up around 5:30 and do yoga. (I’ll plug Yoga now—they’re awesome.)
I have to start my day with exercise, or sometimes I go at noon, but otherwise I’ll go crazy. I think getting up early and not wasting that beautiful precious time is so key.
Photo provided by Stephanie, photographed by @templemb.
And then I answer a bunch of emails before people start “bothering” me— that’s the goal.
I have a weekly to-do list that Bruce and I both have access to; it’s side by side. We can put things in each other’s [to do list] and it’s organized by every day and it actually really helps. It makes it easy to get through the day and get to do everything I need to do.
In the middle of the day, I take a mid-day walk just to clear my mind. I go to some lunch meetings, breakfast meetings, coffee meetings, events at night— I try to go to 2-3 networking events per week. You just have to turn it into a game, it becomes a game. And then I probably stop working honestly around 9:30, 10 at night.
Bruce and I work six days a week but we always take Shabbos.
What sparked your interest in commercial real estate?
My dad did a lot of development work when I was a kid and I was always around it. He built a medical school in Costa Rica, he did a lot with a hotel in a New York. It was always something I was associated with and found interesting and he always asked for my opinion. I was so excited because I was 7 years old and someone cared what I had to say. So he really invited that interest in me, but I never knew that it was actually a field until after college.
Photo provided by Stephanie
When I first graduated, I worked as a political consultant. It was kind of my own business because people hired me on a retainer basis to help with their campaign and fundraising. I learned early on that I was not a great employee and I should really just keep doing what I’m doing.
When I moved to Chicago a few years later, I started working for Cook County. That was when I waved my white flag with politics and said, “Absolutely not. Never again.”
I was really lost because I didn’t know what I was going to next. I was in a relationship where the person was encouraging but also as long as I never exceeded his level. And that made things really…great.
I started meeting people who said they worked in commercial real estate and yeah, a lot of them were brokers but there’s so much more to it than what you would imagine. So I went into a Caldwell Banker Commercial office and I asked how to get my broker’s license.
Photo provided by Stephanie
I started looking into it because it was a skill I could rely on. I was like, “OK, at least I can make money and not dip into my savings.” While I was getting started in real estate, I started working with a nutritionist, and I delivered meals, you know, this and that. And it helped pave the way for me. It helped me keep afloat while I was putting my foot in the grass with commercial real estate.
About 6 months after I started in real estate, I met my current business partner, Bruce, and it was really fortuitous in a lot of ways. I was really in the right place at the right time and on a great path, too.
What motivates you?
My business partner, Bruce, is probably my biggest cheerleader. It’s so great because, other than my family, it’s really weird to have someone who unconditionally supports you and really wants you to succeed. And yeah, to an extent you could say it’s selfish but it’s not for him.
Having someone who believes in you and your abilities is the greatest motivation that you could ask for. Sometimes it’s weird working for someone who believes in you more than you do. It’s like, “Me? Really? Are you sure?” So I’m constantly trying to prove that he made the right choice. I’m starting to believe it, too.
What advice would you give to others?
I’ve never taken a business course in my life. As soon as I started getting into real estate, I went on to Wharton, Penn’s Business School’s, website and downloaded all the syllabi and then I ordered all the books. I started reading through all of them— I haven’t finished. But it’s cheap grad school. People should do that.
I feel real insecure that I’ve never taken a business course but if I can do it, anyone can do it. It’s pretty incredible the resources that we have and if you’re open to learning, you will learn.
What advice would you have given to yourself six months ago?
I think my advice is to really evaluate and to feel comfortable knowing exactly who you are. Six months ago, I ended a relationship and I have grown more since then than I have ever grown at any other point in my life. It feels really exponential.
I think the only way you’ll ever be able to benefit yourself or the world or your company is to be aware of what you offer and what you have to grow on. Even now, I can give you a huge list of things I need to do to better myself, but I’m aware of them. And that’s the first step to making any change. Just that, and keep your eyes and heart open and you never know what’s going to come around.
Why do you take Shabbos?
I was raised Reconstructionist and was told that Judaism was more of a culture than a religion. I think to see it as one and not the other, you’re really belittling the beauty that is Judaism. It is not one thing, it is everything, it is all encompassing.
For me, my religious journey and spiritual journey really began after I left my ex who was not religious. I had gone to more religious Shabboses with him and, I kind of used his negative perspective to look at everything.
In the past couple of months, I started reading a lot and there’s one book called “Letters of the Scroll”by Jonathan Sacks and it totally changed my life.
I think that it’s kind of an act of self-love to take Shabbos. To say, “look, I’m not going work for 24 hours. I’m going to do exactly what I want to do and nothing more.”
To me, I’m not really a cool 25-year-old and I don’t really go out and get drunk and do all these things that you’re supposed to. But when you go to a Shabbos dinner and you’re around like-minded people— the praying is a very limited part of it. It’s more about the community aspect and feeling that type of love and acceptance, it’s so calming. It’s like pushing the restart button on your computer every week. And it really makes a big difference.
It’s like pushing the restart button on your computer every week. And it really makes a big difference.
I think everyone should take time, whether it’s on Shabbos or a five-minute morning meditation just thinking like, “what did I do yesterday and how can I be a better person tomorrow than I was today?” That to me is success. Little steps make a big difference.
Have you had any recent ‘AHA’ moments that this career path was right for you?
I had a great one on Friday. I went to a more religious Shabbos in West Rogers Park and I was with a friend of mine who became more religious. We were talking and I was telling her that sometimes people think this job was handed to me and in a lot of ways it was. I always want to prove that this is a place where I deserve to be. And it’s really hard being in a field where you’re one of the very few women, and then everyone is typically 50-years or older with a ton of experience.
I was in a meeting last year with a woman and two men (one being Bruce) and every time I said something this woman would tell me, “oh you’re a baby, you don’t know.” So you not only get that kind of negativity from men, but you get it from women. And so, for me, it’s really important to give back to the other women in our commercial real estate community.
I was kind of telling my friend about all of these feelings I was having and she said to me, “Stephanie, g-d put you here and g-d put you here for reason. You’re going to be a pillar of your community. You’re being given a lot so that you can give back a lot. This is what g-d knows.”
And I was like, “Oh my G-d. You’re right!”
Not just financially, but I definitely give back a lot of my time and my energy. I agree, I see it. I think G-d put me here to do something great and I don’t know what it is but I feel really confident about it. I’m going to make my difference, little, big…It doesn’t matter. I’m here and I have a purpose.
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