EVERYTHING I’VE DONE (ALMOST)

brand boot camp
international story-telling
art + design education

I entered the commercial real estate field (on accident, & during the ‘08 financial crisis) as part of a newly-formed “brand” team charged with aligning the identities of multiple Portman companies and managing a comprehensive identity, built largely around the controversial architect and founder of Portman Holdings.

I initiated ongoing media relations activities and a website re-build. Under the leadership of Mickey Steinberg and Jarel Portman, I executed part or all of special projects including a High Museum-curated art exhibit and its subsequent tour through museums in China, publishing FORM, an art book depicting John Portman’s designs in detail, production of a documentary on the work of John Portman, and more.

During this time, I worked in Atlanta and New York, as well as Shanghai and Beijing, China and Venice, Italy.

intro to development
creating thought leaders
illustrating value

Portman Holdings, the 60-year-old development company was rebuilding following a leadership transition (to now CEO Ambrish Baisiwala) and major economic crisis. Working for John Portman, IV, I created fund documents (India Residential Real Estate Fund, converted to programmatic JV), and countless offering memorandums to capitalize developments in the US.

With a laser-focus on rebuilding credibility with institutional investors, I managed a media-centric thought leadership campaign, and ghost wrote several white papers and bylines. I handled multiple RFP pursuits for publicly-subsidized developments, property branding, and lease-up campaigns. This work spanned Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver, San Diego, Miami.

government
nonprofits
“normal” developers

CONSULTING

After seven years of work that built my interest in the business of the built environment, I was eager to learn more. Atlanta transformed from a “secondary city” according to institutional investors into a must-have destination for capital seeking our fast growth. New developers, challenges and trends were arriving daily.

I converted my previous role with Portman Holdings to a part-time, contract position and added clients that were infrastructure, foreign investors, governmental agencies, architects, other developers, and community leaders – which led to better understanding of their interconnected nature.

My commercial real estate experience and strong intuition for brand strategy bridged a gap between clients and creative collaborators that increased efficiency and efficacy in implementation.

multifamily crash course
extreme creativity
grad school & CFL

After reconnecting with a previous mentor, Jarel Portman, I joined his small multifamily development firm. The team tackled just one apartment development at a time, creating beautifully designed housing on sites other developers deemed impossible.

One such site in a historic neighborhood required a massive public outreach effort, followed by an even more massive infrastructure investment. Another, lilli Midtown (pictured), was built on 0.3-acre, made possible by a parking arrangement with an adjacent hotel.

While working full-time with JPX Works, I earned a Master’s degree in Commercial Real Estate from Georgia State University and completed Urban Land Institute’s Center for Leadership program.

disruption
innovation
leadership

I joined Southsource shortly after it was founded, intrigued by the mission to address inefficient systems and drastic disruption in real estate transactions. As a principal, I created a brand strategy completely outside of the traditional commercial real estate model. The two-pillar marketing program ran on transparency, education, and the vast potential of digital content and marketing.

Meanwhile, we partnered with software developers to create a bot for hybrid space planning, tapped into entirely new data sets to accelerate lease ups through audience targeting, teamed with architects to bring building owners AI-generated repositioning consultation, and more. We shared as much information as possible, intending to carve a path for others to follow as commercial transactions occurred more frequently outside broker networks.

Southsource was well-known in Atlanta for its innovation and experimentation, and we sold to Foundry Commercial after just 3 years of operation.