An interview with Rita Ellison, Associate Director at T. Dallas Smith & Company.
In this episode of CREWcast, Wendy Mann interviews Rita Ellison, Associate Director at T. Dallas Smith & Company.
Narrator (00:01):
Welcome to Crew Cast, the Crew Network podcast that features top thought leaders in commercial real estate shares important industry insight and inspires change.
Wendy Mann (00:10):
Welcome to our Crew Cast leadership series, which profiles commercial real estate professionals at all stages of their careers across diverse disciplines and roles in the industry. Today I have the good fortune of speaking with Rita Ellison, associate director at t Dallas Smith and Company out of Atlanta. Welcome, Rita.
Rita Ellison (00:30):
Thank you, Wendy. It's a pleasure to be here.
Wendy Mann (00:33):
Well, I'm excited to talk with you. Rita and I, we first met back in 2023 at the very first Emerging Leaders program, and it was such a pleasure to meet Rita, and one of the things I always recall about that moment is she was both vibrant and forthcoming about sharing how she experienced the program. So we wanted to talk with you about being an emerging leader, but actually when I think about it, you've been in the industry for more than 10 years now. Can you tell us a little bit about that, your career path to t, Dallas, Smith and Company, as well as your educational background, and then maybe give us an idea what's a typical day for an associate director at t Dallas Smith?
Rita Ellison (01:16):
Sure, sure. Well, let me start by saying a typical day in my role is exciting. It's amazing and it's fun. But before I dive into that, let me tell you a little bit more about how I started my journey. I started my career about 13 years ago as an intern with this very same firm during my junior year of college at Georgia State University. Upon graduating with a real estate degree, I was very eager to work for a larger firm, so I took a position at CoStar, which was another great experience, allowing me to further learn the market. After CoStar, I went on to gain more experience at larger firms like JLL, but I've been back with T Dial Smith now a little over two years, and it's proven to be the best decision I've made for my journey. There isn't a typical day in my role. Every day brings something new and something exciting. Outside of client focus activities to close deals, A huge part of my role is involved studying the market, prospecting, of course, networking and making the necessary connections to win new businesses.
Wendy Mann (02:19):
People grow up saying, I want to be a doctor, I want to be a police officer, or I want to be a dentist. But rarely do people say I want to grow up and be a commercial real estate. How did you come to choose that career path and then the education path to even begin with? Was there someone that influenced you or inspired you?
Rita Ellison (02:40):
Absolutely. I can attest my inspiration to my father. I remember probably being at the age of around four years old, my father always invested in residential real estate. So right next to our family home, we had a quadplex that my father rented to some tenants around the age of four. He would have me go buy there and collect the rent money, and I remember being very young coming back home with these huge envelopes and feeling like the richest kid on the block. So I guess we could stay. Wendy, at a very young age, I associated real estate with money and I like having the feeling of having money should be told. Fast
Wendy Mann (03:23):
Forward. It's a great story
Rita Ellison (03:25):
I think.
Wendy Mann (03:26):
So you were the rent collector on your street. Good for you.
Rita Ellison (03:29):
I was and I was also the accountant. I remember my dad would me to count all the money. Of course, I skipped numbers and mysteriously I would get to a million and be like, wow, I'm rich. So fast forward as an adult, starting my education at Georgia State University, when I found out that there was a real estate program, I was instantly attracted to it. I remember going to the real estate department and meeting Dr. Allen Zor broski, who became a huge mentor of mine. I just kindly asked him, what can a real estate degree do for me? My family, my mom and my uncles at the time were not too fond of me having a real estate degree. I vividly remember my mom telling me that she didn't bring me to America to sell houses, and I thought to myself, well, okay, this is going to be interesting. So I shared this with my mentor at the time, Dr. Roski, and the only thing that he had for me was, do you see this building right there? And he pointed out of a building outside of his office, which is one-on-one Marietta, where T Dial Smith and companies actually headquartered. He said, about 10 years ago, a student in my class sat in my class today. He now owns this building. At the time, the building was owned by Scott Jackson. That story alone sealed the deal for me. I was like, okay. Oh my
Wendy Mann (04:49):
Gosh, Rita, that gave me chills, that story. That's wild.
Rita Ellison (04:53):
True story, Wendy. True story. But that in itself still the deal for me. He then followed up with a piece of paper that pretty much had all the different career paths that she could have with a real estate degree. He gave me that to take home to my family, and once I got home, I told my mother, I don't care what you say, I'm majoring in commercial real estate. That was the end of it.
Wendy Mann (05:17):
Wow. That is a great story. Hopefully Mama has come around since then.
Rita Ellison (05:22):
Oh, she has apologized so many times. I still hold her over head. Of course. Not that
Wendy Mann (05:27):
She needs to apologize, Rita, but just, I mean, I don't think my parents knew what I did for like 20 years, so I get it.
Rita Ellison (05:36):
Her defense, she only apologized for trying to steer me into a different direction. Oh, okay. But she loves, loves and supports my journey to the fullest. Yeah,
Wendy Mann (05:45):
I'm sure. I'm sure she's super proud of you. So given that what you've been through and how that sort of landed with your family, friends, and non extended family, what advice would you give other young women who are starting out in their careers about how to think about where they're going? And some of the first steps you made were some very significant companies going from CoStar to JLL really broadening your horizons. What's some advice you might give young women who are starting out in their real estate careers right now?
Rita Ellison (06:19):
First of all, this industry is one that where many women are underrepresented. So for any young woman looking to enter the commercial real estate industry, the first thing I would say, do it. Absolutely do it. But above it all, educate yourself. It's so much easier to be confident when you're competent. I would say be intentional in your networking. Have a personal board of advisor that mentors and supports you. Be resilient. This is a tough industry. You need some tough skin. Don't be afraid to advocate for yourself and most importantly, stay curious and continue to learn.
Wendy Mann (07:00):
That is great wisdom. That is really wonderful. And I love what you said. You're more confident when you're extremely competent. A hundred percent agree with that. I just really great advice, all of that. Thank you. Thank you for that wisdom. Shifting our focus a little bit now to your time in crew. You've been a Crew network and crew Atlanta member for about two years now. What has been your experience, what's it been like and how has the organization impacted your career? I know you and I first met at the Emerging Leaders Retreat and since then you've moved on, but Crew is now in your blood, right? I meanly came to Atlanta Convention right after we met, so I know that you had a great opportunity to experience the full force of what Crew can really be for any woman in the industry.
Rita Ellison (07:51):
Wendy, as you know, I'm a huge, huge advocate of career as a whole career network, career Atlanta. It has been an incredibly rewarding and impactful journey in my career. Being part of such a dynamic and supportive community has provided me with and valuable opportunities not only for networking, but professional development and mentorship for Crew. I've been able to connect with a diverse range of professionals in the commercial real estate industry. I've been able to forge meaningful relationships with amazing women in addition to expanding my professional network. And these connections honestly have opened doors to new business opportunities, collaborations, and just knowledge share about industry insights and best practices. I have nothing but remarkable things to say about Crew as a whole. It's an incredible organization and I I've enjoyed a journey as a whole.
Wendy Mann (08:48):
Now we have our Emerging leaders. You've been to that program. We have the next ones coming up in I believe May of this year. And I would just be curious if you could talk a little bit about what that experience was like for you, what you came away from that with and how it's impacted you and where you are today.
Rita Ellison (09:12):
First of all, it's a women who are considering participating or planning to participate in Emerging Leaders Retreat. Our wholeheartedly encourage you to seize the opportunity. The retreat provides you with supportive and empowering environment where you can connect with like-minded individuals who are navigating similar career path or facing similar challenges. It also provides you with a platform for networking, mentorship, collaboration, enabling you to build meaningful relationships. I mean, Wendy, I still talk to you more than a handful of the women that I met in San Antonio last year. We have created, we're talking about traveling together for God's sakes. Okay, one, two of them just had a baby and
Wendy Mann (09:56):
That's great.
Rita Ellison (09:57):
They have gone,
Wendy Mann (09:57):
It creates a bond, right? I mean there's a bond there after two and a half days together. You all were so incredibly bonded over the experience.
Rita Ellison (10:06):
Absolutely, and as a whole, it's a fantastic, fantastic program that sets you up even for leadership. As I mentioned to you earlier, I think I appreciate the fact that I did the Emerging Leaders Retreat first, and now I'm in the leadership program. It just sets you up to the next thing. So again, I'm the biggest cheerleader for the Emerging Leaders Retreat. Absolutely.
Wendy Mann (10:34):
Rita, I'm going to mention something. I don't know if you'll remember this or not, but I do remember on the second day of the program you coming up to me and saying, I need to talk to you about something. Yes. Do
Rita Ellison (10:43):
You remember that? Absolutely.
Wendy Mann (10:46):
What I love about that, you came up to me and you said, well, we need to do something about this. And I said, what the lack of color, women of color in the room. You said, well, that and the lack of women of color speakers, and I just want to call that out because I appreciated that about you. That number one, you had the confidence to come to me and address that, and it's something that we work on all the time and we're in a work in progress like other organizations, but we're very committed to it. But I just wanted to honor that you came to me and said that because it really mattered to me that you had the courage and the fortitude to, as an emerging leader in this program, to just come up to me and say, here's what you need to do. And again, I just wanted to honor you by saying thanks for sharing that because some people will be upset about it or concerned about it, but they don't speak it.
Rita Ellison (11:37):
Thank you for receiving that. The truth is, the first time that I joined Crew was easily over 10 years ago, and Crew is not what it is today. So I recognize all the work that you guys have done for Crew to be what it is today. And Crew that I knew 10 years ago was not diverse. Matter of fact, I think I was the youngest person in the room and the only woman of color in the room, and today that's not the case. The Atlanta chapter is incredibly diverse, and so there's so many other chapters DC in the list goes on. So I recognize the effort and the work that Crew as an organization has put towards this and I appreciate it. So again, thank you for even receiving my feedback. It means the world.
Wendy Mann (12:24):
It meant a lot to me too. And I like that you say that because one of the things that, as you know, our convention, it was in Atlanta last year and we had the most diverse audience and speakers ever for convention. And I cannot tell you how many people came up to me and from Atlanta, but also from around the country and said, I don't know what you're doing, but we're seeing the results of it. And I said, we've embraced this and we've committed to it. And honestly, I want Crew to be a place where everyone feels like they belong.
Rita Ellison (12:58):
Absolutely. And
Wendy Mann (12:58):
I think our experiences enriched and our world changes by having that diversity and representation throughout our organization. So I just mentioned that because it was a really important moment for me with you at that time. So we talked a little bit about your advice for emerging leaders and you were very eloquent about it. Looking back on what you've accomplished, could you just give us an idea of one or two lessons learned that you would share with people? Take your time and think about it, but one or two lessons learned and who did you learn them from? Was it a mentor, was it a boss? Was it a peer? And share that story with us. What happened? How did it change you? Or even if it didn't change you, but it made you aware of something that you didn't see before
Rita Ellison (13:57):
This occurred probably, actually definitely during my junior year of college, before I started working as an intern at TL Smith and Company, I was interviewing around various firms. I'm not going to mention any particular name, but this is a very reputable firm. My mentor at the time got me an interview with the CEO, who happens to be his best friend and neighbor. On my way to the interview, the hood of my car flew open on the HOV lane. Nothing bad happened, didn't die, obviously I'm still here, but I was very flustered on the way to the interview. So I pulled over on the right side and the shoulder and I remember finding a piece of a shoer on the ground and I took that and I tied it up, made sure my hood was secure, and I'm like, I'm going to make it to this interview, so help me, God,
Wendy Mann (14:52):
You MacGyver your car back together,
Rita Ellison (14:55):
Iver my car back to life. I made it to the interview. I made it to the interview, extremely flustered, Wendy, and one of the very first questions, the CEO, he sat down with me in this boardroom and I was very intimidated as a young college student. I believe I was probably 22 at the time or 21, and he starts asking me some personal questions just to understand how prepared I was for the interview. But the questions that he asked me were very unusual. They were very personal. Hey Rita, do you know if I have any kids? You go to Georgia State, do you know if I have any kids? I thought to myself, no. He was like, what if I told you my kid, my kids go to Georgia State University. They may be in your class. Not thought to myself. Interesting. If you had to guess my favorite sport, what would you say it is?
(15:55):
I thought to myself, I dunno, basketball, football. He was like, it's golf, Wendy. Long story short, he asked me a series of very personal questions, not so personal. These are Googleable questions at the end of the day, but the lesson that I learned is he was trying to understand what research I had done to be prepared for this interview. The reality is I got this interview from his best friend, also neighbor, so it was kind of handed to me. It was a favor that he was doing from his friend at the time, but he didn't want me to take this favor for granted. It was a very unusual way
Wendy Mann (16:35):
About it,
Rita Ellison (16:37):
But it taught me a very, very, very important lesson. Always be prepared, and this is the same approach that I take with my clients when I'm prospecting on a project in a market. I go out of my way to over prepare. So now unfortunately, I'll even go to the extent of knowing where is this person from? Do they have any kids? Where do the kids attend college? What's their favorite sport? And over-prepared has never failed me. Rather than being under-prepared,
Wendy Mann (17:16):
I have to say, Rita, it's so interesting you bring that up because that is one of the things I noticed when I started working at Crew. My board members were always definitely over-prepared for board meetings, and even when we started talking about them going to do a client visit, they would talk to me about how they prepared and it's one of the things I recognized is that over preparing means you can overdeliver. And what a great lesson for this man to teach you at such a young age, young. It's such a joy to talk with you and to hear your story. Thank you for sharing such great wisdom with our audience, and I am thrilled to hear about your leadership journey and keep me posted. I'd like to hear from Rita Ellison 2.0 at the end of the year on yes, what you going to be.
(18:08):
You are flourishing wherever you are, girl. But I'm just saying I think there's going to be some good learning coming out of this year for you and I'm so happy for you. Go forth and conquer. Just keep doing what you're doing and you will continue to flourish. Some of you may not know this, but I just found out Rita is French speaking as her first language, right, Rita? Correct. And so I just wanted to test out some of, I've been trying to work on my French, and so I want to say to Rita, perfect accent, thank you.