I went to a couple of job fairs, and I just ran into Prudential. So strangely enough, I've worked for the same company basically my entire career—doing a lot of different things, but the same blue rock has been on my business card since I got out of college. I really only intended to take this little gig for a couple of years and leave and go to law school, which had been my original plan. Somehow it didn't quite work out that way.

SOULTANA REIGLE: My situation was also accidental in terms of getting into real estate. I started right after college, and the opportunity was an excellent hybrid between the two major pockets of jobs that were available at the time, which were either quantitative investment-banking-type opportunities or management consulting. There's also a more tangible element to real estate; it is much more people-oriented and very relationship-based. That was really what drove that decision out of college.

AYGOREN: Commercial real estate has been and still is considered, to an extent, an old boys' club. And maybe not so much in your field as it is for development or especially commercial brokerage, but did you encounter any challenges that you would attribute to your gender, be it any sort of bias or people underestimating you?

ENGLISH DIXON: I've been in this business a lot longer than I care to admit, and I have to acknowledge that the industry's gone through a lot of changes in that time. I believe that my experience is probably impacted by both my ethnicity and my gender. Joining this industry in the early '80s as an African American female in the South was an interesting combination of things.

There were a lot of times when people were a little surprised when I showed up at meetings, not necessarily having met me before but having talked to me on the phone. Then suddenly I show up, and they're thinking maybe I should be somebody's admin assistant. It took being engaged and having support from the people I reported to that really allowed some of those surprised looks to at least be hidden better than they might have been initially.

But I do think that the industry still has a lot of challenges with respect to the advancement of women and taking some of the hurdles out of the way. CREW Network's done a lot of work on this looking at the advancement of women and pay and career satisfaction, and the objective feedback says that there is a gap there, that women are not ascending to the top levels in parity to their representation and experience in the industry.

REIGLE: I've always been on the investment management side, so I have not personally experienced it. But men tend to dominate the industry, and as a result, there is by the nature of numbers, an imbalance that exists. What we've determined internally as well, when we have discussions regarding gender in the industry, is that some of what people may perceive as a gender bias, an old boys' club, is a little more generational. As you get a new generation of leaders, that whole gender bias will continue to improve, just because it's out of the network now.

AYGOREN: Some say that women get in their own way, and especially in a business like commercial real estate, where you may have to be aggressive. Do you think that's just a general stereotype or is there some validity to it?

ENGLISH DIXON: There are probably a couple of drawbacks that are perceived to be challenges globally for women. I don't think every woman falls into this category, and there are many young women who are probably far better at handling this than prior generations, but it's important to be engaged in doing the things that make you known, that are creating your own brand, and not thinking that putting your nose to the grindstone and getting it done is enough.

REIGLE: As important as crunching those numbers at your desk, or reading that last research report, is hearing about real-time data points on what's going on in the market and in being able to brainstorm and bounce ideas off of people, whether in a social or business setting. The advantages this kind of networking can offer are sometimes underestimated by some women.

AYGOREN: Conversely, do you think women bring something more or at least different to the table than men when it comes to doing business in this field?

ENGLISH DIXON: Women seem to have stronger team-building and collaborative working styles. That can be very beneficial to many aspects of this business and should not be suppressed by trying to maintain an individualistic approach to being successful.

I also think that women are really great at developing relationships, and the kind of emotional intelligence that appears to be a more female, as opposed to male, characteristic is something that can be incredibly beneficial in this business, especially when you have to interface with clients and partners.

REIGLE: To add to that, we view communication as a very fundamental quality in order to be successful. That's on a lot of different levels, whether it's within your team or your company or within the industry itself.

AYGOREN: Can you tell me what you two admire about each other?

ENGLISH DIXON: I've had an interesting relationship with Soultana, because we've never been in the same office, but we can always pick up the phone and catch up with each other very quickly. And I've always found Soultana to be very engaging and very warm but also very bright, very incisive, very decisive and just supportive.

REIGLE: When I look at Collete, she's obviously had a very successful career at PREI, and I think she is a very courageous person personally, but also professionally. We're a New-Jersey-based company that has several regional offices, and our Chicago office is a smaller regional office, but that has never been a disadvantage for Colette. She is extremely well known, both internally and externally, and she's giving back to her industry in terms of her involvement with CREW and ULI.

And I also say I have a very deep level of trust with Collete. I think we've built up a great relationship over the years.

AYGOREN: So it sounds like you two weren't exactly in a mentor/mentee relationship, but can you tell me about your experiences in terms of mentorship?

REIGLE: When I look back at the beginning of my career, it's why I had such a great experience in that first job and what kept me on this track. It's because I had amazing people to learn from and who were supportive and taught me.

ENGLISH DIXON: I can't honestly say that I've had a career filled with mentors. I probably had a couple early on, but I have benefited by creating ad hoc mentor opportunities by using the great network of women that I've managed to get to know through my career and reaching out to them, but not on a consistent or formal basis.

So I guess in some respects, it has been a more casual mentorship opportunity for me, but I'd like to think that in addition to mentorship, it's even more important to identify a sponsor. Mentoring is a wonderful thing, and Soultana and I both do it for a lot of people in and out of the industry, but the real key to moving forward is to not just have mentors, but to develop that sponsor relationship with someone who is willing to put their political capital on the line to help you move ahead. Those are harder to develop and I don't know that I have done that well.

AYGOREN: What do you think are the biggest changes that have happened over your career?

REIGLE: Well technology is huge, right? It's the real-time nature of the business versus that one- or two-day delay that you might have had when we first started. The pace is much faster than it was, and there are definitely more players in the industry today and many different buyers and sellers in the market.

ENGLISH DIXON: The acceptance of commercial real estate as a true investment class versus some alternative investment, which has given it a whole different gravitas, has really been a huge transition. But also it's been great from my perspective to see an increasing diversity of participants in the industry on all levels.

FAST FACTS

What are you reading right now?
REIGLE: Carry On, Warriors, by Glennon Melton. It talks a lot about her experiences being a mother and a friend in her 40s, and it's something that I completely relate to. It's a really great reality check.
ENGLISH DIXON: I'm finally reading Gone Girl.

Favorite movie?
ENGLISH DIXON: The Wizard of Oz.
REIGLE: Pride & Prejudice. The modern version, though.

Food you'd eat every day if you could?
ENGLISH DIXON: French fries. Anything with French fries.
REIGLE: I like all Greek food. With French fries.

Desert island must-have?
ENGLISH DIXON: A case of Pinot Noir.
REIGLE: Bug spray.
ENGLISH DIXON: And sun block.

One thing most people don't know about you?
ENGLISH DIXON: When I was in junior high school I sang in a choir that sang with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall in Cleveland.
REIGLE: I speak fluent Greek.