Robin Zeigler is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Cedar Realty Trust, overseeing operations, management, and redevelopment of the company's grocery-anchored shopping centers and mixed-use redevelopment properties in high density urban markets.

Robin Zeigler. Courtesy Photo

What has been your biggest challenge or obstacle as a women in your particular role? How have you overcome those obstacles? My biggest obstacle as a women executive in the Commercial Real Estate space is lack of access to the important conversations and deal-making opportunities that I would be privy to if I were a man. Real estate is a relationship business, and that relationship-making often happens on golf courses, in bars and at events to which women are often not readily invited. You can force the issue, but it's awkward. Over the years I have learned to forge my own relationships in my own way and in my own space. One can query whether it is as effective, but one has to deal with the cards with which they are dealt.