Cara Maisel

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

My name is Cara. I work in commercial Real Estate at Brixmor Property Group. Brixmor owns 400+ open air shopping centers across the United States. I work in the Financial Asset Management (FAM) department helping underwrite redevelopment projects, analyzing our current portfolio, and updating the portfolio for new projections. I was an urban studies major at a small liberal arts college and starting taking urban studies courses my first year. When I delved deeper into the field, I learned that I grew up in an area with a lot of changes to the urban landscape. This change was influenced and created by real estate developers. At that point on, I knew I wanted to work in Real Estate.

When you were a student, did you do anything outside of school to build skills or get knowledge that has helped your career?

I went to school that did not offer any business or real estate related courses. Instead, I created my own opportunities and/or took advantage of opportunities that I could enhance my skills. For example, I heard that having a know of finance and excel was important when entering my field. I took a free spring break course at my college to learn about finance and a weekend course learning about DCFs/Excel.

In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?

I get to spend my day analyzing data about the shopping centers we own! I mostly spend in Excel building cool formulas to summarize this data.

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are now professionally? How did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge was getting into my field. Most people prefer to give opportunities to people who've gone to business school. I went to a liberal arts school with absolutely no business courses and no career help in my field. I went to Wharton's RE career fair. I networked while there and landed my current role. Go to other school's career fairs if your school doesn't offer one in your field.

What is the most useful piece of career advice you got as a student, and who gave it to you?

The best career advice was from a RE developer who became a mentor. I met him coincidentally. He told me to work for a big company at the beginning of your career and gain the hardcore finance/underwriting skills.