In today's episode, Ra'eesa and I talk about what's happening in the industrial space right now in Minneapolis. Ra'eesa is a shining example of someone who followed her heart and ended up exactly where she was meant to be. After attending medical school with the hopes of becoming a doctor, Ra'eesa found her true passion in multifamily real estate. And now, she's thriving in the industrial space. My favorite part of today's episode was Ra'eesa's advice on creating your own personal board of advisors to connect with in hard situations.
Welcome back to the She’s Wild Podcast hosted by Nancy Surak! Today’s guest is Ra’eesa Motala, Vice President at Rokos Advisors. As an Industrial and Corporate Solutions broker, Ra’eesa is responsible for providing her clients with transparent and measurable results for their commercial real estate solutions. Her ability to work in multi-markets has provided her with vast knowledge and experience within the industrial sector and given her clients insight into how their businesses could benefit by being positioned in developing cities that offer the best incentive packages, access to robust supply chain routes, cost savings, and growth opportunities. Ra’eesa’s tenacious nature and creative ability allow her to find effective and creative ways to solve problems that keep clients up at night.
In today's episode, Ra'eesa and I talk about what's happening in the industrial space right now in Minneapolis. Ra'eesa is a shining example of someone who followed her heart and ended up exactly where she was meant to be. After attending medical school with the hopes of becoming a doctor, Ra'eesa found her true passion in multifamily real estate. And now, she's thriving in the industrial space. My favorite part of today's episode was Ra'eesa's advice on creating your own personal board of advisors to connect with in hard situations. I think we all need a few people like that in our lives - people who we can turn to for honest feedback and sage wisdom. Thank you, Ra'eesa, for sharing your story and your insights with us today.
Memorable Moments:
9:32- Every person that I pitch to is going to remember me after they hear a pitch from all of these guys. And a lot of them are fantastic but I just had this kind of mentality and attitude that if they could do it, I could find a way to do it better and be more memorable doing it. So that's why I jumped into industrial real estate.
15:02- A big part of my job outside of identifying organizations' real estate as a whole is really kind of helping them build their people and their culture. You know, if you don't believe in the people and the culture, then the real estate is not going to work, no matter what you do.
19:02- I would say that on the industrial side, it's still full steam ahead. And from what we can tell, we don't have, knock on wood, a lot of our clients saying hit pause or slow down anything they're doing. They are saying let's start planning and making sure we get ahead of this because we don't want to be in a situation like they were two, three years ago, where we thought we were, you know, pacing ourselves and we fell behind and we fell behind pretty quickly and hard.
32:20- Of the mentees that I have right now, I think some of the advice that I have given them is that, you know, I went through this, and I dealt with a lot, as a woman and as a woman of color. And just because I went through, it doesn't mean that they need to go through it, it's my job to make it easier for them. And it's their job to then make it easier for the women that come after them.
33:37- Your perspective is not always the best perspective. And you really have to find those who have gone through different opportunities, whether they failed or succeeded to be able to understand what your next move is.
Connect with Nancy:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nancysurak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancysurak/
Website: www.nancysurak.com
Connect with Ra’eesa
Website: https://raeesamotala.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raeesamotala/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raeesam/
Ra’eesa’s Podcast Recommendation:
Atomic Habits
https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299
Fanatical Prospecting
https://www.amazon.com/Fanatical-Prospecting-Conversations-Leveraging-Telephone/dp/1119144752/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3JBCTN1DUFT5Z&keywords=fanatical+prospecting&qid=1663619989&s=books&sprefix=finatical+prospecting%2Cstripbooks%2C65&sr=1-1
The Future is Faster Than You Think
https://www.amazon.com/Future-Faster-Than-You-Think/dp/B07TSQF4RX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=293JD8SVNMCIF&keywords=The+Future+is+Faster+Than+You+Think&qid=1663620019&s=books&sprefix=the+future+is+faster+than+you+think%2Cstripbooks%2C72&sr=1-1
She's WILD Sound Production by:
Luke Surak, Surak Productions: surakproductions@gmail.com
Nancy Surak 00:00
Welcome to She's Wild, the podcast for women and land in development. I'm your host, Nancy Surak. I created this podcast as a way to collect conversations of women in the land and development industry. I've been a land broker on the west coast of Florida for nearly 20 years. And I love to empower other women and to tell them about this amazing industry. But I find often that there just aren't enough women being featured on big stages, whether that's at local conferences, or nationally. So I set out to find these women myself that are killing it in my business across North America that are changing the communities that they live in every single day, whether they're building condos, multifamily, single family, office, or industrial projects. I hope that you will find this space to be inspirational, motivating, and educational. From time to time, I will feature women who are not only in my business, but also career coaches, and motivational speakers. Hi, welcome to shoes while the podcast for women in land and development. Today's guest is Ra'eesa Motala from Minnesota Ra'eesa thank you so much for joining us on the show today. I am very much looking forward to getting to know you better and learning all about how you got into real estate. Why don't you go ahead and give us an introduction as to who you are and what you're doing currently in your role at robo advisors.
Ra'eesa Motala 01:35
Definitely, thanks for having me, Nancy. I really appreciate it on the sunny hopefully sunny where you are Monday, Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday. So I'm Ra-essa Motala. I am the Vice President of Industrial and Corporate Solutions at Rokos Advisors. We are based out of Minneapolis, however, we are a full service national commercial real estate advisory firm, my day to day really is more so on the tenent rep side. So I work a lot with my clients and a business owner setting whether it's CEOs, CFOs, CEOs, on strategy for their long term real estate growth. I do a lot of lease negotiations acquisitions. And then I also do some work within land. So helping more of my clients or developers identify those land parcels and then work with them on the long term strategy of what that land will be developed into.
Nancy Surak 02:33
Okay, so you're relatively young, and you're really well decorated in the industry with all of your awards and your honors and your accolades. I'm just going to rattle off a few of those. Oh, gosh, mainly from this year. So in 2022, you were named the CEI Influential Woman in Commercial Real Estate, the Minnesota Real Estate Journal, had you as a brokerage finalist for Woman of the Year, also for the most significant lease transaction for last year, and you won the Urban Land Institute, WLI Prologis Achievement Award. And then the list just kind of keeps going down the page. So I'm very, very much interested of all of these accolades and awards, what's been the most meaningful one to you?
Ra'eesa Motala 03:21
Oh that's a tough one. So, you know, I think all of them are special in their own way, because they were all unique or specific to either a deal or a transaction or something. I mean, I'm always honored when I am recognized for anything. I think the one that that's really stood out most recently was the ULI Prologis award, that one was was one that I think was not only of huge significance, but also I think, for me, it really made me understand and realize the type of industry that I'm in, and the type of woman I'm surrounded by in this industry, and how much more that I have to accomplish and wanting to accomplish and being with like minded women in a room out in San Diego this past year was incredible, because you got to experience what it's like if you could work with all these women across the country, and what magical creations would come of it. I think if we had to take that one out as more like a learning experience, I think, was probably one i 140 under 40. I had a goal a few years ago to be a part of that prestigious group before I turned 30. And I actually did it the year before I turned 30. So I think that was really exciting for me just to be able to hit that milestone and be able to say I did it.
Nancy Surak 04:46
Well, that's I mean, that's really awesome. And I didn't get into the brokerage side of the business until my mid 30s. So all these 40 under 40 awards. I was like I think I made one on the west coast of Florida. I think I was like 39 point like eight, you don't look a day over 32 I'm way older than that, but, but it is nice to have those accolades in that recognition, right. So I really am like, I read the list, and I was like, Oh, this list because keeps going and going, which is really, I mean, that's really kind of how I found you. Because I was like, I need to find women who are doing really amazing things and other markets. You know, I have lots of friends in my market. But I want to know, like, what's happening in your market? Like, what are you seeing? But before we get into those types of questions, I'd also like to take us all the way back to when you were a young girl. When you think about your childhood, are there any memories that you have of being like super attracted to the built space or to real estate? And if so, tell me a little bit about that.
Ra'eesa Motala 05:49
Be honest answer is not really, I, I grew up very much of Math and Science Kid. And I actually ended up going to medical school for a little period of time prior to jumping into real estate. I will say, though, that my grandfather was within the work within the real estate space for a while. And when I had lived out in South Africa, where I'm from, I had the opportunity to be able to really talk to him about it and understand what that looked like, and get a general overview of what it meant to be in real estate and how it could be a lucrative career if you do it correctly. And why it's something that a lot of individuals pursue when it comes to long term wealth. And so I would say that came later on in life. And at that point, I was already in medical school working through that. And it kind of made me start thinking, well, there are other paths outside of becoming a doctor. And maybe it was time to start reconsidering what that looked like. So I would say that's probably the fourth glance of it for me.
Nancy Surak 06:52
So when exactly did you actually get into the commercial real estate space?
Ra'eesa Motala 06:57
So I started about 10 years ago, or just a little under 10 years ago. I started in luxury, multifamily leasing, part time, while I was on a sabbatical from medical school, I had a few months that I needed to kind of burn somewhere. And I believe I was, oh gosh, 20. I was 22. So yeah, just I guess, eight, nine years ago. And so I started there, and I really loved it. I loved how people facing it was and I love the ability to be able to work through that negotiation tactic of trying to beat market rates and put out that that monthly market survey to show that we had the best rates in town, but also we were fully occupied was really exciting. And then it was just also the ability to recognize like what you could do with that, right? So you have all these skill sets that then lay over into different roles within that industry. And so after I kind of went to the multifamily track for a while, I started watching what the brokers were doing on the more on the asset management side as we were doing acquisitions and dispositions. And I realized there was a lot more opportunity when you started jumping into more of a broker developer role. And that's where the real money was made. And that's where the big deals were made. And that's where I want it to be. So I took that leap, and I landed in industrial brokerage, and I've been there since then. And I haven't looked back.
Nancy Surak 08:25
So I have a really good friend in the Tampa market who's an industrial broker, actually two of them and they do really well and we always tell stories, because it's not typically a woman oriented part of the industry. Well, the whole industry, right for commercial real estate. There's only I mean, there's a lot of us but not really when you look at that percentage, but when you really drill down in the industrial space or in the land space there's even less so tell me so you got really started paying attention to the brokers why industrial mean it had to have some sort of a draw was it the company you're with or did you say that's those are my people?
Ra'eesa Motala 09:04
It was it's like you said when you look in the room of industrial brokers and you don't see anyone that looks like you, it kind of makes you think well this is a real opportunity. You know, I think you know, sometimes there are individuals when they walk into a room and no one looks like them I think they feel a little more shut by or they might may shy away from wanting to jump in headfirst. I kind of side as well. Ever every person that I pitch is going to remember me after they hear a pitch from all of these guys. And a lot of them are fantastic but I just I just had this kind of mentality of attitude that if they could do it I could find a way to do it better and be more memorable doing it. So that's why I jumped into it. You know I didn't really have any interest in retail and office at the time was super hot. It was the darling of Commercial Real Estate downtown office broker was a very glamorous job to be in. But I don't know I wanted something where I could really forge a path and be leave a legacy. That's really what I wanted.
Nancy Surak 10:11
I absolutely love that. Because it's very, very similar to how I looked at land. You know, that was where my heart was. But I also looked around and I was like, well, if all these landowners are getting calls from all these men, they're gonna remember me because I'm different than everyone else. It was like my differentiator, it was one piece, you know, and I was like, okay, well, that might help me as a little naive. I think it did keep me away from some deals.
Ra'eesa Motala 10:42
Very naive for me in the sense of I was like, Oh, okay.
Nancy Surak 10:45
I, you know, like, really? Right, they're gonna love me because I'm different, as opposed to, they're not even going to call me back.
Ra'eesa Motala 10:55
Exactly. Exactly
Nancy Surak 10:57
But then again, I think like you and I can kind of hear it in your cover our conversation, when you have a bit of tenacity, and I'm going to show you kind of attitude. It just becomes this like, crazy game of challenge of, I'm gonna get it, I may have to work a little bit harder.
Ra'eesa Motala 11:14
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think as women, we always have to work harder, right? Regardless of what role we're in, we always have to, quote unquote, prove ourselves, we always have to show that we can show up and we can do everything. Like you, I have a few friends in my industry within commercial real estate. And we always have this conversation where I'm not a mom, they're moms, and they have to show up, be the best at their job, be the best mom be the best XY and Z. And a lot of their counterparts were a male just need to show up and be the best at their role. But they're always the dads who are trying very hard and pat them on the back for being a working dad and showing up and it's like, well, you know, I don't know if we're gonna move away from that anytime soon. But I absolutely agree with you. It's regardless, we still have to work harder, and then somewhat put in 10 times more. Yeah,
Nancy Surak 12:07
Yeah, it's it's really interesting, because when you hear about just systemic issues, it's really easy to identify as a woman, right? I'm like, yeah, okay. When I get the text at four o'clock that says, what's for dinner tonight? And I'm like, are you kidding me? I'm trying to save my $20 million deal over here. I don't really care what's for dinner. I don't want to lose my deal. Can we just, I don't care like peanut butter jelly is perfectly fine. And now it's different for me now, because I've been doing it for almost 20 years, my kids are out of the house. So I have a much different perspective. And when I look back, like you said, you were getting going 10 or 12 years ago, when I look back at that age, my kids were, you know, nine and 10. And I don't I don't know how I did it. I don't I don't really have I know how I did it. But I don't know how I had the energy to do it. You know, but maybe that was just I had energy, more energy because I was younger. Anyway, we'll go back to you.
Ra'eesa Motala 13:06
Well, you find a way you definitely find a way when you're in that situation. I think women are really creative at finding a solution.
Nancy Surak 13:13
Absolutely. You know, I would eat for a long time, my kids would say I worked in my car. And I'm like, I do not work in my car, I have an office. But it was because they would see me literally like pull off to the side of the road to take a phone call so that I could write some notes down and had this wicked mean, like over the shoulder stare. That if they would be like, if you speak or make a noise like you're in the backseat. Yeah, which is really funny now because like, ah, but but my kids have those memories too of saying like, Oh, you remember when you close that deal. And your gratification in the car, or we remember the day that you got that huge assignment, you know, and somebody called you in the car, and we heard it. And so they got to celebrate those things, too. So which is really cool. So one day, if that's part of your future, you'll have those experiences too. So take me through what's a typical day, you mentioned you spend a lot of time with your corporate consultants on their side, when they're looking across the US for site selection. Take me through kind of like one of those deals.
Ra'eesa Motala 14:20
Yeah, so, you know, we're brokers, but we really view ourselves as more advisors. We, I have a firm belief that I work for each of my clients within their companies. That's how I feel I feel like an employee of every one of my clients. And so when they're going through their strategy meetings, and they're learning and understanding what growth looks like for them, whether it's in this market in Minneapolis or it's another market, that's where I have the skill set to step in and help them identify where the weak spots are, where their strengths are us where we're going to funnel up where we where we might have roadblock. And so a big part of my job is outside of identifying just their real estate as a whole. It's really a kind of helping them build their their people in their culture. You know, it's if you don't believe in in the people and the culture, then the real estate is not going to work, no matter what you do. And there was an old way thinking of if you build it, they'll come. But I just don't think that that is where we're are in the world any longer. So I sit in on a lot of strategy meetings with my clients. And a lot of what that means is when they're sitting there and understanding what does it look like for employee retention? What does it look like for Drive times? Or ship times? Or what does it look like for truck X, to get to route B, and then go from route B and get back to road C within a specific timeframe? And who are those individuals driving those trucks? And where are they coming from? That's what I do. I also go into each market with my client to identify what those needs will look like. And we build out a storybook to say, well, when we look back on this in 357 10 years, what do we want the space to tell us. And sometimes, it doesn't even mean real estate, it means let's not do this, let's not take this space. One really great example is I have a client here in Minneapolis, who was so convinced that they needed to double their footprint. And that meant just under half a million square feet. And as a broker, you're going, that's amazing. I want to do at half a million square feet of industrial. And the more we started talking and the more we had these conversations, I started diving into what were the needs, and what were the pain points, the more sort of recognizing, as you know, you're not trying to consolidate and expand to help your business grow, that's going to hurt you, you are better off cutting down on transportation costs and shipping costs, which were 40% higher than your run costs, which is about six to 9% of your margins. And so when you start looking at it side by side, and you can tell that story for them, and break it down and go Well, you don't need to take half a million here, you actually need to go to Detroit, and you need to take 50 there, and then you need to go to Texas and you need to take 25 There, they start recognizing and understanding, there are different ways of allocating that space to make it work for them in a way that they thought was going to increase their their overhead. But now they're actually cutting back on so many other things. And then it goes hand in hand with the labor and different wages around the country too. And then incentive packages. So if you can tell that story, then they get really excited about where the trajectory of their businesses going to lose out on the half a million deal that you're probably gonna get front page cover story on. But your client is just really excited about the fact that you're looking out for their best interests.
Nancy Surak 17:55
Right. Right now that's a that's a really great point. So you spoke a little bit about supply chain, labor, transportation costs, those are all the really hot buttons today, the market, right and the challenges associated with what's going on, especially in the industrial space. Tell me a little bit more what's happening right now we are recording in September. Where are things? I mean, outside of the financial markets? Are things settling down for you guys on the supply chain? Side?
Ra'eesa Motala 18:24
No, I. No. It's kind of interesting, you know, interest rates went up this year, everyone kind of hit a big pause for about five seconds freaked out and said, Yeah, but business must go on. And maybe that's a, maybe that's what came out of COVID is we recognize that we can go through a global pandemic, as an entire planet collectively, and business still had to find a way to go on. And now we're just getting a lot better at mitigating that and incorporating a lot of these roadblocks into our day to day operations. I would say that on the industrial side, it's it's still full steam ahead. And from what we can tell, we don't have knock on wood, a lot of our clients saying hit pause or slow down if anything they're going, let's start planning and making sure we get ahead of this because we don't want to be in a situation like they were two, three years ago, where we thought we were, you know, pacing ourselves and we fell behind and we fell behind pretty quickly and hard. So I think there's something to be said about industries that are looking forward and working, finding solutions to really like wait it out in a way that's still financially apparent on their operations, but they know that it will pay and then there are a lot of industries within the industrial space that are not going to slow down to space and online consumerism. I think a good example is the way Amazon is looking at their profits versus a target for example, target fell by 90% Because people are not going to stores just shot like they used to. Right? And so where are you buying everything that you're getting delivered same day or prime. I bought my soon to be nephew, my brother and a sister. I'm sorry, my sister in law having a baby. And I ordered something off the registry on Saturday, this past Saturday, a Labor Day weekend. And I ordered it at, I think it was like 1130 or noon, it was on my doorstep at 7pm. Same day. Okay, now that is not an item you think of as a necessity, it's a baby gift. It was same day. And so that, to me is there's a warehouse here in Minneapolis, that had enough inventory of that very specific baby item that was able to then be transported to my doorstep in the West Metro, which is, you know, fine, relatively close to industrial within a four or 567 hour timeframe of me heading order. So I think that is still that push for industrial. And then when you look at just distribution as a whole within industries and E commerce world, in the pharmaceutical world, we're gonna continuously need those products. And for as long as we have, you know, a lot of these tariffs and tension with overseas markets. reshoring will, I think become a thing until we realize again, we don't want to pay people, and then we'll probably go south, right? Because we don't have land.
Nancy Surak 21:28
Yeah, I remember in the beginning of the pandemic, in March of 2020, I literally rolled out it was nine and light industrial parcels that were in an established business park on the west coast of Florida. And it built out County. And I called my friendly tampa bay business journal, real estate or commercial real estate beat reporter and I'm like, Hey, we had all these listings all hitting the market in this established park all at the same time. Let's do a story, a pitcher story. She's like I'm in. That was Monday, Tuesday, the world shutdown. Like she actually I think I pitched her the week before she ran it on Monday, Tuesday, it was like, nobody even saw the story because everything became all about COVID COVID. And the good news is, we're about two thirds done with the parcel sales, like we were moving stuff, you know, but it was really interesting, because back then I said, if COVID really takes off, the industrial market is going to explode. Because all these companies are going to have to find solutions here in America or, you know, closer to their consumers. There's, it's going to be outrageous. And I wish at the time, in March of 2020, I listen to my own advice, because I would have went and bought stuff, I would have bought late, man, you know, hindsight is always about 50 other people, right? Hindsight is always 2020. But I just knew I was like, this isn't gonna slow down. But it is an interesting dynamic right now. I do see, at least in my market, there's a lot under construction, especially in the industrial space. And I'm sort of like, are they building the right thing? Is that really, is it in the right location? You know, so are you guys seeing that sort of thing? Or is it still just, hey, no, absolutely, it's really getting filled.
Ra'eesa Motala 23:20
You know, we're getting our first million square foot or speculative, industrial development in Minnesota, it's broken ground, they should be ready for completion here in the next two years. And in our market alone, right now we've got about 15 million square feet of users actively looking. And we've got about a 10, we got about 10 million square feet of product. So we're short, we've got about six to 7 million square feet, either under construction or proposed. And that's, that's just in the industrial space. So I think there's, there's definitely a gap for us there. We're seeing our metro expand as to how we're starting to build and companies are starting to take space and look at space. Before you know you kind of you went where the CEO or the CFO lived and it was in closer proximity to them, then it was okay. Where are my employees? Where are they going? Now? It's where's the land that's available for us to set up shop. And that's where they're out for us. We're we've always been very fortunate. With convenience in our market, you can get anywhere in the metro within a good 30 minutes. We're light on traffic compared to other markets, but that's definitely shifting. And I think that's a great thing. You know, we try potentials to move here and I believe last year we had about 20 to 25,000 individuals relocate to Minneapolis, a lot of those within the tech industry. But a lot of those tech industries were also growing within the distribution space as they start with their product, and wanting to launch that. So I think there's a lot of growth and opportunity for Minneapolis, we've been a little bit of a flyover state to a degree, we, you know, when when other markets when other markets hit really low caps or high caps, we stay pretty consistent. I mean, we're not crazy. But this is the first time we're starting to see those really low caps, you know, come into play here.
Nancy Surak 25:27
Yeah, so sort of growing up,
Ra'eesa Motala 25:29
We're growing up as a player in the industrial space.
Nancy Surak 25:33
It sounds like you guys are on this, like, precursor to kind of where Tampa was like 10 years ago, like we were kind of the skipped over market, everybody wanted to be in Orlando, or South Florida. And, you know, we were we enjoyed great affordability for a long time. And that's not the case right now. You know, and locals are really complaining. And I'm like, Hey, like, we've all been saying we wanted this space, and we wanted to, we want it to be this bigger market. And now that it's here, you know, it brings its own unique challenges along with it when you get really successful and more expensive. So.
Ra'eesa Motala 26:12
Exactly. And we are, you know, to a degree we I agree with that. We're small market, though we're only 360 million square feet. So it's not like we're a very big market. But we are pretty strong in the sense that we house majority of the Fortune 500 companies in this country, and we headquarter them. And that's been one of our strengths this whole time.
Nancy Surak 26:35
Yeah, no, that's a really good point for you guys, too, which is really unique when you think about kind of like how this where those places or businesses are located. Okay, so I'd love to throw out this question. Have you ever been on a deal where something really funky or weird happened? And if so, could you tell us about it? Every deal. Most of them all of the above? E. Right?
Ra'eesa Motala 27:03
My intern two years ago asked me. So why don't you do one deal? You know how to do it. Right? Like, they're all pretty cookie cutter? And I just kind of went Sure. Oh, man, yes, I do have one deal that really kind of pops up. And this is really funny. So I was working in a different market for a client, who, you know, goes through a board of directors to make all their final decisions and approval. So it's a pretty lengthy process. They're based out on the East Coast. They're, you know, a couple billion dollar valuation. And we're working with, you know, a local landlord, but a decent portfolio size on the industrial side signing a you no tenure deal of flexpays high that it's a good deal. And we get to the lease. And we kind of put forth our counsel for the lease review, and the local landlord goes, we don't use attorneys here. I'm like, No, we're gonna need an attorney. And he's just like, No, we don't we don't, I don't believe in attorneys. And I'm like, All right, with all due respect, I understand that. But let's just walk through who my client is here. And you know, this is not going to fly. So hung up the call with him, got a call from the broker. So here's the deal Raisa. My client doesn't like attorneys. Back in the 70s. His dad started this business or building all these buildings, things were good. His mother had an affair with the father's attorney. father found out kidnaps that attorney, held him hostage in his basement for two weeks. Okay. Attorney press charges found out their distant relatives. Oh my gosh. That being said, we had this entire almost four week gap of having to convince this landlord to go get an attorney. And the specifications came down to it had to be a woman had to be a woman over 50 so that he and his brother who is his business partner were intended and that had their wives were saved. i Where does Where does they? This year that's come up is that? I bet a few more I'll save you from those but it was the most mind boggling experience for me as to why we had have not gotten their legal counsel and to I had to code and convince the other side of the table why they needed legal counsel. And that was the reason why
Nancy Surak 30:10
Is it not. Okay, so first of all, that's a really awesome story.
Ra'eesa Motala 30:16
Let me tell you when I was sitting here, and I got off the phone, and my colleagues next to me was just like, you have this look on your face. Like, you're like, you're intrigued, but you're concerned, but you're very, like, perplexed. And I'm like, do I have a story for you guys?
Nancy Surak 30:33
Okay, so these are experienced owners, right? So probably a decent amount of net worth for them. I'm like, okay, I get I understand. But yeah, it pains me when I see another side either make making like really, really poor decisions, or like you said, not having the right counsel, whether that's legal counsel, or broker, and I'm like, You're so exposing yourself, the amount of money that you're saving, or psychology that you're saving is really putting you at risk?
Ra'eesa Motala 31:02
Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was, yeah, it wasn't mission to get them to do that. And, you know, it, we got the deal done. It was great. My clients happy but holy heck, let me tell you, I, that was new to me.
Nancy Surak 31:17
Well, that's a good one, okay. So to be respectful of your time, because from broker to broker, I know that, you know, if we do not go out and hunt and kill it, we don't eat. We're gonna do rapid fire. And so the last few questions, as so I'm sure this happens to you a lot anyway. But let's say someone listens to this podcast, and particularly a young woman, and she says, Oh, man, I want to be an industrial broker, I want to go work in land or be a developer, I'm gonna call Raisa and ask her for some advice. You pick up the phone? And she says, Can you give me some advice on how to be successful in this industry? What would you share with her?
Ra'eesa Motala 32:00
Oh, that's a good one. I've got a lot of great mentors that helped me out. In the last, you know, close to a decade of my career. And a lot of them, I would say majority of them have been men, just because like you, they're just there were just no woman, when we started, you know, of the mentees that I have right now, I think some of the advice that I have given them is that, you know, I went through this, and I dealt with a lot, as a woman as a woman of color. And just because I went through, it doesn't mean that they need to go through it, it's my job to make it easier for them. And it's their job to then make it easier for the woman that come after them. And I think that if, as woman, we all sort of doing that, we would be exactly where men are. Because that's what they do. They support each other unconditionally, they show up for each other unconditionally, whether they like each other or not, they always show up and stand up for each other. And I think if a woman we can start competing, and we can actually fully support each other, I think we'll actually be able to make a real name for ourselves in any industry. But that aside, I think the the other pieces of advice that I would really hone in on is that, you know, you're gonna have some really, really tough times ahead obstacles, whether it's personally or professionally in this career. And I think if you can build your own Board Advisory Board of individuals around you, within different roles and industries, I think you can really lean on those individuals for support and vice versa. And that's how you kind of get through that because your perspective is not always the best perspective. And you really have to find those who have gone through different opportunities, whether they failed or succeeded to be able to understand what your next move is.
Nancy Surak 33:48
Yeah, that is really some of the best advice I've heard so far. I love the concept of Board of Directors. I don't think I have anything formal, but I do have folks that I go to and say like, Hey, I need to just bounce this off of somebody else.
Ra'eesa Motala 34:03
Yes. And get a great accountant. I mean, let me tell you, as a woman, you know, we're not taught to invest. We're not taught to be financially literate. That is not that was never our job growing up. You know, my grandmother, my mother, they know what it is, and they understand it, but it was never made a priority. So get a great accountant and someone who can help you understand how to take the money that you make now your hard earned money that you make now and make it work for you in the future so that it's just not sitting there. It's actually paying tenfold. It took a lot to get it so why not make it work for you?
Nancy Surak 34:43
Yeah, no, that's fantastic. I love it. That could be like the whole purpose of the podcast, right? Turn it around and make it do things.
Ra'eesa Motala 34:52
Exactly.
Nancy Surak 34:53
Right. Do otherwise. Awesome. Okay, so two final questions. Do you have a podcasts that you listen to or a book that you've read, perhaps recently that you just absolutely love from either a business perspective or personal that you could recommend to folks, you know, listening in today.
Ra'eesa Motala 35:13
I'm more of a reader than I am a podcast listener, just my ADD kind of gets the best of me. I would say that the couple of books that I've read and reread over the years, my one favorite one is atomic habits. That is a big favorite of mine. I have all my interns and Associates read fanatical, prospecting, feel like that's an oldie but a goodie. And right now I'm reading the future is faster than you think. Which I think is fascinating. It's now within the real estate space. But I think it really pushes forward, this idea of innovation and where we're going. It was a gift from someone very close to me within the industry. And I think it was probably one of the best books I've read this year.
Nancy Surak 36:00
Yeah, I actually I, it's in my rotation of my audiobooks. I think I'm about two thirds of the way through that. And it's really interesting. It's very mind like opening, like, when you listen to me, like, for me, at least I'm like, wait, what often like if, like you said, add, if I'm not really paying attention, I'll say, wait a minute, right? And say, you know, bring it back or re listen to a chapter again.
Ra'eesa Motala 36:22
Yeah, gotta reread a lot that has to go away, because that's really happening. Wait right now, where am I?
Nancy Surak 36:30
Right, right. absolutely
Ra'eesa Motala 36:32
This is brand new.
Nancy Surak 36:33
So like, I'm like, I've never heard of this. No, but it is really interesting. Okay. Finally, this is the fun one. Where could folks here today follow you? I know that you're, you know, active on social media. If you're an influential woman, you've got to have a social media presence set on LinkedIn? Or is that on Instagram? Where can they follow you for insights on your business or career or connect with you otherwise?
Ra'eesa Motala 37:00
Yeah, I think for you know, a couple places, LinkedIn is probably a really good one. I also have a website, it's super original raeesamatala.com.
Nancy Surak 37:12
Right First and Last Name.
Ra'eesa Motala 37:17
And then www.rokosadvisors.com, I think is a great way to follow up with market insights, and just kind of what we're working on and what we're doing. And, you know, we just had our all hands team meeting this morning for September. And it's really exciting going into the fall, to kind of see where we're going and what kind of technology we're implementing as a team and how we're growing within the industry that is somewhat of a relic. So I think, you know, if nothing else, it's nice to see what other brokerages and developers are doing and kind of keep up with it and share ideas.
Nancy Surak 37:50
Yeah, we my company is national, we're not in your market. But is the technology is what really attracted me to Land Advisors. And yeah, it's phenomenal the amount of data that I have at my fingertips. Yes. And then I think about, you know, when I was with a firm that didn't have that level of insight, and I'm like, how you?
Ra'eesa Motala 38:11
How did we do business?
Nancy Surak 38:12
It's totally different.
Ra'eesa Motala 38:13
yes. Now 100% is 100 percent
Nancy Surak 38:17
Here's what you can find out. Here's all this data. And then when you put those pieces together, it's really remarkable to be like, Oh, well, that's the big picture. So
Ra'eesa Motala 38:26
Well, yeah. And I think this is like a whole conversation for a different time. But I think that goes into that strategy planning that clients really look for is, it's not just about who can go play 18 holes in a golf course with you anymore. Yeah, there's something to that. But it's who can actually provide you the data to make the best business decision for my organization and keep keep food on my employees tables. Yeah. And profit in your pocket, right? Yes, that too.
Nancy Surak 38:33
That is a great place to end. I absolutely have loved getting to know you. And congratulations on all of your career success. It's easy to see why you had all of those awards that I rattled off just from this year. And I wish you the best in your career going forward. And I really appreciate the time that you've spent here with us on She's WILD.
Ra'eesa Motala 39:14
Thank you, Nancy. I appreciate you having me.
Nancy Surak 39:17
You bet. Take care. Thank you for joining us for another episode of she's wild the podcast for women and land and development. If you enjoyed today's show, please go out and rate us so that we can be found by other women in our industry. And if you know women who are working in land and development, please share this podcast with them. And if you know a total rock star woman, badass chick who is killing it in land and development anywhere in North America. I want to know who she is. Please reach out to me so that I can feature her on an upcoming episode.