2016 Women in Real Estate: Faith Hope Consolo

Faith Hope Consolo, Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Name: Faith Hope Consolo

Title: Chairman, The Retail Group, Douglas Elliman 

Email: [email protected]

Years in real estate: 30

Company Name: Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Year Founded: Started my career in real estate in 1985 / Started The Retail Group at Douglas Elliman in 2005 

URL: www.faith-consolo.com www.youneedfaith.com

Telephone: 212-418-2020 / 917-846-8686

Twitter @FaithHConsolo

How did you get your start in real estate?

Karma! After I started my modeling agency in college, sold it and moved on to my interior design career, I recognized that the brands I saw all over the world when I shopped the market were not available in the United States and I needed to bring them to New York; the rest is history….Retail is My Detail.

What real estate associations or organizations are you a member of?

 Association of Real Estate Women (AREW), Past President Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network (CREW), Director; Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network NY Chapter (CREW NY) Chairman Emeritus; Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce--Co-Chair, Arts & Culture Committee; Luxury Board’s Luxury Institute; The Luxury Marketing Council; International Council of Shopping Centers, Women’s Special Industry Program (SIG) Founder

Member of: Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA); Associated Builders and Owners of Greater New York (ABO-NY); Association of Real Estate Women (AREW); Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; Commercial Real Estate Women’s Network (CREW); Cosmetic Executive Women; Fashion Group International (FGI); French-American Chamber of Commerce; Germany-US Chamber of Commerce; Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce; International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC); ICSC - RECon Planning Committee; Italy-America Chamber of Commerce; Luxury Marketing Council; Manhattan Chamber of Commerce; NACORE International; National Brokers Network; National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women (NNCREW); National Realty Club (NRC); National Retail Federation (NRF); New Heritage Theatre Group; Queens Chamber of Commerce; Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY); Retail Marketing Society (RMS); Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors; SBS Luxury Retail Network; Society of Industry Leaders (SIL); The September Concert Foundation; Urban Land Institute (ULI); Women’s Special Industry Group/ICSC National; Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association of New York, Inc.

What recent project or transaction are you most proud of?

I have become the go-to girl for glamour. Placing distinctively different beauty tenants in important corridors has become a major niche for me. Benefit Cosmetics to 1225 Madison Ave., OroGold Cosmetics first to 57th St. and then to 333 Bleecker St., Bond No. 9 to Madison Ave. among other gilded corridors and many more behind closed doors.

 What recent honor, achievement or recognition has meant the most to you and why?

Once again: The Top 50 Women in Retail for the last decade

What have been some of the benefits of being a mentor or having a mentor?

I find it extremely gratifying to better understand how people perceive me. It offers an entirely different perspective and actually helps me work on “me” as well as teach what I know best. I have been able to watch and actively help other women succeed in our industry – through my climb to the top I can inspire and guide them to avoid pitfalls I have already experienced through blood sweat and tears and give them “faith and hope” that there is no limit to success no matter who you are or where you came from.

Who or what has been the strongest influence on your career and why?

There have been so many influential people throughout my life, starting with my grandmother who raised me with a strong work ethic. Over the years, there have been teachers, friends and mentors who have given me invaluable lessons and gifts of time.

What time management strategies do you find to be the most effective for you?

Discipline, discipline, discipline! Our business is conducted 24/7 so I make sure to keep on top of new projects, retailers and developments here and abroad, whether retail, real estate, fashion or political.

In a perfect world, calls, including overseas, are in the morning and meetings in the afternoon and evening.

Walk around the streets so that you can identify each store and property. Then personally reach out to the landlords and tenants to build the relationships. Every day is a new day. Pick up from yesterday, think about tomorrow and keep it going

What is the best advice you have received and who was it from?

“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Coco Chanel

Shopping embodies all of those ideals and my job is to embrace the retailers and put them exactly where they need to be to create the perfect harmony between brand and location. Ultimately success for the retailers = success for the landlords too!