Beth Zafonte of the New York chapter of CREW Network discuss their careers and accomplishments

Name: Beth Zafonte Title: Director of Economic Development Services Company/firm: Akerman Senterfitt Years with company/firm: 3 Years in field: 27 Years in real estate industry: 27 Address: 335 Madison Avenue 26th Floor Telephone: 212-822-2266 Email: [email protected] URL: www.akerman.com Real estate organizations/affiliations: NYCREW, W/X, REBNY, Corenet During the last 10 years of your career, which professional accomplishment, honor or achievement was most meaningful to you and why? My work on the redevelopment of downtown Brooklyn which is the largest and perhaps the most impactful project I have worked on in terms of urban redevelopment. It was the most meaningful because I had just moved to NYC from Colorado at the age of 25 and the learning curve was so great. Every day was intense at Stadtmauer Bailkin Kessler Walzer and Ratner. When I look at downtown Brooklyn now, I am reminded of many fond memories of my early career. So many of the public and private sector relationships I forged then still remains. Which project, deal or transaction was the 'game changer' in the advancement of your career during the last 10 years? Working on the redevelopment of Times Square and dealing with the high profile corporate clients that we represented in the incentives negotiations with the city and state. How do you contribute to your company and / or the industry? One way I contribute to the industry is my involvement in many groups active in advancing the careers of women in commericial real estate. I am co-chairing the NYCREW Careers Building Opportunities program this year in which we intorduce low-income teen girls to careers in commerical real estate. I am also on Corenet Global's Women Special Interest Group Leadership Committee. What advice would you give to women just starting out in commercial real estate? The sky's the limit these days in this field. Work hard and actively network. You will be doing business with your current peers for a long time if you stay in the industry so don't burn any bridges. How do you manage the work/life balance? As best as I can. Who or what has been the strongest influence on your career and why? I have worked with Michael Bailkin since 1985. The answer to this question was obvious. How are you using social media to promote yourself, your products and / or your firm? Personally, I am behind in this area at the moment. I have attended many discussions on this topic and have the best of intentions to use social media more. Frankly, I am getting business in without it and continue to be so busy with client work to set myself up appropriately. Maybe I need to outsource this for it to actually get done? Where would you like to be 10 years from today? How strange would it be to say still doing what I am doing now? What I mean by that is working with people that I like with clients that I like and in a field that I like. Incentives are always needed. Each project is different, programs change, adminstrations change. My field is never stagnant. Right now, work with EB-5 financing is skyrocketing and it is a very exciting time. I like to say my business is recession proof and that can't be said of many fields.