In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting the trailblazers leading the way within our organization. As the Chief Marketing Officer at Anywhere Real Estate, Esther-Mireya Tejeda is bringing her passion, knowledge, and expertise to Anywhere’s marketing strategy and we’re thrilled to share her insights and experiences with you. 

What are you most passionate about in your work?

We are in the business of transformation, taking the real estate transaction to new levels of simplicity and ease that will make for a much more pain-free process for people across the country. A simplified process, more readily available education on the transaction, and the right support and guidance from our network of amazing real estate professionals will make home ownership more accessible for more families across the country. Unlocking some of these barriers of entry means empowering more families to buy their first home, invest in real estate, or build generational wealth – and that is what inspires me about the work we’re doing at Anywhere.

How do you approach developing new female leaders within your company?

I wholeheartedly believe that everyone has value and brings something uniquely their own to the table – their ideas, perspective, lived experiences, past learnings. I make a conscious and determined effort to build a culture of safety in my organization to allow for each individual to bring their richness into the room, and that means diversity of ideas, supercharged creativity, and sometimes the space to disagree and challenge each other in meaningful ways. As a leader who happens to be a woman, I especially encourage other female leaders to acknowledge their individual richness, and to honor it by sharing their ideas in the crowded rooms, raising their hands and asking the unpopular questions, and taking up their rightful space. As women, we have been historically socialized to shrink in the face of power, but we must know that actually we are the power, each and every one of us.

How can women support other women in their organization?

The single most effective thing to do is to mention a fellow woman’s name in rooms of influence. So often, women are overlooked in leadership conversations simply because nobody is bringing them forward in decision-making discussions. Being a champion of other women is sometimes as simple as publicly acknowledging their excellent work and contributions and making sure others in the organization heard you.

What is the best leadership advice you’ve received?

The notion of what is a leader has evolved so much in the years since I’ve been in business. We now understand more wholly that leadership is a position that can be played from anywhere in an organization, it is more a mindset than it is a title or a job description. As I grew in my career, one of the most obvious yet impactful pieces of advice I ever received was the idea that we are people first, before we are colleagues, bosses, teammates, industry peers, and so on. In really thinking about that, it allows us to humanize our professional experience and interactions and, in some ways, to remove the pressures associated with those work relationships or titles. If I always remember that everyone on my team is first a person before they are an employee, I can fully appreciate all that they are capable of, given their broader life experience. Likewise, if my team remembers that I, too, am first a person before I am a CMO, they can fully engage with me to bring forth their thoughts, ideas, challenges, brainstorms without the pressure often associated with “the boss.” That level of mutual respect and understanding has been the single most valuable fuel in building high-performing teams.

What advice do you have for someone who is just starting their career? 

Your career is exclusively your responsibility, so take charge of it. There is no magic career fairy that is going to tap you on the shoulder and give you the stretch projects, the growth opportunities, or the promotions. You must do the excellent work, of course, but also raise your hand for projects, ask the curious questions, request to be a listener on important calls and discussions, offer to take notes in interesting meetings where you may learn something. You have agency in your career, and you must use it to move forward. 

At Anywhere, our Diversity vision is to empower everyone, anywhere to own their future and have a place to call home. Through our robust diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, we harness the power of real estate to enable rewarding careers for corporate professionals and entrepreneurs, and support communities to build wealth as home buyers and sellers. For information on what Anywhere is doing to make a difference, please take a look at our 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Report.