Meet Tricia Lee Riley
In support of the Black Lives Matter movement, people have asked me for recommendations for a NYC real estate agent of color. I am excited to share this story with you.
- Danielle
In my first year working in real estate, I became Corcoran's Rookie of The Year, which meant that out of all the first-year Corcoran agents starting out across all of Manhattan and Brooklyn, I had done more business than anyone else. Shortly after achieving this, Robert Reffkin, the founder and CEO of a then relatively brand new brokerage called Compass called me and told me why I should join his new company. He called a few times. Eventually I took the leap of faith to leave behind something tried and true and start working with a new company which I believed in so much.
The next year there was a new sort of energy among Corcoran's newbie class of agents. Tricia Lee Riley, with her perfect and sometimes sassy style, her easy and assured laugh, and her wit and humor so honest and revealing it always makes me wildly uncomfortable, was steamrolling her way to becoming Corcoran's Rookie of the Year. There would not be anyone visible in this woman's wake, she was so far ahead of the rest.
Of course, Robert Reffkin called up Tricia Lee. And she then called me to see what I thought she should do. A moment later, she too took the same leap of faith I did and suddenly my fellow Rookie of the Year was at Compass, her seat a few rows away from me. We became friends.
A few months later, Robert Reffkin then told us he had a really really good idea. And if it's one thing no one ever should do is question Robert Reffkin when he says he has a really really good idea.
"You two should form a team together. You'll be totally unstoppable. Together, you know EVERYONE, and your combined positive energy will be awesome to work with for you and for your clients."
It was such a good idea.
We both thought it was.
We adore each other, admire each other, and believe in each other. We'd do so well together and we'd have so much fun doing it.
But, we never did anything about it.
Now, many years later, I run a five person team and TriciaLee runs at three person team.
Everyone on my team is white.
Everyone on her team is black.
And here I am, shaking my head at how predictable the whole thing was. We each stayed in our comfort zones, finding people to surround us who look like us, talk like us, and live like us.
On the surface and in small talk, our lives even might appear similar. We both work in real estate, use social media to promote our businesses, and we both even live in blended families.
But: My Instagram feed spews out to mainly white people. Hers to mainly black people.
Most of my clients are white, and most of Tricia Lee's are black.
And our blended families? You guessed it: Mine is with a white guy and white step-daughter, hers is with a black guy and black step daughter.
I cannot speak for her, but in looking back, I will always know it was a missed opportunity not to partner with Tricia Lee.
The missed opportunity is not the success in business we could have had together, which I am sure would have been pretty astronomical. For me, it was a missed opportunity of the heart and the human spirit to grow within myself. It was a missed chance to break from my comfort zone and let this vibrant unstoppable and hilarious woman from such a different world than mine get under my skin and help me shed it so I could walk in this world more authentically - and more wholly. It was a missed opportunity for me to become a better person.
All this is to say that if you're looking to work with an agent of color in NYC - I have the perfect person to recommend.
Lucky you.
ps - If you want to get to know Tricia Lee better - she is taking over my Instagram account today! (And follow her team account here, and her website here).
