With the aim of demystifying their field and proving that it is accessible to all, six real estate brokers have joined forces to show their reality through a web series.
“Throughout my career in real estate, I met other black women in the industry, and I realized that we were experiencing similar situations,” explained to the QMI Agency Kipola Wakilongo, who had the idea for the web series “Selling Montréal” in order to highlight these issues.
While her white colleagues typically start from scratch with new clients, she often feels like she’s starting at “minus 10.”
“My story and the stories of my colleagues who are not black, I don’t think it’s the same. There are a lot of things that we have to take into consideration more than others,” she said.
As an example of this, she mentions her hair. How to present it was a hassle when she started in the field. “I didn’t think having braids was professional,” she illustrated.
Magalie Nlandu, for her part, remembers having experienced a lot of inequality when she started in real estate, eight years ago. Situations due to both her gender and the color of her skin, and for which she had to build a “shell.”
“The beauty of it today is that there is a renewal. It’s a beautiful thing, because it wasn’t like this eight years ago,” she said.
A testimony that echoes that of Cindy Charles, who has been in the industry for five years now. “When I started, I didn’t really see other people, in the office or in my career, who looked like me. Sometimes, it can be intimidating,” she noted.
She recalls having had “pretty strange” experiences with other brokers, sometimes having prejudices, or on other occasions who were clumsy “without bad intentions”.
“That’s why this project, “Selling Montreal,” is very close to my heart, because it’s through this project that I was able to meet other women who are like me in the field,” said Ms. Charles, who hopes that the web series can inspire other women.
Sell Montreal
It is to show their reality that Ms. Wakilongo created the web series “Selling Montréal,” which follows the daily lives of six black women in the real estate sector. The title is a nod to “Selling Sunset” and its spinoff “Selling the OC,” two Netflix reality shows.
“I thought I wanted something for us. I wanted to be able to talk openly and share our reality,” said Ms. Wakilongo. Appearing on screen, she is also the producer. An idea she believed in so much that she decided to invest her own money to make it happen.
At the same time, she also wants to be able to answer the questions she is frequently asked about her field, believing that there is a lack of information on this subject. “I had the impression that the behind the scenes was missing, about what it takes to become a broker and what we actually do on a daily basis,” added Ms. Wakilongo.
She hopes to inspire other women to follow their dreams.
The web series “Selling Montréal” is broadcast on YouTube every Monday.
Comments are closed