Oct. 3, 2016<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Harry Colbert, Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Managing Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many see home ownership as a path to wealth building for the person buying the home, just as it can be a clear path to wealth for the seller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The buying and selling of real estate is also a path to wealth for the agents who broker the deals. And in Minnesota, typically those agents are overwhelmingly white and male. But a few of the exceptions to the rule got together in a show of solidarity to say they are not background players. With the photo, 12 African-American female real estate agents have given notice to the changing face (or faces) of real estate buying and selling in Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photographer Chris McDuffie was summoned to focus his lens on the 12 agents after the call went out from Julia Israel of Keller Williams Integrity Realty. Israel said the idea for the photoshoot was to promote an often overlooked face in Minnesota real estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted to show that there\u2019s diversity and bring exposure to Black realtors and real estate agents,\u201d said Israel. \u201cBeing Black and female in this industry there are many barriers that we\u2019ve encountered and we overcame them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a growing number of transplants being of color, Israel is hoping they will seek to do business with some of the African-American agents in the market. But Israel also hopes the photo will put the women in the forefront of minds of non-African-American buyers and sellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe sell houses and properties in all the communities \u2026 the south suburbs, the east suburbs; we sell commercial,\u201d said Israel, a 16-year agent. \u201cBut with this photo we also want \u2018us\u2019 to see \u2018us.\u2019 Before you heard things like Black people don\u2019t want to do business with Black people, but that\u2019s changing and people are now seeking out Black professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think this photo is showing Minnesota that Black women are professional, and together, and we help and support each other,\u201d said Richelle Taylor of Keller Williams Classic Realty. \u201cI hope people see in us in strength and solidarity; we\u2019re more than stereotypes, we\u2019re professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Israel and Taylor say though each woman in the photo may work for different companies and though some are competing for the same buyers and sellers, they felt it was important to show the group not as competitors, but each as adding value to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all entrepreneurs, we\u2019re all home owners and I wanted to make sure we all get exposure,\u201d said Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Oct. 3, 2016 By Harry Colbert, Jr. Managing Editor Many see home ownership as a path to wealth building for the person buying the home, just as it can be a clear path to wealth for the seller. The buying and selling of real estate is also a path to wealth for the agents who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2370,2369,29],"class_list":["post-3443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-black-realtors","tag-chris-mcduffie","tag-minnesota","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3476,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3443\/revisions\/3476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}