Vanessa Sturgeon is President and CEO at TMT Development, a commercial real estate management and development company in Portland founded by her grandfather, Thomas P. Moyer. She has over 20 years of experience in developing and managing mixed-use high-rise assets, retail shopping centers, and industrial parks in Oregon and Washington and is passionate about giving back to the community.

Vanessa joins Jared Siegel to discuss a plethora of topics, including civic responsibility, generational family businesses, time and priority management, and real estate, including the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tune in here, at delapcpa.com/podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts:

Here are a few highlights from Jared's conversation with Vanessa Sturgeon:

• The average person is good at identifying problems, but very few people organize and take action to address those problems. Vanessa’s family taught her that “You can talk till you’re blue in the face, but action is where it really shows.”
• “A huge part of what we do in raising our kids is exposing them to different people and opportunities.” Vanessa explains how she instills humility in her children, and the importance of demonstrating kindness. “Values are caught, not taught.”
• Vanessa shares what she likes most about real estate.
• Jared has observed that many people have successful, lucrative businesses, but their real wealth ends up being in their real estate. He asks Vanessa about the principles and the do’s and don’ts of real estate as an asset class.
• People tend to like investing in real estate long-term because it enables an easy transfer of generational wealth. Currently, interest rates are historically low, so now would be a good time to get into real estate, Vanessa advises.
• Landlords are having a difficult time during the pandemic. Vanessa reviews how COVID-19 has impacted her professionally. “Multifamily has been hit hard by the pandemic because of the widespread governmental policies with regards to rent,” she says.
• “I feel like Millennials and Gen Z’s have been hurt the most by [COVID-19 professionally] because of how their careers are supposed to evolve,” Vanessa says. “They’ve been at home and have not had the opportunities to learn from their colleagues or further their relevance in their respective industries.”