1. www.insightssuccess.com
Success on the Extra Mile
Karen Simon
President & Managing Partner
Emersons Commercial
Real Estate
Women
Women
Business Leaders
The 10
Transforming Real Estate
Real Estate
Karen Simon
VOL-03 | ISSUE-02 | 2023

4. Symbolizing
Distinction
Editor’s Desk
Abhishek Joshi
AbhishekJoshi

5. ender never determines an individual’s leadership
Gabilities. Instead, organizations must assess
leadership potential by evaluating individual
strengths and personality traits. Regardless of the type of
business, you're running, or even the industry that you're
operating in, to say that strong female leaders are important
is something of an understatement. In truth, they're essential
- not only for providing a much-needed perspective on the
direction that a business is taking but also in terms of the
types of qualities that they bring to the table that you're
unlikely to find anywhere else.
One of the most invaluable traits that female leaders bring
to the table is their sense of awareness. They typically try to
look at the bigger picture first, but then break a situation
down into the finer details to see what is really going on
underneath. Women in leadership positions aren’t afraid to
see a situation from a variety of angles. They tend to
attempt to understand a situation as organically as possible
by asking the right questions at the right time, rather than
bending a situation to their own will.
To be a great leader, you must not limit yourself to
becoming an expert in your own industry only. Good
leaders have the ability to see what bigger role they have to
play. They take the time to look at the bigger picture and
figure out how they can be relevant. Women always look
ahead and ways to get opportunities for themselves and
others.
Women have a vision, which allows them to stay ahead and
be an inspiration to other people. And so, it isn’t surprising
that when it comes to making illustrious career moves, you
can always count on women to know what they are doing
and what they want to achieve. These resilient leaders have
been immensely contributing to enabling transformations in
the modern industrial sector, the real estate niche being no
exception. The construction segment has seen a definitive
rise in the number of female leaders making huge strides in
the field.
Indulging in the innovations of these resolute leaders,
Insights Success, through its latest edition, “The 10
Women Business Leaders Transforming Real Estate,”
highlights the charismas who are symbolizing excellence
and transforming the facets of the construction sector.
Flip through the pages and have a Wonderful Read!

6. Cover Story
08
Success on the Extra Mile
Karen Simon

7. Diana Magariu
A Staunch Leader with
Signicant Traits
Cara Atchison
Changing the Dream of
Premiere Property into Reality
18 22
26
Jacqui Crapp
The Exemplar of
Client Experience

8. sales@insightssuccess.com
March, 2023
Editor-in-Chief
Senior Sales Manager Business Development Manager
Marketing Manager
Technical Head
Technical Specialist Digital Marketing Manager
Research Analyst
Database Management Technology Consultant
Marry D'Souza
Managing Editor Executive Editor Assistant Editors
Visualizer
David King
Art & Design Director Associate Designer
Sihanee M., Rouniyar A. Peter Collins
John Matthew
Sales Executives
David, Martin
Business Development Executives
Steve, Joe
Jacob Smile
Prachi Mokashi Dominique T.
SME-SMO Executive
Sagar Lahigade Frank Adams
Circulation Manager
Robert Brown Stella Andrew David Stokes
Copyright © 2022 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success.
Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.
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We are also available on :
Abhishek Joshi
Revati B.
Jenny Fernandes Anish Miller
Ankita A.

9. Brief
Company Name
Bailey Jordan is a seasoned REALTOR® with an extensive
history in the real-estate industry and holds a firm connection
within the Jacksonville community.
Featured Person
The Jordan Group Jax
at Navy to Navy Homes
thejordangroupjax.com
Bailey Jordan
CEO
Following over 12 years in financial operations and project
management in finance and superannuation as a business
analyst at MLC/NAB, Cara comes armed into Real Estate with
an arsenal of client skills and troubleshooting know-how.
1st City Real Estate Group
1stcity.com.au
Cara Atchison
Director
Cassie has worked with Investment groups all of the country,
guiding them in every aspect of the Real Estate investing.
JPAR Real Estate
www.jpar.com
Cassie Samons
Realtor
Diana is a passionate and skilled real estate leader. She stays
true to her passion and serves not only the industry but also her
clients with the highest level of integrity.
KeyOne Realty group
KeyOneRealtygroup.com
Diana Magariu
CEO
When dealing with a fast-moving and ever-evolving property
market that demands a qualified leader, Jacqui Crapp is the type
of person you can rely on always to meet the moment.
Raine & Horne
Berry & Nowra
Jacqueline Crapp
Director
As Director of Commercial Operations, Leasing and Sales for
DRK, Jaimine Johnson develops and implements long-term
strategies for the commercial asset division in the investment
management of office, industrial/flex, medical, retail properties.
DRK and Company Realty
drk-realty.com
Jaimine Johnson
Director of Commercial
Real Estate Asset
Operations- Leasing and Sales
Joan Docktor serves as the President of Berkshire Hathaway
HomeServices Fox & Roach, REALTORS®, the largest single
market brokerage in the U.S.
Berkshire Hathaway
Home Services Fox & Roach,
Realtors
foxroach.comm
Joan Docktor
President
Karen has been active in office, retail, industrial and land
sectors in both leasing and sales in the DFW commercial real
estate area for the past 27 + years.
Emersons Commercial
Real Estate
emersonscre.com
Karen Simon
Managing Partner
(Tarrant County)
Kelly is an Executive Coach and talent professional with over
20 years of progressive and impactful experience.
Kelly Davies Homes Team
kellydavieshomes.com
Kelly Davies
Founder
Sherry has an extensive knowledge and experience in the real
property industry.
Blinkhorn Real Estate Ltd
blinkhornrealestate.com
Sherry Blinkhorn
Owner
Women
Women
Business Leaders
The 10
Transforming Real Estate
Real Estate

10. Karen
Simon
Success on the Extra Mile
Cover Story
We try to con nue to
educate ourselves so that we have a
good story to tell, that we know the
market, and that we are able to convince
people that we're a good choice.
We’re not necessarily a be er choice
because we’ve reached you,
but we’re a be er choice because
we’re willing to go the extra mile.

11. Karen Simon
President & Managing Partner
Emersons Commercial
Real Estate

12. Buying a piece of land is a nerve-racking process. It
is not an expense that can be made impulsively, and
people proceed with a lot of reserve and caution.
Generally, customers prefer to hire a real estate broker to
help them in the process of making the purchase but often
find themselves dealing with brokers who are perhaps more
interested in making a sale than fulfilling the needs of the
client. This is what sets Karen Leslie Simon apart from her
peers—her client-focused outlook and willingness to go the
extra mile.
Today, Karen is the President & Managing Partner of
Emerson’s Commercial Real Estate in the Tarrant
County Division, but it was not always so. Her coming to
the real estate field has been a journey that led to having a
three-decade voyage in the field. She became the first
woman in Tarrant County to practice industrial real estate
and the first female broker to be one of the highest
producers state-wide in the industrial department of Henry
S. Miller, then the largest real estate firm in Texas.
Karen specializes in office, retail, industrial, and land
sectors in leasing and sales. She has been inducted into the
prestigious Marquis Who’s Who biographical registry. She
was also recognized by The State Women’s Chamber of
Commerce as the ‘Businesswoman of the Year’on the basis
of her position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and
prominence in the field.
The Commencement
Karen came to the real estate business in 1983 from the
Department of Housing and Urban Development, where she
was executive assistant to the regional administrator for
Region 10, which was Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Arkansas, and Louisiana. She was in charge of all public
relations for the five-state region and all intergovernmental
and congressional relations, and so forth.
One day Karen learned that anybody could take the broker's
exam as long as they completed the required hours, most of
which she had already done. So, she took two weeks’ leave
to complete her semester hours, sat for the exam, and got
her broker’s license.
Six months later, at a party in Dallas, Karen got the
opportunity to meet with a gentleman, who was in charge of
the industrial real estate division for the Henry S. Miller
company. He offered Karen the chance to open an industrial
real estate section in the Fort Worth office.
After some discussion and negotiation, Karen accepted the
position as the head of the industrial division for the Miller
organization in Tarrant County. She says, “I was a bit
unique. There were no women filling that role in the
marketplace and no women filling a commercial division
head role within the Miller organization. I found that in the
I have been doing this for
so long that the old saying what
goes around comes around has
some real value. People will look to
renew their business opportuni es
with you if they always know that
you’re going to give them
a fair shake.
The 10 Women Business Leaders Transforming Real Estate

14. real estate business, clients did not care whether you were
male or female. What they cared about is whether you could
help them, did you know enough, and whether you were
willing to work hard enough to be of assistance to them.”
In the six years, Karen was with the Miller organization,
she was the top producer in the division company-wide for
three years. She was also singularly recognizable in the
marketplace because she was the only one that was of the
female gender.
Scaling the Growth with New Opportunities
In 1989, Karen’s office was closed down, and she was
looking for opportunities that would enable her to maximize
her value to the real estate industry. She joined hands with
two other gentlemen involved in real estate and formed a
corporation called The ReGroup Advisors Inc. It was a
woman-owned company, and women and minorities were
given preference in opportunities by the federal government
at that time.
At that time, the RTC and FDIC owned a lot of real estate
that they needed to dispose off, and they sent a request for
proposal to various real estate companies to assist them.
There were additional points for being a woman or a
minority.
Karen recounts the time, “So my partners let me own all the
stock, and they had profits participations. As a result, we
got the opportunity to handle a great deal of real estate for
the government. I learned a great deal, particularly about
retail, land, office, as well as industrial.”
Karen has witnessed the rise and fall of the real estate
market multiple times in her career. She has worked as the
head of a division in various companies, but she was never
afforded the opportunity to be the owner of the said
company. It was in 2016 that she met the partners of
Emersons while she was selling them a piece of land. They
asked her if she was willing to open an office for them in
Tarrant County in partnership. Hence, that is how Karen
became the owner and partner of the Emersons Tarrant
County.
Understanding the Secrets of Success & Growth
It is known that to achieve success, putting the client’s
needs first is necessary. But big companies often lose sight
of that goal and instead become driven by the bottom line.
Karen resists that type of thinking. She thinks that
Emersons’ success is due to the willingness of employees to
be willing to show up when it's not convenient, to continue
educating themselves beyond the required hours, and to
assist clients in any form, even if it meant they required less
space.
She says, “In other words, how can you meet the needs of
the people that you are working for, and how can you
continue to improve your own performance? I think that
sort of sets us apart, to some degree, from the big
companies that sort of have a role model that you need to
We try to con nue to
educate ourselves so that we have a
good story to tell, that we know the
market, and that we are able to convince
people that we're a good choice.
We’re not necessarily a be er choice
because we’ve reached you,
but we’re a be er choice because
we’re willing to go the extra mile.

16. follow. I think that you need to see how each situation may
be different and how you can best meet the needs of those
different situations.”
Emerson realtors make sure that somebody is available for
the clients anytime, unlike many other commercial realtors.
Karen says, “If you need to see a property on Saturday, I
might not be available, but someone else in the company
may be. That means I actually have to split my fee because
I’m asking somebody else to do something for my clients.
We do it. We try not to put ourselves first.”
Karen also prefers to do as much business face-to-face as
possible. Her office does a lot of cold calling on the phone
and door knocking. She says, “I don't think anything is
nearly as successful as a face-to-face dialogue with tenants
or potential tenants. I think it is very rare that we get hired
by people we’ve never met. So, I think it’s important that we
continue for growth purposes, to outreach as much as we
can on a face-to-face basis.”
Karen continues, “We also try to continue to educate
ourselves so that we have a good story to tell, that we know
the market, and that we are able to convince people that
we’re a good choice. We’re not necessarily a better choice
because we’ve reached you, but we’re a better choice
because we’re willing to go the extra mile.”
The values at Emersons are to be as successful as
economically possible without reducing the service that is
needed to be provided for clients. The realtors are very
client-oriented in their outlook and never try to take
advantage economically of someone with whom they do
business.
Karen shares her wisdom, “I have been doing this for so
long that the old saying what goes around comes around
has some real value. People will look to renew their
business opportunities with you if they always know that
you're going to give them a fair shake.”
Surmounting the Adversities
Currently, the real estate market is facing a lot of
challenges. Karen is of the opinion that the biggest problem
that they need to overcome is fear of the unknown.
“What is the future going to hold? How long will interest
rates stabilize? What effect does it have on mortgages?
People, for example, in the residential market have to
consider that six months ago, they could get a residential
loan at 2% lower or more than they are able to do it today.
So that has an effect on the home acquisition, but it also has
an effect psychologically on their business. How are they
able to make business decisions when they’re so insecure
about their own personal decisions?”
Plans for the Future
“My plan is to help the people who work with me to secure
business so that they are more comfortable. To help the
people that work with me to row the boat. It means if
they’re here working with me, I feel the necessity to help
them work for themselves. And hopefully, we will grow our
business. Our volume of business. Together,” concludes
Karen.
My plan is to help the people
who work with me to secure
business so that they are more
comfortable. To help the
people that work with me to
row the boat.

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24. We strive towards a
common
organizational
objective that is
geared towards
providing the
highest level of
customer service
and achieving
excellent business
outcomes while
doing so.
“
“
Diana Magariu
CEO
Key One Realty Group
March 2023 | 22 | www.insightssuccess.com

25. Diana
Magariu
A Staunch Leader
with Significant Traits
he world of real estate is transforming every day.
TNew solutions have solved many traditional
challenges, permanently raising the bar when it
comes to project quality and speed. That means client
expectations are sky-high, and today’s leaders can’t afford
to get stuck in the past.
To successfully chart a course, real estate leaders need to
have a clear vision, not just for the organization and
operations ahead but for future challenges and opportunities
within the industry. Good leaders are masters of
anticipation: they see problems before they become
problems and they plan accordingly.
Any team feeds off its leader’s passion and expectations.
Under a strong leader, workers understand their
responsibilities and their role in overall operations. When
employees are contributing to the cause of a leader they
believe in, they work efficiently and diligently. That’s how
great leaders drive results and morale at the same time.
Thriving with such exceptional traits, Diana Magariu,
CEO of Key One Realty Group, is driving
transformations in the dynamic real estate industry. Under
her staunch leadership, Key One Realty Group excels as the
premier real estate solution provider of high-quality
services tailored to its client’s specific requirements.
In an interview with Insights Success, Diana shares
valuable facts highlighting her professional tenure and her
journey in the real estate niche.
Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Brief us about your career path as a staunch woman
leader up until your current position.
I first started in the banking industry in Italy and then
decided to take the opportunity to travel to Dubai to explore
different career options. I worked in the powerboat racing
industry and after some time transferred to work in F&B in
sales. That’s where I discovered my talent for sales.
During that time, Dubai real estate was starting to boom,
and as a curious person, I studied the ins and outs of the
industry and began selling until I started to see great
success and decided to do it full-time. I started a small
brokerage company with few skilled agents, and now we
have 4 divisions under Key One Realty Group operating in
the industry for 16 years.
What challenges did you face along the way?
During the course of our business, we faced 2 major world
crises that put a lot of companies out of business.
But we always found the opportunity in the midst of these
challenges and have been able to come out on top. I find
that the tough times had given us more blessings and we are
able to build back stronger.
Enlighten us on how you have impacted the Real Estate
industry through your expertise in the niche.
When I established my company in 2007, I ensured that
Key One was built on a solid structure. We had a proper
business model with strong control and planning on our
financial resources.
During that time, there were a lot of companies that opened
for the purpose of making “fast money,” where they
reinvested whatever profit or commission they got into a
new property in the hopes of selling it in the next 2 weeks
for more. This became a cycle, so when the market
collapsed in 2009, their funds got stuck, and they did not
have enough liquid assets to support them.
Since Key One had the right foundations in place, we could
The 10 Women Business Leaders Transforming Real Estate
March 2023 | 23 | www.insightssuccess.com

26. navigate these circumstances—not only allowing us to
overcome the crisis successfully but also helping our clients
reduce the damages to their investment portfolios. We
provided continuous support that led to strong business
relationships and produced loyal clients who are still with
us.
My story has also inspired women in the industry and those
who want to join the industry. The fact that I have
established my place successfully proves that women can
do anything they set their minds on as long as they have a
clear vision and work hard towards it.
Tell us about Key One Realty group and its foundation
pillar.
Vision
We strive towards a common organizational objective that
is geared towards providing the highest level of customer
service and achieving excellent business outcomes while
doing so.
People and culture
We believe in diversity and respect, and we aim to make
our employees’ time with us fulfilling and purposeful.
Practices and values
We provide the highest level of customer service with full
transparency and integrity every step of the way.
Experience and expertise
Our team of professionals are experts in their own rights in
their roles at Key One. We continuously learn from the
market and empower ourselves with new information,
trends, and knowledge to provide our customers with the
most accurate and timely information they will need in their
real estate journey.
Goals and benchmarks
We have internal and external benchmarks and goals
towards achieving customer satisfaction and business
outcomes.
Sustainability and Innovation
We believe in incorporating new and innovative product
offerings, techniques, and ideas to ensure that our products
and services are competitive and beneficial to the customers
and the company.
What strategies do you implement to promote gender
diversity for various positions at Key One Realty group?
Gender has no merit in Key One. What we look at are the
capabilities of the person and their skills and potential. In
fact, our company is open to anyone, whether they have
experience or not.
If you take a closer look, we have a lot of young people
working in the front and back end. A lot of them did not
have any previous experience, but we saw their eagerness to
learn so we provided them with a place to thrive and prove
themselves.
That is actually one of the reasons why we started “Key
One Academy.” We launched a training and development
workshop with the vision of upskilling real estate agents –
both new and experienced.
What is your take on technology's importance, and how
are you leveraging it?
Buying and selling properties, as well as managing them
has never been easier. Technology has truly advanced the
real estate sector, and Key One is using its full potential to
make the lives of our clients and our employees easier.
Because of technology, we have increased efficiency and
integrity with our clients. We have managed to expand into
markets we have never been to because of its unlimited
reach. And we have negated the hassle and inconvenience
of having to leave your house just to invest.
What are your goals in the upcoming future?
We want to expand into more markets outside of the UAE.
So far, we have managed to tap into Russia, Italy, Lebanon,
France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman. But this year, we
want to focus on Belgium, Austria, and Romania.
What advice would you give to the next generation of
women leaders willing to venture into the modern
business arena?
Never let your gender or age stop you from exploring your
career or business options. At the end of the day, you have
to do what is best for your future and listening to the
limitations or what people are saying about what you can
and can’t do will only hinder you from reaching your
potential and goals.
Always have the courage to pursue your passion and work
hard towards your goals.
March 2023 | 24 | www.insightssuccess.com

28. Jacqui
Crapp
Crapp
Crapp
The Exemplar of
Client Experience
elling a property is not just about selling a piece of
Sland but engaging with the hopes, dreams, and
ambitions that a customer has with that property.
While a good realtor has to have a thorough understanding
of the local housing market, a great realtor also manages to
build and keep customer relationships while delivering
clients their dream property.
Embodying these characteristics and more is Jacqui
Crapp, Director of Raine & Horne Berry & Nowra. She
has two decades of experience in the industry with expertise
in negotiation, the local property market in Berry, an ability
to produce top-tier results, and a great devotion to detail.
The Raine & Horne Group is a fourth-generation
Australian-owned family business that provides a
comprehensive and integrated range of property services. It
is continually rated as one of Australia’s highest-profile real
estate groups and is also an official Australian Superbrand.
Within Australian real estate, the Raine & Horne network
comprises hundreds of offices nationally and
internationally. It is an award-winning network that sells
more than $10 billion worth of property each year and
manages over 72,000 properties across Australia.
In an exclusive interview with Insights Success, Jacqui
Crapp shares her challenges on the journey to becoming a
leader in the industry and the impact she has brought to her
region by supplying impeccable services.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Briefly describe your professional journey up until now.
I joined Raine and Horne Berry as a Property Manager,
coming from a banking career in Home Finance and
Commercial banking of 21 years. I started in property
management, looking after only 16 properties at the time.
As I am not very good at being idle, I grew the PM
portfolio to 155 in just over 12 months.
During this time, I started to do some open homes to help
the sales team and found that I really enjoyed sales. From
there, I transitioned from PM to sales. About three years
later, when my principal, Alex Cochrane, was thinking
about retiring, I bought 50 % of the business. When he fully
retired, he bought into the Nowra and Berry offices with his
son Jared and his wife, Emma Cochrane.
So, I transitioned from Property Manager to Director of two
offices. The team in Berry has grown over that time from 6
to 13 staff.
What challenges did you face along the way?
I faced so many challenges on the way. Time management
was one. When you are looking after 15 sales properties and
155 PM properties, I had to learn that I could not do it all
and had to choose where I wanted to go in the industry. I
also had to learn to trust that my clients would be looked
after by someone else – letting go and trusting is hard when
you have built the relationship.
I learned that it's ok to fail so long as you learn from it.
We now have a thriving office, the Number 1 market share
in the Berry region, and multiple awards. But this really
means nothing if you are not looking after your clients and
staff.
Also learned that there are always new technologies coming
along, but not all of them will work for your business.
Don’t be afraid to admit something is not working and pull
the pin. Staff would prefer you acknowledge that you were
The 10 Women Business Leaders Transforming Real Estate
March 2023 | 26 | www.insightssuccess.com

29. The client is at the heart of
all we do. Through our
services, we feel we have
lifted the service levels in
our area, so other areas have
had to also lift theirs to
compete, which resulted in a
better experience for all our
clients.
Jacqui Crapp
Director
Raine & Horne Berry & Nowra
March 2023 | 27 | www.insightssuccess.com

30. March 2023 | 28 | www.insightssuccess.com

31. What will be the next significant change in the Real
Estate industry, and how are you preparing for it?
Whilst technology is great – it is also our biggest enemy.
The only thing we have over technology is the human
element. We can create and nurture a relationship that
technology cannot. We have to remain relevant and
demonstrate that we bring value to the table. Disruptors will
come and go. We have to remember that people remain at
the core of our transaction – and we must not lose sight of
that. We have to keep reinventing ourselves as an industry
to be relevant to the consumer.
What are your goals in the upcoming future?
To continue to grow our brand in our local region. As a
team, we would like to organically grow our rent roll from
225 to 350. Of course, if any rent rolls were to come up for
sale, we would be interested.
We would also like to grow the sales team by another two
agents in the next 12 months.
What advice would you like to give the next generation
of aspiring business leaders?
Resilience. I think that business is a lot harder than people
think. There will be good and bad times. We are in an
industry where you just can’t take it to heart. You will lose
out at an appraisal; you will lose a listing you couldn’t sell;
you just have to get up and dust yourself off and remember
that tomorrow is a new day. Be proud of your work and go
home and sleep well at night.
wrong than keep trying to force something to work.
What significant impact have you brought to the Real
Estate industry?
Keeping it real. That the client is at the heart of all we do.
Not the records or the number of sales, but how we impact
each and every person we interact with, and this is what
drives us each day. We feel we have lifted the service levels
in our area, and other areas have had to also lift theirs to
compete, which results in a better client experience for all
our clients.
What methodologies do you implement that contribute
to new growth opportunities?
In our industry, it is all about relationships. All new growth
comes from servicing our clients where they are, with what
they need. Whether that is reaching them face to face or
through AI technology– we have a comprehensive contact
program that keeps us constantly talking to our client base.
We can’t help them if we don’t know where they are up to
in their property journey.
Tell us about Raine & Horne Berry & Nowra and its
foundation pillar.
Our motto is to put “people before property”– this is our
clients, our staff, and our community. We have three pillars
– honesty, transparency, and being clients’ trusted advisors.
This is what all our business is based on. Fundamentally, if
we are working with people and it does not serve this, then
we do not do it. Sometimes not all business is good
business!
What is your take on technology’s importance, and how
are you leveraging it?
We use AI for our sales advertising and database
management – contacting our 30,000-plus database to
ensure we are keeping our clients updated and remaining
relevant with them.
The leaps and bounds in Property Management technology
have meant that timesaving allows our property managers
to have much deeper and more rewarding relationships with
our landlords that go above maintenance and rent
conversations. We get to help plan their property journey
and work with them on growing their property portfolios as
we all are working on their goals.
March 2023 | 29 | www.insightssuccess.com