How Canada's First All-Female Development Team Was Created with Taya Cook, Dir. of Development Urban Capital & Sherry Larjani, President of Spotlight Development
Welcome back to the She’s Wild Podcast! I am so excited to introduce you all to Taya Cook and Sherry Larjani. Taya Cook is the Director of Development at Urban Capital where she has played a lead role in developing condominium projects and seeing them through to completion across Canada. Sherry Larjani is an experienced real estate developer and entrepreneur, who’s main focus is to create beautifully designed spaces that bring her visions to life. Sherry is the President and founder of her own real estate development firm, Spotlight Development Inc.
On today's episode of She’s Wild, I sit down with Taya Cook and Sherry Larjani to discuss their 9-story, 200-unit, condominium project, Reina. Sherry and Taya are inspiring female leaders in the real estate industry who have managed to carve out their own niche, despite being surrounded by males.
These amazing ladies share stories throughout their careers that helped to inspire them to form the first, all-female development team in Canada to build the Reina condo project in Toronto, Ontario. Reina, named after the Spanish word for “queen,” is about leading women building a better condo by doing things differently — through community collaboration, new perspectives, and a commitment to multigenerational living.
I loved sitting down with these ladies and can’t wait for you to hear the entire episode!
Memorable Moments:
7:22- Sherry L: “I wanted to show everyone on the site working with me that I can be just like them. I am an equal. I am willing to do the hard work, or pick up that piece of metal, or wood, or drywall, or whatever the case is.”
9:08- Taya C: “I think being a woman working in this industry for so many years to not have one woman who's at the top, or is highlighted in such an obvious way, it was upsetting, it was really upsetting.”
11:12- Taya C: “I think a lot of people look at the industry and say, “Oh, now there's lots of women who work in it.” But when you actually look at the leadership, roles and positions, there really isn't. And the people who are making decisions on these huge projects, typically, it's a roomful of men.”
22:08- Sherry L: “I think we carried that throughout the project, even sitting around the table, all of the consultants, if they had something to say, we were willing to hear it. And you know, it wasn't just a saying. We actually paid attention and tried to see how we could incorporate it into our design.”
23:33- Taya C: “I could ramble on for like an hour of all the details. But I think the main thing for the building was that it would be a space where it was accommodating to all age groups and to families specifically.”
26:20- Sherry L: “You have to have confidence in your own abilities, whatever those are, whatever you're good at, because if you don't have that confidence, and if you're lacking it, you can't sit at a table and prove a point, because if you can't talk the talk, nobody's going to take you seriously. And if you don't have the confidence, then you won't be able to carry a conversation and answer questions.”
29:14- Taya C: “Because especially most of us who, you know, are not going to put ourselves in risky positions are not going to really put ourselves out there. We can really afford to put ourselves out there at least a little bit more, and just go for something instead of just waiting until we're 100% sure it's the right decision.”
Connect with Taya Cook:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taya.cook17/
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/taya-cook-55382b32/
Website: http://www.urbancapital.ca/
Connect with Sherry Larjani:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slarjani/
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/sherry-larjani-37644949/
Website: https://www.spotlightdevelopment.com/
Learn more about their project Reina:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reinacondos/
Websites: https://www.reinacondos.com/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/business/women-real-estate-development.html
https://www.reminetwork.com/articles/eight-women-transforming-canada-multi-residential/
Connect with Nancy:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nancysurak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancysurak/
Website: www.nancysurak.com
She's WILD Sound Production by:
Luke Surak, Surak Productions: surakproductions@gmail.com
