by G. Sax, Director of Growth Management, RESO
Welcome to “Three Questions,” an interview series that introduces you to real estate industry professionals, their businesses and how they interact with standards. The goal here is to add a little humanity and fun to RESO.
This week, we sat with Nina Dosanjh, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer for Vanguard Properties, where she is tasked to improve efficiency in brokerage technology platforms and systems. She is also a REALTOR® and the vice-chair of the RESO Broker Advisory Workgroup. We chatted about the workgroup, bringing new faces into REtech and selfies. Enjoy!
Q1: What do you see as the most important function of the RESO Broker Advisory Workgroup, and how has it been successful in meeting its goals? Just as importantly, what could use more work?
Nina: The most important function is adding our perspective to the Pain Points conversation – bringing in the things that brokers are experiencing in their businesses. Many brokers do not have the technical voice at the local or even national level to be heard.
RESO has allowed us a path forward, and it has been successful! Recently, we have helped move an Agent/Office Biographical Information business case forward through the Research & Development Workgroup to the Data Dictionary Workgroup for inclusion into the Data Dictionary.
That might seem like a very basic thing, but we’ve been so focused on listing fields, and not necessarily on agent bio fields. Vanguard agents have their listings out there, but maybe because the agent hasn’t created an account on realtor.com, it’s just emptiness – no face, no contact information, no brokerage identity.
We should always be ready to go on photos/bios, and it would be nice if there were specific fields that could be filled at the entry point to always assure that an agent bio goes with a listing.
With this becoming a basic standard, it will actually give brokers more teeth when working with vendors. And it becomes more personal, too.
The job of the association is to create a fair and level playing field. Because brokers are the largest membership group, they don’t often have engineers and programmers. This simple change gives them some ability to have that.
Q2: You have been an advocate and a model of success for women in business and technology and for underrepresented communities. When did you set out on a path of influence and what can the wider real estate community truly do – not just say they are doing – to support the continuation of adding a variety of voices to power our industry forward?
Nina: I used to work for a title company and was an affiliate of the Bay East Association of REALTORS®. Bay East had a good volunteer mindset, and that became a conduit for deeper contribution.
There were so many people at Bay East Association of REALTORS® that created a nurturing environment for me that fueled further involvement. I became passionate about volunteer leadership because of what it gave me in return for what I gave it.
I eventually moved myself and my business to San Francisco, and the desire to participate moved right along with me. The local association became an excellent place to make connections with fellow REALTORS® and helped me grow my business.
At that time, the San Francisco Women’s Council of REALTORS® (WCR) network was struggling and Sherri Souza, who was the national president, encouraged me to become more involved. I became President of the San Francisco network of WCR in 2014.
Soon after that, I started down a leadership path at the San Francisco Association of REALTORS® (SFAR), culminating in becoming the first woman of color to become president in that association’s history.
I owe Walt Baczkowski, CEO of SFAR, and Jay Pepper-Martens, CTO of SFAR, a great deal for ushering me along that path. I had a mild lack of confidence in regards to my initial post within SFAR MLS leadership, but Walt and Jay brought me to conferences held by the Council of Multiple Listing Services, Inman, T3 Sixty, the National Association of REALTORS®, etc., and whatever Walt and others saw in me started to blossom.
It’s one thing to tell someone that you think they can do the job, but it’s quite another to show them. Meanwhile, they showed me that if you are willing to put in the work and if you are passionate about the work, you can go places in this industry.
I hope that this exemplifies that it takes a team of great thinkers to find more great thinkers. People like Walt, Jay and longtime industry consultant Saul Klein had such an influential role in my development. I wouldn’t have the job I have and love today without them. What they’ve taught me and how they’ve taught me has been so incredibly invaluable.
If you are in a leadership position, never stop looking for new leaders, new voices, new faces. We are out there and ready to go.
Q3: Your Instagram is the best in the business, period. Your group shots at industry events, “Death Before Decaf” Boomerangs and shared business-related affirmations are a highlight of my feed. Was this an intentional play, was it more organic and do you want to carry it over into other marketing realms (like TikTok or whatever comes after TikTok)?
Nina: I didn’t plan it. It just sort of happened. I was always someone who took photos, because I wanted to remember a period in time. I think pictures are a way to memorialize your own achievements – to show where you’ve been and where you’re going in life.
Social media allows you to show up whenever you want and tell your story however you want. But it is important to be authentic.
