Hello WomanUP!® Community!
This week's wonderful welcome is for Zina Hall:
Real Estate Broker, Minister of the Gospel, Entrepreneur, Mother, Friend. Boss Warrior Princess
Favorite Quote : “Always go where you're celebrated, never tolerated.”
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Welcome to the show, Zina!
Tell us about the journey to your current role as Broker Owner of HALL & HALL ? Were you recruited or did you ask for it?
This journey was not planned.
I attended UC Berkeley in the 1980’s right out of high school and was pursuing my dream of becoming a General Practitioner, yes! However, my path veered and took me as a capture--my destiny is still evolving. I, by default, entered into the banking industry through one of my mom’s best friends, became a supervisor within 6 months and then the right hand to VP of Bank of America BankCard Services (then introductory Versatel). Everything else is history. I found out that I was what the industry and head-hunters call an Operations Expert...can you believe it? Someone had to tell me. That track record led me from BofA to Kaiser Permanente TPMG, to Avery Dennison (Levi Strauss SF), to Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Who would have thunk it.
Novartis wanted me to relocate to New England--no way. They sent me to Cambridge during a show storm, seriously??? NO way, I couldn’t handle the snow. They would have paid me handsomely but it wasn’t for me. I’d planned weddings and upscale events for years with my church and for friends and family so II opened my own company in downtown SF.
Believe it or not, MTV Sweet 16 and People Magazine contacted me for events I and my company (which included my partner college student daughter) had “produced”. One event won an award and actually rivaled the then Governor Jerry Brown’s 2nd wedding I was told. I saw the pictures. (shhhh)
During what should have been an amazing phase of my life, I ended up in a divorce after 25 years to my high school sweetheart (he’s now deceased). We had one child (a graduate of San Francisco State) and I am a very proud grandma to one 8 year old granddaughter. My world shifted. I’m a real estate broker brokering a business I love, employing and training new agents and I’m ecstatic. All the books, tapes, functions, trainings, associations, mentorships kicked in. Time to take the reigns. Then a dear friend introduced and personally trained me in real estate, introduced me to CCAR Leadership and there you have it.
Amidst a pandemic, I’m helping others thrive. I have 5 agents in training right now. Go figure.
What advice do you have for other women considering stepping into a leadership role like yours?
Change your lens. Adversity, unexpected change, shifts only come to position you for YOUR next level. If you see it as opposition, resistance and an omen to “you’ll never make it”--that is what it will be. However, if you can see the challenge as THE NEXT LEVEL (game voice), then you may lead, encourage, inspire, propel and shoulder up others. One of my peer managers at BofA, “Jill” was amazing. In her cube, she had “JUST DO IT” posted everywhere. I asked her why. She said ‘when I’m worried about how, and am unsure if I can, and others around me expect me TO, I go thru the fear and “JUST DO IT!”’ Wow!
What topics do you love to mentor others on and teach?
DREAM and envision big. When the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count. ~Unknown. There are scriptures that state that without a vision my people perish. If you can’t see yourself coming through, thriving, and WHATEVER “that” is, you may very well die in that season. But envision yourself coming thru. OMG!
What is your most treasured advice from a mentor?
My late dad, Pastor Sam Jackson said “don’t become common”. Use your knowledge wisely. He didn’t say this but I translated it to this. If you have the gift of using a tool but you fail to practice how to wield it, you do yourself and those you protect an injustice. That’s a Zina-ism.
Was there anything else you'd like to share during our chat?
You all are prodigious leaders. What does THAT mean? Gigantic, Herculean, king-size… leaders. Meeting and being with you through Women’s Council of REALTORS has made an indelible impression on me. DON’T SUPPRESS THE MOXIE! We never fail, we just learn.
The charity she is passionate about:
National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. San Francisco Chapter
How to connect with Zina:
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