Episode 310 – Sara Sutachan – Senior Vice President Of Member Information, California Association Of REALTORS®

Leadership is more than just a skill; it’s a value that becomes ingrained when acquired. This episode features another great leader, Sara Sutachan. She is the Senior Vice President of Member Information for the California Association of REALTORS®. As head of the department, she is highly involved in the association’s strategic planning. Sara has successfully created several programs and strategic initiatives for its members. In this episode, she talks to Bill Risser about what is happening in the CHR. Listen in to know more about the changes she’s seen in the industry and what she aims to improve moving forward. --- Sara Sutachan - Senior Vice President Of Member Information, California Association Of REALTORS® I'm going to be talking to Sara Sutachan, Senior Vice President of Member Information for the California Association of REALTORS. One of the largest associations in the country. We both grew up in Southern California. I have a few questions about that and then a lot of questions about what's happening at CAR? What are some of the changes she's seen? What are some of the things she sees moving forward? It's going to be a very fun conversation and let's get the thing started. Sara, welcome to the show. Hi, everyone. It's such a pleasure to have you here. I've we tried to connect a little while ago during the pandemic. It was right during the lockdown in California was very severe with the lockdown. Is that a pretty correct assumption there? It was crazy. I'm in Florida. We've been doing whatever we want for like a year. I did some research and I see that you've been with the California Association of REALTORS for many years. You went to school in California and I'm going to assume you're a California native. How did I? You did research. Where did you grow up? What part of the start? In Los Angeles and if any of your readers are old enough to know about the movie, Valley Girl, that was me. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, which is a suburb of Los Angeles. You're telling me you've been to the Galleria. I grew up at the Galleria. I'm thinking about it, that movie came out right about the right time for you. All of my cousins in the Midwest, on my mom's side, were like, "Talk like a Valley girl." I was like, "I don't know how to do that. That's normal me." [caption id="attachment_4169" align="aligncenter" width="600"] California Association Of Realtors: Real estate associations are unique because the board is so large, which allows for a lot of power in policy initiatives.[/caption]   I grew up in San Diego. I was there for almost 40 years. Earthquakes were a part of my life and your life growing up. They were a part of it. You talk to people back East who go through hurricanes and tornadoes, but earthquakes freak them out even more. You went to Cal State Northridge at one point in time. In Northridge, there was an earthquake in the early '90s, '91 or '92. Was that a part of your life? Were you in town at that time? I know it was early in the morning. It's funny you ask. I remember vividly I graduated high school in 1993, but that earthquake was in '94. I was still living at home and I had younger siblings. I remember trying to run in the house while it was moving and I swear to God, I felt like I was not moving anywhere. The floor was going under. It disappeared. I was running it and not moving. It was weird. I went to take care of my younger siblings and I stuffed them under the bed. I did everything you shouldn't do in an earthquake. I got them secured. I wasn't smart about it, but we didn't stand under a doorway. Growing up, we used to have these earthquake drills where you would go under your desk and hold on, so I didn't do that. I stuffed them under a secure bed. They were little. We had a lot of earthquake damage and there were so many people. There was that apartment that crushed people. It was scary. The whole neighborhood got together and helped each other turn their gas off. It was a community-building experience I have to say. It was funny. My parents are divorced and we ended up staying at my dad and stepmom's house. My mom being at her ex-husband and new wife's house. It was weird, but it was a community. We were all in it together. It's what people had to do. I'm old enough to remember 1971, another big one up in the LA area. I was sitting on the ground. I was ten years old at the time. All I remember is there's a gopher coming up to bite me, but it wasn't. It was the ground shaking. It's so weird. You can't even explain it unless you've been through it. My grandmother was from Florida. She was from the New England area and she retired in Florida, and then when she couldn't live by herself, she moved in with us. She couldn't stand not knowing when an earthquake was coming. She didn't stay very long in California. Hurricanes are the opposite. For four days, you're waiting for it to get there. In her opinion, at least you knew it was coming. That's the unknown with earthquakes. I found something interesting in your background and I have to talk about this. This is my favorite part of the show. For a number of years, you worked at AutoZone. A great job for someone right out of high school or young. Working at an AutoZone can set you up for life because you know stuff about cars and you won't be that person that didn't know anything about an engine, cars, or whatever. Is that true? My claim to fame now is how to change my wiper blades. When in those rare occasions that it would rain in Southern California, I would change wiper blades at AutoZone. My kids love to tease me about AutoZone. They're like, "Get in the zone, AutoZone." It was a good experience. I agree with you. It taught me about standing up for myself being strong and a lot of times, a woman working at an auto parts place gets underestimated. It set me up and it strengthened the future of my career. That's cool that crossover happened. You're the only one that has asked me about AutoZone in my many years in the career at CAR. [bctt tweet="It is so important to build up the women we see as future leaders, tap them on the shoulder, and talk about them behind their backs in a positive way." username="billrisser"] You graduate from Cal State Northridge. Not very long after graduation that you start with the California Association of REALTORS. What was that impetus? What drew you into them? What's not in my LinkedIn and I hid this for a long time because I thought it was shameful. I worked for a commercial real estate broker for a hot minute after college and I hated it. I hated the environment. I hated the people I worked with, no disrespect. It was not the right place for me. I didn't put that on my LinkedIn. I didn't put that on my resume. I didn't even tell the people at CAR that I worked for a real commercial real estate broker because I didn't last very long. It was an embarrassment on my resume, but I will say what it did for me was taught me what I didn't want to do in the real estate side. I did not want to be in the commercial. I very quickly met Leslie Appleton-Young. I was like, "I know what I don't want, but she's who I want to work for. I want to be like her. I want to be her. I want to know her. I want to learn from her." That's why I got started at CAR. I was very green right out of college. I was taken by this fabulous woman who was boss in her own right and getting stuffed on. That's how I got started at CAR. That was several years ago. I started as an entry-level researcher. I was a data nerd. I call myself a recovering economist. You say that, but you got your Master's in Economics. I did. For many years, I was a research economist for the trade association. I am rooted in the data. It is what every single one of my initiatives is based on. It's looking at the data and spotting an opportunity in that data. That sounds geeky, but you can't argue with statistics. WomanUP is one example of that. When we look at the percentage of women in this industry, it's the majority by far 67% to 70% of realtors are women across the country, but when you look at the brokerage firms, the CEOs, the broker-owners, or principals, it was mainly men. Based on the data, we were able to create this initiative to help women take that next step in their careers. That is how I base everything. It's all rooted in data and facts. That'll be a part of your life forever. I'm sure once a data nerd, always a data nerd. I went the safer route in the industry and I have to give a huge shoutout to realtors who are pushing pavement every day and doing the work. I was so scared to go into that side of it and didn't like the commercial side. I...