@J. Martin
All great questions! I especially appreciate that you've taken the angle of curiosity, helpfulness, and willingness to be of service to the investor community.
1. Yes, I feel comfortable going to meetups. Did I always? No. I had to do a lot of self-work and mentorship to get to a place where I didn't feel inferior in a room of (powerful, wealthy, experienced, etc.) men.
2. YES! There are things that would make me much more comfortable going to meetups! They all relate to personal safety. Here are questions I ask myself all at once in the half-second I contemplate not going to any meetup: Am I going to have to walk in the dark? If so, how well-lit is the path? How close to the venue can I park? Is there going to be a restroom close-by that's not isolated from the event? If it's at night and BART accessible, is that really a viable transit option? Are there other women going that might want to carpool / travel together? Is it at a place where there will be rowdy/drunk/disrespectful people? These just aren't things men typically need to think about.
3. I don't mind going to meetups that are predominantly male. I can learn from anyone and I can teach anyone. In fact, I typically expect that I will be in the minority.
4. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to be explicitly welcoming to all stripes of folks.
5. Perhaps a meetup-within-a-meetup? For example, a large meetup for everyone with a break-out session for women to network with each other, and which men interested in networking with women can attend as well.
6. Different time of day or week... Personally, I'm much more likely to attend something that's during the day, for all of the reasons mentioned above. I'm not a parent, but I know parents, and night time events aren't as feasible (for men or women, but especially women). I like weekend events because with night events I inevitably get tired, have to leave, miss out on connections, and drive home sleepy.
7. I don't view it as sexist to specifically reach out to women.
8. I'm also surprised that nearly 40% of the attendees for the next meetup are women. But that's great! I'll be interested to find out what the final ratio is at the event (given that things come up at the last minute).
General observation: The higher up you look in real estate investment (or business, or finance, or management, or C-suites...) the fewer women there are. The playing field seems pretty accessible at the "first step" investment choices like SFR rental, 2-4 unit rental, etc. It's when we start talking about commercial property that women become much more of a minority. Since I have ambitions to build a portfolio of large multifamily properties, I'd love a networking group of successful female multifamily / mixed-use investors.
Last thing: I feel it's important to mention that I've benefited significantly from cultivating professional relationships and friendships relationships with male investors and mentors, especially YOU, J, and also @Brian Burke. I just want to re-iterate that regardless of sex, anyone is capable of teaching to and learning from others.
Great topic, great post! See you Thursday. :-)
