Douglas Elliman Reaffirms Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with “Agents of Change” Discussion Program

In honor of Black History Month, five members of the Douglas Elliman community participated in a candid, at times emotional conversation about their personal and professional experiences as people of color working in residential real estate.

Held February 21 at 1 Hotel Central Park, the panel discussion was moderated by John Gomes, Co-Founder of The Eklund | Gomes Team, and featured Shakira CoPenny, Executive Manager of Sales at 111 Fifth Avenue, and top agents McKenzie Ryan, Brian Phillips and Randall Dolland.

Scott Durkin, President and CEO of Douglas Elliman Realty, began the program by expressing his hope that “we leave here today more empowered, more empathetic and more determined in bringing greater diversity to our agent body our management and executive teams, our staff and our industry as a whole.”

Gomes prefaced the discussion by citing a number of facts and statistics from the National Association of Realtors® that illustrate the scope of the diversity, equity and inclusion challenges facing the industry:

• Only 6 percent of real estate agents in the U.S. are black.
• White real estate agents earn three times as much income as their black colleagues.
• Median residential sales for white agents is $356,000, while median residential sales for black agents is $246,000.
• Median residential sales volume for white agents is nearly $2 million; for black agents, the figure is nearly $500,000.

The program was the inaugural event for “Agents of Change,” the company’s new conversation series designed to spotlight pressing social issues and celebrate the Elliman agents who are actively working to increase diversity and spark change in the real estate industry and society at large.

In addition to sharing stories about facing discrimination within the industry—from routine microaggressions to outright hostility—the panelists offered suggestions for how the industry can foster greater representation and opportunity among people of color.

Emphasizing that the event represented “Day One” in what necessarily will be an ongoing, often “uncomfortable” process, Lisa Seligman, Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Douglas Elliman, said, “Our vision is to offer a respectful and supportive workplace that enables us to attract and retain a diverse workforce that represents our customers and our communities.”

Douglas Elliman Reaffirms