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October is Women's Small Business Month, and there's no better way to kick off this month-long celebration than recognizing the impact of women in Commercial real estate. Women are dominating the real estate scene, from assuming senior roles to even setting up agencies with their own teams. They are carving their place, and they are doing it unapologetically in heels! For many years, real estate was considered a male-dominated industry. But these five outstanding women have proved that Women do get the job done. They have changed the game to become a contending force in the industry and have closed multiple deals on multi-million dollar properties.

Barbara Cocoran

Barbara Cocoran is a renowned American businesswoman and Tv personality. She founded the real estate agency The Cocoran Group in 1973. At a time where owning a real estate brokerage was unfamiliar territory for women, Babara took on her competitors and made her company a nationwide success. In 2001, she sold the company to NRT for $66 million. She continues to share her experience and knowledge of real estate through her social media and countless interviews. Barbara's contribution as a woman in the real estate industry left a lasting impact on other women. She bridged the gap for other women to pass through. She was the CEO of a major real estate brokerage. A 2012 study by Fortune Survey shows that only 19 percent of women were on the board of directors in a real estate company, and only about 12% of women held top positions. Since Babara's contribution, we have had many SHEO's rise within the commercial real estate industry. However, the statistics still need improvement. With help from real estate women empowerment bodies like CREW, women are making their mark and advancing in the industry by developing leadership skills and other abilities to help them in their careers.

Letty Bierschenk

Letty Bierschenk began her career in commercial real estate over 35 years ago. In 1970, she worked as a cleric at Coldwell Banker Commercial's Los Angeles office. Her job consisted of secretarial duties and getting coffee for the men who worked in the office. The men were allowed to carry their coffees to their desks while she had to drink hers in the lounge. She says, back then, women just weren't hired in commercial brokerage, except in clerical and accounting. But that didn't stop Letty Bierschenk from climbing up the ranks to become the company's only woman vice president in commercial brokerage and managed national activities for the Investment Marketing Services Division. Letty saw firsthand how difficult it was to move up the ranks as a woman in the real estate industry. She says whenever the big guys upstairs needed a manager, they automatically looked at a man! Although overlooked and underpaid, she worked hard and earned her position as the first female Senior Vice president of Coldwell Banker Commercial.

Leslie D. Hale

Real estate companies have been appointing more women to their boards and executive ranks in recent years. Still, they are lagging on racial diversity. Leslie D. Hale made history as the first African-American woman to lead a public real estate investment trust. Hale is the CEO of RLJ Lodging Trust. She says her journey to the top hasn't been easy, but she is glad to be the first African-American woman to achieve an executive role in the commercial real estate industry. This shows how slow-paced the real estate industry really is when accepting women at top-level positions. Still, women are breaking strides all over the nation. Hale started her rise at firms such as General Electric Capital Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.