NAREB CELEBRATES WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH WITH FIRESIDE CHAT WITH WOMEN OF IMPACT
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Wells Fargo EVP Georgette Dixon Featured in Session
CHARLOTTE, NC – RealEstateRama – Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Wells Fargo EVP Georgette Dixon headlined a celebration of women’s societal contributions at the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) Midwinter Convention. Wells Fargo sponsored the session.
The “Fireside Chat with Women of Impact “came after the release of NAREB’s 2023 Women Investing in Real Estate (W.I.R.E) report, which found that between 1990 and 2019, Black women increased homeownership by 5.6%, becoming the largest segment of new Black homeowners. Their third report also found that Black women enjoyed significant educational, employment, and entrepreneurship gains.
Initiating the session on impactful women, Dr. Courtney Johnson Rose, NAREB’s President, said the W.I.R.E report “gives us a robust collection of data that allows us to look at the African American female homebuyer; we can track her age. We get to track her income, we track her marital status, we track her spending habits, and we’re able to draw conclusions from that data and gain an understanding of what her needs are.”
Further, Dr. Rose said the information allows NAREB to develop programs and initiatives to help Black women become homebuyers.
Noting that March is the launch of Women’s History Month, Mayor Lyles said, “This month is a time that I encourage the women that are in our city, no matter what your employment is or where you are right now, to know that we care about where you’re going, not where you’ve come from.”
Mrs. Dixon recalled moving to a segregated community in Greenville, South Carolina, and becoming a student leader at Tennessee State University. There, she led the fight to prevent a merger with the University of Tennessee at Nashville, which would have jeopardized its HBCU legacy. Mrs. Dixon added that she was able “to become a leader in school and to go to college and become a leader, and all of that led to the corporate career that I have today.”
Mayor Lyles and Mrs. Dixon demonstrate the strides women, especially Black women, make in American society.
The W.I.R.E. report documented the economic gains that paved the way for the success enjoyed by Black women, who comprise 6.3% of the nation’s population, 52% of the African American population, and 12.5% of all women. Moreover, 63.4% of African American women over 16 are active in the labor force, and 89.3% of Black women have graduated high school or its equivalent.
Black women are also making tremendous strides as entrepreneurs. According to recent data, businesses owned by Black women grew by 50% between 2014 and 2019, with Black Women accounting for 42% of all women who opened new businesses during that period. In 2021, 17% of Black women were starting a new business – 7% more than White women and 2% more than White men.
(For print or broadcast interviews with NAREB President Courtney Johnson Rose, contact Michael Frisby, 
ABOUT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REAL ESTATE BROKERS
NAREB was formed in 1947 to secure equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or color. NAREB has advocated for legislation and supported or instigated legal challenges that ensure fair housing, sustainable homeownership, and access to credit for Black Americans. Simultaneously, NAREB advocates for and promotes access to business opportunities for Black real estate professionals in each real estate discipline. From the past to the present, NAREB remains an association proud of its history, dedicated to its chosen struggle, and unrelenting in its pursuit of the REALTIST®’s mission/vision embedded goal, “Democracy in Housing.”
Contact:
Michael K. Frisby
