As part of our Women's LEAD series, we’re profiling women in leadership at Nicola Wealth. The series continues with a look at women leaders in Real Estate with Stephanie Marshall, Director of the Value-Add Fund, who has been with the company since 2018. With a career in commercial real estate spanning more than 15 years, Stephanie reflects on her experiences prior to joining Nicola Wealth, and how personal and professional resilience has made her a stronger leader for others and for herself.
Embracing the Challenge: Stephanie Marshall
When faced with a difficult or unfamiliar situation, some people choose to retreat. Stephanie Marshall, Director of the Value-Add Fund, prefers to run towards it. “I'm always up for a challenge,” she says. “Sometimes it’s terrifying, but I’m a lifelong learner, and if I end up learning something from the experience, it’s worth it.”
Stephanie’s career is marked by bold moves—from volunteering at a non-profit in Kibaale, Uganda, to diving into her first professional job at a large commercial real estate brokerage firm, to joining a small start-up brokerage, to choosing to remain as the leasing manager for a clothing retailer that was closing its brick-and-mortar stores. At each stop along the way, she’s gained valuable insights into leadership and career development.
Sometimes, the discoveries have been as much about understanding what doesn’t work as what does, she remarks. “I learned what styles of leadership don’t work,” she says of some of her experiences, “which I think was equally as important as seeing examples of what did work to empower and set people up for collective success.”
Building a network of allies.
While in that first professional job, Stephanie joined CREW, an organization that supports women working in commercial real estate with networking, training and mentorship opportunities. “CREW was really valuable for me,” she says. “I started in real estate in the early 2000s, and there were not a lot of women in the industry. You would walk into big industry events, and it would be mostly men. It could be really intimidating. Then you walk into a CREW event as a young person, and the atmosphere was inclusive. I met people who were in leadership positions who could show me what I could aspire to. I built relationships with people that, over 18 years later, are trusted friends and allies in the industry.”
One of the senior women she connected with through CREW ended up being an important source of guidance when Stephanie was managing real estate for a prominent clothing retailer that was rapidly expanding its global footprint. As Stephanie began to see indications of the company winding down its footprint and looking to close stores, she sought advice from her during a networking event. “She said, well, you have several options, including looking for an opportunity while you still have a job, see if they will package you out, or, you could stay and ride it out—think about how much you’re going to learn by working the company out of leases, that’s a rare opportunity.”
Those words resonated, and Stephanie heeded the advice. “I gained so much by taking on the challenge and learning something, versus moving on to something else—which would have been much easier,” she reflects. Stephanie’s experience there has helped shape her approach to leadership. “I learned the most there about effective ways to lead with clear communication, respect for people's time, and the value of everyone working from the same playbook…. Part of the leadership skills I developed there, like how to manage and drive a team with various personalities, has really helped me in my career.”
Resiliency and balancing choices.
Another challenge she faced was leaving her first big job to care for her father when he became ill with ALS. “I was just starting out in the industry, and I was worried that if I quit, it would be a huge step back. I was quite young, ambitious, and I wanted to succeed,” Stephanie shares. “But it turns out that by quitting, I was able to spend a significant amount of quality time with my dad before he passed away that I wouldn’t have otherwise had. It really taught me that where you spend your time is what you value. And I would never have that time again.”
Stephanie got a call from a former colleague who was starting up a brokerage, and they invited her to work with them. Joining the startup was an eye-opening experience. “It was three young guys starting their own shop, and one thing I noted really early on was that they all had very complementary skill sets,” she recalls. “I saw the value of zeroing in on what you’re good at, letting go of what you’re not, and assembling a team with complementary skill sets built on different strengths. You can form something truly great by working together, and it was rewarding to be a part of that.”
Stephanie’s leadership journey was strengthened by learning about resilience when another unexpected challenge occurred in her personal life—suffering from a severe concussion caused by a bike accident. The concussion was followed by a long recovery period requiring time off work. Stephanie reflects that the time off taught the importance of self-care and focusing on positive outcomes and incremental progress. “That experience translated into my career, and how I approach complex problems. I focus on what matters by breaking the problem into smaller, manageable steps. Small improvements can add up to big strides forward.” She credits her resilience and authenticity gained from these experiences as one of her greatest leadership strengths.
Stephanie with NWRE colleagues in Montreal for the Gardenia-Quartier Vert project.
“There are times when slowing down and gaining perspective—even when you feel you can’t afford to—provides helpful insight and a clearer path to success. Working through the concussion has allowed me to listen and empathize with those who are working through challenges we can’t always see.”
Building effective partnerships.
Stephanie’s role at Nicola Wealth involves more than leading an internal team—it also requires her to manage an array of partners to keep projects on track. “In our Value Add merchant fund, we leverage relationships with development partners to either build ground-up projects or reposition properties and execute on a strategy to add value, typically within a three- to five-year time horizon,” she explains. “We have over 25 partners, and there are different nuances to their companies, their leadership styles, how they manage challenges, report, and provide the information we require.”
To successfully manage such a vast range of partners and stakeholders, Stephanie says she prioritizes authentic connection. “My role is to build trusted relationships with our development and capital partners to come alongside them as part of a team to support, brainstorm, and facilitate feedback to drive success. This not only means monitoring the progress of those projects but asking difficult questions, ensuring they’re delivering on the agreed-upon strategy or to pivot as needed. I need to build that trust with them early on, so they're not afraid to pick up the phone and call me if they anticipate something going wrong or need to leverage our internal resources. Because we need to know so we can tackle the problems head-on—together.”
Lifelong learning.
Today, Stephanie continues to apply the lessons she’s learned throughout her career in her role at Nicola Wealth, which she joined in 2018 as an asset manager before rising to her current role as Value-Add fund director in 2022. Here, she says she’s had the opportunity to forge her path as a leader.
“I am fortunate to work alongside some amazing talented real estate professionals at Nicola, many of whom are trusted peers,” she says. “What I specifically love about our real-estate group is our contingent of women in Asset Management. It is a privilege to work alongside Stephanie Loucas, Roz McQueen, Meaghan Sarazin and Liz Firer-Gillespie. They are just a few of the women in our group that inspire and encourage me.”
Today, as she reflects on her journey, Stephanie says she’s embraced an attitude of fearlessness and encourages other women to do the same.
