Origin Stories: Grandma Part 2
In thinking about starting Kean Communications, the example of my grandma loomed large for me. She (the absolute stunner pictured here) started her own real estate company at the age of 27, in 1946.
In an era when women could not get a mortgage or buy a home, it was not until 1974 that women could get a mortgage without her husband or male co-signer. This is outrageous, but I digress. So, how did a young woman in the 1940s establish and run a successful real estate company for 15 years?
Resilience - In general, I’m pretty anxious. My grandma was always one to advise action and getting back up when I felt knocked down. She was the epitome of resilience. She lost her mother when she was nine, lived through the Great Depression, left an abusive marriage when the stigma around divorce was strong, worked on Swan Island helping to build ships during WWII, had a daughter and started her own business as a single mom.
Provide value - As a woman in an era of rampant sexism, she knew she had to find a way to stand out and be taken seriously. One major thing that she said she did was to make connections with banks and lenders. The other crucial piece was learning about VA loans, which were new back then - it became part of the GI Bill of Rights in 1944, and there were a lot of returning service members looking to buy. This expertise gave her an advantage. She also chose to sell homes in the neighborhood she grew up in. She knew the schools, churches, parks, and the community well. Back then, this section of Southeast Portland had many Irish and Italian American families. My grandma was Irish American and really proud of it and loved her community.
I think resilience and cultivating ways of providing value is timeless. When the going gets tough, I try to remember her example and her saying, “this too shall pass” when I felt hopeless about a situation. In starting Kean Communications, I’m always thinking of unique ways to offer value to folks I may work with and hopefully follow grandma’s inspiring example.