Emily Landry (00:07)
Hello and welcome to Whitley Penn Talks. This is the Whitley Penn Cares segment of our podcast where we interview local nonprofit organizations. I’m joined today by Cassie Walker, who is the president of CREW Fort Worth. Welcome, Cassie.

Cassie Walker (00:23)
Thank you. I’m so excited to be here.

Emily Landry (00:25)
So excited to have you. So Cassie is our first person to try out our new podcast recording. So we are actually not together in person, but we’re excited to have her here virtually with us. And I’m just so excited to talk to you about CREW Fort Worth. Many, many years ago when I got to work on Real Estate more, I got to be part of Crew Fort Worth. And Jennifer Grammer is very heavily involved with Crew Fort Worth.

Cassie Walker (00:54)
Yes.

Emily Landry (00:55)
I want to just start out and just let you talk about what CREW does in our local community and go from there.

Cassie Walker (01:08)
Yeah, so CREW Fort Worth is a premier organization of commercial real estate professionals affiliated internationally through membership and crew network. We provide opportunities for networking, education, leadership development, and are dedicated to advancing the achievements of women in commercial real estate.

I say that because that’s the easiest way to explain what we do in the broad spectrum, but just to get a little bit into details, we are an organization that understands that the industry and commercial real estate is minority for women, and we provide a safe place for women to network and to grow and to do deals together and understanding that we can all grow, learn, and be successful together.

We do that through having events like programs where we bring in either developments that are going on in the city. We bring in important economic development in the city of Fort Worth or in Tarrant County. We have leadership courses. We have dine-arounds. We have any kind of thing that you can think of where we can network and understand what each other do in the community and how we can help support one another. And I feel like that specific

thing, that specific environment is very, very specific to CREW Fort Worth. I don’t know any other networking group that has a mission that stays true to their mission and that can implement that in Fort Worth, specifically in Tarrant County. And of course, we are global. There are 15,000 members of CREW Network. And there’s, I think there’s 87 chapters now, so you also get a global reach through CREW Fort Worth through the crew network. So if you are doing a job in Oklahoma or Kansas or New Mexico, you have true networking capabilities in those area. And I also think that is very, very rare to have another network specifically have that.

Emily Landry (03:07)
I didn’t realize that it was so global. That’s really impressive and wonderful to hear. So how did you personally get involved with CREW?

Cassie Walker (03:12)
It really is.

That is such a fun story and that is such a cool story. I love telling it. I worked in Dallas for the beginning of my career and when I had the opportunity to come here in Fort Worth and get a commercial real estate job, I tell everyone it just felt like coming home. I’m from West Texas and I always wanted to be in this community and when the opportunity arose, I jumped on it. I was a new lender specifically in commercial real estate so I didn’t really know where to get started, where to go find business. I didn’t have a book, I didn’t have a portfolio. And it was with a newer bank that was trying to build its footprint in Fort Worth. my manager at the time said, you need to know CREW Fort Worth. Let me introduce you to Norma Crowe, now Norma Matledge. And right away she took me to breakfast and said, I’m gonna take you to a luncheon, you’re gonna be my guest. And she even said, I can’t explain it.

I just, you need to go see what CREW Fort Worth is all about. So at the time, I was stepping into this new world of real estate lending, right? And it was a new industry for me and like anyone entering unfamiliar territory, I was excited, I was uncertain, I didn’t know what to expect. But at the moment I walked through those doors, immediately something shifted in me. I was welcomed with open arms, not just as a guest, but someone who truly belonged.

And the energy in that room was so electric. I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it. It was women supporting women, sharing knowledge, building each other up. And I felt at ease, inspired. You kind of feel empowered in a way that you can’t really explain either. And that day was just another networking event to some people. But to me, it was the beginning of a journey that today would define my career and define my leadership path.

It showed me the power of mentorship and sponsorship and community and it planted a seed for the work that I do today as president of CREW Fort Worth because I am dedicated to creating the same sense of belonging and the opportunity for other women in this industry. So that’s really how I got started. I went to luncheon and I was sold and I joined the programs committee and it really worked my way up and this will be my ninth year in this organization.

Emily Landry (05:40)
It’s always funny to think about when you walk in the room for the first time and then flash forward you become president. She knew that you were going to be president. What would she think of that?

Cassie Walker (05:47)
Yeah, I think so. My gosh, Norma is so phenomenal. I got to see her a couple of weeks ago and she said that. She brought me aside and said, I remember it was hard getting this started, but watching the legacy that we created and the women on the board of directors now who have come before us, said, everything I could have imagined and nothing I expected. And I just took that home and was like, you know, we really are doing a good thing. And it’s not just through Crew Fort Worth, it’s through the deals that we’ve closed. It’s through the opportunities that these women have created within the community of CREW Fort Worth, where it’s actually a tangible evidence of the success of these women.

Emily Landry (06:32)
Yeah, love it.

So you were telling me something on the phone a couple of weeks ago when we were planning the podcast about a new strategic plan that y’all have recently implemented. And I just love for you to dive into that further, specifically some of those core values and principles and some of the programs and initiatives that you’re going to implement. I think this is such a testament to a nonprofit, like really getting their hands dirty, doing the work that they want to do at such a grassroots level, even as they’re such a huge organization many years down the road.

Cassie Walker (07:13)
Right. And the board of directors when we met and we formed a strategic plan, Network actually did that for us. So we said, here’s our growth plans. Here’s what we want our members to have, basic level. How do we reach that? And it was a three-year plan. It wasn’t really specific. We were learning how to build a strategic plan, but we were making sure that we weren’t getting too granular with things that we knew we couldn’t follow through with.

There was no purpose or intention behind it. So we had a broad spectrum and then this year was the first time where we actually spelled out five key factors of the strategic plan. And for us, to your point, we felt like sharing the vision of the growth and legacy of the success of CREW Fort Worth would be imperative. That way we could showcase the commitment to the support of our members through every stage of their career. So that is gaining external visibility for the chapter optimizing revenue, you really don’t hear nonprofits say things like optimizing revenue. And that means we’re taking your investment in CREW Fort Worth and in yourself and we’re optimizing the revenue that you get as a member. So whatever that ROI means to you as a member, we are here to support it. If it’s deal structure, if it’s more networking, if it’s leadership growth, anything and everything that you have.

Well, anything and everything that you expect of CREW Fort Worth, obviously we’re not gonna be able to provide everything, but if they meet one of those five requirements and you look at it, it’s not requirements, but strategic plans, you look at it, you’re like, okay, these are my people, I can do this, and they have a clear path of what we expect, and some people can look at it and say, you know what, I just wanna do this and this, and that might not be a fit. So I think when you’re being really intentional about your vision, you’re allowing the chapter to be transparent and to me I think it gains more members because it allows them the opportunity to see the potential opportunities for whatever their career path looks like.

Emily Landry (09:24)
I think it’s going to be interesting to see how many people really resonate with one of the five or all of the five or more than one of the five. think that’s going to be such a testament to how good of a job I know you’ve done on those five key pillars for yourself.

Cassie Walker (09:43)
No, I appreciate it. Yeah, it’s exciting.

Emily Landry (09:46)
So I would love to know if we have some women in our office or women that we work with or women listening to the podcast, we want to get more involved. How could they get more involved with CREW Fort Worth?

Cassie Walker (10:00)
Great question. And I think the best thing is join a luncheon. Go find a luncheon, sign up for it, register for it, reach out to me. I know we’ll have my contact details, but on crewfortworth.org, you can go to Board of Directors and it has all of the directors that lead a committee and reach out to one of them, reach out to our membership director. Her name is Brooke Duran.

And go and have coffee with them. A lot of, you know, there’s 11 of us on the board of directors. Each one of us have a different unique point of view when it comes to Crew Fort Worth. And for those women, I would say if you’re really serious about it you want to be intentional about it, go with intention. Why do you want to be there? Why do you want to be a part of CREW Fort Worth? What are your career goals? What are some strengths that you have or some weaknesses that you want to work on? And how can CREW Fort Worth help support you in that, to your point, every journey is different for any woman. For me, it was a completely new industry, and I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I needed to grow my network. I knew I needed to make connections, and I didn’t know what those connections would be. But learning what individual people did and how I could support them, how they could support me, was just the foundation that I needed.

And think a lot of women hear advice like go find out CREW Fort Worth, go to real estate council. And as women we’re like, okay, so we just go network where it doesn’t have to be that, you know, there’s other things that you can have hopes on, which is, I always go back to leadership development. There’s so many examples of me going to ask my fellow CREW Fort Worth members advice on things. and going back to some of the leadership classes that I’ve been in and really be able to implement them and apply them the next day. And I think that that’s a safe environment, that’s a foundational environment that not a lot of people can say that they have with a networking organization. I think that’s what makes CREW Fort Worth my advice would be, do it, jump in, go find somebody to talk about. They will take you to a luncheon as their guest.

And really just experience it in your own way, because there’s not a person that I’ve met yet that doesn’t leave that luncheon and says, wow, you have to experience it for yourself to understand the true power and true empowerment that’s in that room. And it is truly magical and remarkable.

Emily Landry (12:31)
I love that. So let’s say I’m in the Dallas office or in a different office. Could we similarly go on CREW’s website, go to a different city and be able to do sort of these same steps?

Cassie Walker (12:47)
So that would be at our CREW network and you can actually get to crew network from crewfortworth.org. There’s a link at the top of the page that says CREW network. And that will pull you into a global scene, right, where you can see all 87 chapters where they’re at. Once you become a member, you actually have access to like a resource board. So somebody could say, I’m looking for a developer in Dallas, Texas. I’m looking for a developer in New Mexico.

Or Emily, you have somebody that may be relocating, maybe they have to go to a different city and they feel like, I still need my crew, go find that crew that’s in that town that you’re going to. We’ve had several members that come from different organizations. We’ve actually had two from CREW Orlando, both with different journeys and met back at CREW Fort Worth. And for them, it was a seamless transition, right? And it was really easy for them to get in and get involved knowing the resources that they had. What is unique, you said Dallas, with CREW Dallas, the unique thing about us is we’re one of the only sister chapters that are this close in proximity, like mileage wise. So we work with CREW Dallas a lot. We’re throwing ideas off of each other. They’re a larger chapter than we are, but we also have to understand we’re different in size of culture. We are different when it comes to culture.

Emily Landry (13:57)
Sure.

Cassie Walker (14:14)
So we have joint events, but we have to understand too, like what is your journey for your chapter? What is your mission? How can we help you with that? And same thing with CREW Fort Worth. So we do have joint events. We know that a lot of our members actually do work in Dallas and Fort Worth. They have projects in Dallas and Fort Worth. So for them, it’s just another opportunity to network and have a bigger net, right, for doing business with like-minded people.

Emily Landry (14:43)
I love that. So I think you’ve mentioned that the website is a great resource. Are you all active on any social media pages that you want to?

Cassie Walker (14:50)
Yes, so we are on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn, and it’s just CREW Fort Worth. And that’s one of our strategic plan is having more external visibility to tell the community that we’re out there. And you’re right, having an opportunity to of sneak peek in what we do and how we support Fort Worth. We would love to do more things like this, podcasts, some more media opportunities. This is our 40th anniversary. I almost forget to say that. 1985 was the year that CREW Fort Worth was started by Norma Matledge and Barbara Fife and a couple of other founders. And they predate CREW Network. So if you think about it, CREW Network, I think, is 35 years old and we are 40.

These are women who really trailblazed and did something that even globally was not happening. They knew that there was opportunity with other women that were doing deals and they wanted to do them with each other. They wanted to do deals together and they created this incredible network and we’re 40 years in. If you think about it, that’s just incredible that that legacy has stayed this way, right? We’ve had this mission for 40 years. This is not a CREW network mission. This is a CREW Fort Worth mission. And every day it’s an honor to serve and align with that.

Emily Landry (16:24)
Love that.

Well, I want to give a final word of encouragement. If you’ve listened to this podcast and you’re toying with whether or not you should go to a luncheon, I would highly recommend it. I also felt very welcomed every time I attended a luncheon. And for nothing else, you’ll sit with a great group of ladies who you may figure out where they go shop, what their favorite place is to eat in Fort Worth right now, all of those fun things. But I think you’ll develop some of these really meaningful, impactful relationships in the real estate space that Cassie and her team is so passionate about working in. So I think it’s well worth the hour or so investment of your time to attend that first luncheon and then get hooked in to what they’re doing in this space.

So if you enjoyed this podcast, we would love for you to like, comment, or share it on our social media platforms. That helps other people find their way to the podcast and also find their way to CREW Fort Worth. And then if you have another nonprofit organization that you’d love to see featured, whether in Fort Worth or another market, we’d love to have them on the podcast. Now that our recording platform is virtual, it doesn’t matter where they are, except if they’re probably in outer space. So anything is special for us.

We’d love to feature so many different organizations. I know our team is working on getting several folks in the door to help with a little bit of market expansion to focus on some nonprofits all over where we serve clients. And we’re just so grateful to Cassie and to Jennifer for getting Cassie in the door for us and so excited for what you guys are what you gals are doing in Fort Worth and for our real estate. I think it’s just so remarkable how much Fort Worth is growing and y’all are a very, very big part of how that is changing and growing for all of us.

Cassie Walker (18:33)
Absolutely, and I can’t wait to meet you all.

Emily Landry (18:36)
Awesome, well y’all have a great rest of the day and please be sure to like comment and share.

Cassie Walker (18:42)
Thank you.