Much of the real estate industry remains a no-men's club. While women have long since made up the majority of real estate agents and brokers (open in new tab), they only make up a small percentage (open in new tab) of those in leadership positions in the industry as a whole. However, that situation is changing (open in new tab). Today, more and more women are not just stepping up, they are taking charge and changing the home market in the process. From women who are making the already beloved (open in new tab) Zillow even more beloved by millennials (even if you're not actively considering buying, who hasn't Zillow'd an Airbnb, especially an Insta-worthy Airbnb), to some of the first truly smart homes to the masses From CEOs who are offering them to the public, to a Philadelphia entrepreneur who decided to get into real estate investing and inspired thousands of people in the process, these bosses are changing where and how we live.

In April 2018, Zillow overhauled its business model. The real estate company will continue to consolidate the real estate listings that initially enthralled homebuyers (and prospective homebuyers). However, it will take a more active role in the homebuying process with the launch of Zillow Offers, a program to buy and sell homes directly. The new direction is part of the company's plan to build a seamless end-to-end experience for homebuyers, and it has tapped Amy Johnson to lead the charge as Zillow's chief marketing officer. According to Johnson, 51, real estate professionals who want to succeed in today's era of smartphones and smart homes must prioritize customer experience first and foremost. They are people with jobs and families, she tells Marie Claire, and "moving just happens to be a big moment in their lives."

Better understanding what customers experience with a brand is something Johnson has built her career on. She spent 10 years working with various brands under the Campbell Soup umbrella, followed by 14 years at Starbucks. Her goal was to pinpoint potential "friction points" and places to improve the customer experience. So when she saw Zillow evolving from a company known for its real estate listings to a service-driven model, she saw a great opportunity to continue the work she was passionate about.

"When I talk to MBA graduates, they say, 'Oh my God, how did you design your career?' And I would say, 'Well, I said yes to a lot of weird things.'

If you're a first-time home buyer (millennials make up 63 percent of this group (open in new tab)), Zillow offers everything from 3D home tours to home loans through its direct lending program, Zillow Home Loans (open in new tab) Launched in 2018 and available in 21 U.S. markets, the program buys (and later resells) your home so you can proceed with the purchase of a new home without the stress of juggling two mortgages. Transparency throughout the buying and selling process is another of the company's priorities.

"We can track your pizza," Johnson notes. 'But you can't track the mortgages. There are a lot of things that our customers are familiar with from other companies that have not yet been incorporated into the real estate industry. Our ultimate vision is for customers to be able to open the Zillow app and see exactly where they are in the housing transaction, whether their mortgage is in underwriting or their deposit has arrived in escrow."

When companies like Nest and Apple began rolling out smart home devices, Sce Pike (pronounced "Say"), like us, took notice. But her high hopes were quickly tempered when she tried several devices and realized that the piecemeal approach the market is currently taking leaves much to be desired.

"A smart thermostat alone is not a smart home," says the 44-year-old Pike.

"For example, it would greet you when you enter your home, tell you goodnight when you go to bed, and wake you up in the morning.

Her company, IOTAS (opens in new tab), offers smart home solutions that allow residents to control everything from the front door to lighting and temperature, but it might not have been possible without the real estate developer who approached her in 2014. The developer saw smart home technology as a new amenity for rental housing residents and asked her to program two buildings he was working on. It was then, she says, that Pike realized that "cookie-cutter apartments" were the perfect way to "create a true smart home experience." [because she didn't fit the package of "selling a product made by women for women," but rather a company "designed for real estate," a market the tech industry was just entering at the time. Still, she persisted. Today, IOTAS partners with brands like Honeywell, Nest, Google, and Amazon to provide equipment, and Pike and her team build and monitor operating systems that create a cohesive smart home experience. To date, they have raised $17 million in funding and have installed systems in 91 buildings in 41 U.S. markets. And as technology continues to evolve, Pike believes it can completely change the concept of the home as a single physical space.

"If you think about a cell phone, it's not really hardware," Pike says. 'Because you can easily upgrade to another phone. Your settings, your preferences, your software, your apps, your music, your entire life collection is actually in the cloud. So I think what's really exciting is that once these physical spaces are digitized, it will affect the way you live and the way you move from physical space to physical space. For example, instead of having different FOBs at schools, apartments, and hotels, you will be able to unlock all doors in a generic way. I think that would be really cool."

Real estate seems almost intentionally overwhelming. Some people can understand the language and the rules, while others are led to believe they don't. That's why Nicole Purvey founded the Better Than Success Real Estate League three years ago in her native Philadelphia.

"Real estate is a great way to build wealth," says Purvey, 36. 'You can pass it on to your children. But in the past, real estate was seen as something for boys. Now women are looking for different ways to make money. And when we put these women and others like them on this platform, the response has been amazing. The women are awake and aware. They are saying, 'Hey, you don't have to be a man to be in real estate. I can do it too.'"

When she started her business in 2016, Purvey had nearly a decade of experience as a serial entrepreneur in marketing and finance and had previously worked on Wall Street. However, she knew absolutely nothing about real estate. She decided that the only way to become a real estate guru was to become a student.

"I wanted to learn," she says.

"I decided to call different instructors, and I said anyone who wanted to learn with me was welcome to come."

Only five people attended that first meeting, including Purvey and a local investor she had asked to speak. But word spread quickly, and by the following week, "people were literally pouring out the door. "In less than a year, Purvey moved its weekly meetings from a 400-square-foot office to a new 3,000-square-foot space with 400 paying members. Members pay $80 per month to attend weekly meetings to discuss investment strategies, plus a discounted fee for various workshops, seminars, classes, and events held throughout the year (like the recent Women in Real Estate Summit). The Better Than Success Real Estate League is now Philly's largest real estate investment club and has begun holding meetings in New York City this fall. For those who are interested but can't make it to either location, the discussions are streamed on their website (opens in new tab) for $40 after the first free for non-members.

"We try to have a diverse group of speakers so that people know that even women can come here and build portfolios," says Purvey.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Nicole Purvey started the Better Than Success Real Estate League in 2017. She started it in 2016.