The Short Version

• A chance email about the ICSC Launch Academy introduced Leyha Williams, then a Howard University student, to commercial real estate during the pandemic.
• An internship at Core Properties in Charlotte, North Carolina, turned Williams’ curiosity into a calling and revealed the business behind development, brokerage and property management.
• Through ICSC connections and events, Williams landed roles at Savills and CBRE, where she recently started as an office tenant representative associate.
• Guided by mentors and driven by sustainability and global impact, she’s building a career defined by tenacity, relationships and creative dealmaking.
• The ICSC Career Connections hub now helps student members explore similar pathways, offering internship listings, resume uploads and career insights from industry leaders.

From Pre-Law to Portfolio Deals: The Serendipitous Start of a CRE Career

“I never intended to get into this industry,” laughed Leyha Williams, who on Oct. 15 started a new job as as an office tenant representative associate at CBRE in Charlotte, North Carolina. But here she is.

The Unexpected Beginning

During COVID, Williams was a pre-law student at Howard University: stuck at home in Galveston, Texas, and sick of online classes. Still, she stayed connected to the school by joining the Center for Career and Professional Success. “They’d send out daily emails about internship and fellowship opportunities,” she said.

One day, an email came through about the ICSC Foundation Launch Academy, a program that connected undergraduate students from an array of backgrounds with paid summer internships in the Marketplaces Industry. It was the first year it was running. “Honestly, I only applied because it was COVID and I was tired of being at home,” she admitted. “The subject line said $20 an hour plus relocation allowance, and I thought: ‘Why not?’”

Her only other brush with real estate had been through an internship at the Galveston Regional Chamber of Commerce. “I worked with realtors during an office relocation,” she said. “That gave me a small glimpse into what real estate professionals do, but beyond that, I didn’t understand the industry at all. I just played off that experience in my application.”

To her surprise, she was accepted to Launch Academy, but then weeks of silence followed as companies reviewed applications. “It was crickets,” she remembered, but eventually, she heard from Rich Barta, founder and president of Core Properties in Charlotte. He still remembers the impression she made during her interview. “Even without experience, Leyha’s story stood out,” he said. “We loved her strength, courage and tenacity.” He offered her the role.

Discovering the Industry — and Herself

Before starting her internship in the summer of 2021, Williams and the other Launch Academy interns spent two weeks in an intensive virtual workshop. “Every day, we were on Zoom calls with industry leaders who basically gave us Commercial Real Estate 101,” she said. “That was so helpful because I knew nothing about the field. Going in with even a little bit of knowledge made a big difference.”

During the three-month internship at Core Properties — which specializes in development, brokerage and property management — Williams rotated through every department. But it was a shopping center project called Steele Creek Landing in Charlotte that hooked her. “They’d shown me photos of the land, explained how they secured equity, who the first tenants would be, so conceptually, I understood the process,” she recalled. “But then we went on a site visit.” Barta pointed across the cleared lot, describing what would eventually rise there: “That’s where this building will go. That’s where the driveway will go.” Then he gestured to a pile of dirt and said: “And we’re going to sell that dirt, too.” Williams said later: “That’s when everything clicked for me.”

That wasn’t exactly the path her parents envisioned. “My mom is in health care, and my dad is in oil and gas,” she said. “They both work for the state. They didn’t like the idea of going on commission or being an entrepreneur. They wanted me to become a lawyer, get benefits and relax.”

The Power of Relationships

That summer, Williams demonstrated the skills — relationship-building and tenacity — that define success in real estate. She cold-called prospects and was surprised to get a lead on her first attempt. “I actually had a conversation, got their contact information and scheduled another meeting,” she said. “Now that I’m in brokerage full time, I realize how lucky I was to do that on my first call. That was a big win.” Barta said: “Leyha was a hard worker with an intellectual curiosity that stood out. The deal didn’t happen for other reasons, but her thought process and effort were remarkable.”

As graduation from Howard neared, Williams turned back to where it all began, her ICSC network. “I emailed everyone I’d met through Launch Academy,” she recalled. “I said: ‘I’m looking for an opportunity in commercial real estate. Please connect me with whoever you can.’” One introduction led to another. After attending several ICSC industry events and following up with the people she met, Williams was recommended for and ultimately accepted an internship with CBRE in Washington, D.C. It ran from January to June 2024. That experience opened the door to a full-time position at Savills after graduation. “It all goes back to ICSC,” she said. “Everything traces back to that.”

Williams chose Savills for its Junior Broker Development Program, an 18-month rotation of every department before a broker chooses a specialty. “That was the first thing that attracted me,” she said. “The second was Savills’ international presence. Even though it’s not as big in the U.S., it’s one of the top firms in Europe, Asia and Africa. Eventually, I want to work on that level, not just city or state but national and international real estate.”

She advanced quickly. “My greatest achievement at Savills was landing my first client, a full-floor office lease in downtown Houston, about 19,000 square feet,” she said. “That was my first meeting, my first pitch and I won the business. For a while, everyone joked I was batting a thousand.” Her success in that deal, she believes, came down to connection. “I was able to bond with the decisionmaker on a deeper level,” she recalled. “She was from Houston. I’m from Houston. We talked about challenges, wins and losses, and coming from families that didn’t understand what we were doing. And I think she saw me almost like a mentee. After that, it was easy to ask for the business.”

Of course, the pitch itself sealed the deal. “Savills always pushes for creative leasing strategies,” Williams said of her time there. “We’re up against strong competitors, so we have to find new ways to deliver value. Ultimately, our economics were more favorable for the client, and that’s why we won.”

Charting the Next Move

But even with that early success, she wanted more. During a semester studying abroad in Ghana, she had seen how communities prioritized sustainability and thoughtful land use. “Seeing how they developed with the future in mind really stayed with me,” she said. “As a commercial real estate professional, I want to do the same, to create value while doing right for the future.” She also wanted to work on a global scale. “I wanted to be part of a team that didn’t just do one-off deals,” she said. “I wanted to work on portfolio projects, executing deals all over the world simultaneously. In Houston, that wasn’t something Savills did. I would’ve been a trailblazer in that space, and being so young, I just wasn’t ready yet.”

Williams had stayed in touch with John Christenbury, a top CBRE broker in Charlotte she met in fall 2023 while competing in the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s CBRE HBCU Immersion program. The multiday program brought students from historically Black colleges and universities to CBRE’s Charlotte office. They toured the space, learned about different service lines and pitched a relocation plan for a mock company. “My team had 12 hours to come up with a plan,” Williams recalled. “We ended up recommending a move to Dallas because of its sustainability opportunities and economic advantages. “We didn’t win, but I think I communicated our ideas effectively, and more importantly, I made sure to talk to everyone I could while I was there.”

Two of those connections would prove pivotal: Christenbury and Compie Newman, then CBRE’s Charlotte managing director. “They became great mentors,” Williams said. She told Christenbury about her desire to work on portfolios. She recalled his response: “You know that’s what I do, right? Executing portfolios for Fortune 500 companies.”

Coming Full Circle

Conversations in the beginning of 2025 eventually led to a job offer for the role she holds now. Barta isn’t surprised. “Leyha has amazing potential to succeed at anything she undertakes,” he said. “Her future is incredibly bright, and we’re proud of her.”

When she spoke with C+CT, Williams was preparing for the move back to Charlotte for the new job. “I just want to be one of the greatest to ever do it,” she said. “I want to help companies all over the world with their commercial real estate needs, achieving savings on a portfolio level and building relationships that last a lifetime, and I want to be a trailblazer in pushing sustainability in commercial real estate.”

Betting on Herself

Asked what she has learned most from ICSC, she doesn’t hesitate. “To bet on myself,” she said. “I applied blindly. My mom didn’t even believe me when I told her I was moving to Charlotte [for the internship with Core]. I had to convince her to let me go. I had no idea what was waiting on the other side of that flight, but I knew it was a chance I was willing to take. And it changed my life for the better.”

Now, the ICSC Foundation runs ICSC Career Connections, an internship hub for ICSC Student Members to upload resumes, apply for retail real estate internships at ICSC Foundation partner companies and access career tips from hiring managers and industry experts. At press time, 40 internship postings are available, and more will be added. ICSC Student Members can apply here.