A Conversation with Samantha Enos
Samantha Enos is Windermere’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Samantha helps direct DEI training and education focusing on DEI advancement within the real estate industry through outreach and collaboration. She also serves on the Seattle-King County REALTORS Board of Directors and is a member of the National Association of REALTORS Mentorship program. She chairs the Seattle-King County REALTORS DEI committee and volunteers on the Juanita High School DEI committee.
SAMANTHA
SAMANTHA
SAMANTHA
SAMANTHA
It has actually been a lot of fun. Windermere partnered with a consulting firm for a year. We needed to understand the values that we wanted to define us as a company, and then find somebody who could execute that vision. This role felt like a great fit because of my previous leadership skills and all of the DEI work I do on REALTOR® boards locally and nationally.
Of course. You’ve done such a wonderful job with the website, it is an incredible resource for agents creating our own business plans. What would you say your biggest goals are in the role?
SAMANTHA
I would like our owners to know that we are here for them, we want to be the resource they reach for when they need help or more training. I want to make sure that they are educated enough to know better, and not be put in a situation where they don’t have the tools. Another goal would be walking into one of our offices in Kirkland or your office in Mount Baker, and any agent can repeat the same thing: they know what defines community for us, what defines homeownership for us. What is really driving me in 2022 is making sure that message is really clear.
SARAH
You mentioned homeownership too?
SAMANTHA
Yes. As part of Windermere’s commitment to the communities we serve, we want to make homeownership attainable for everybody.
SARAH
Yes, and we know how hard that has become. We know we can’t fix all the problems – I am not in charge of capitalism!
SAMANTHA
Yes, it is scary that middle-income folks cannot afford to live in Seattle. How do we address the lack of housing for most working people?
SARAH
Yes, as REALTORS® we don’t want to be left out of that conversation, because we have knowledge and resources to be part of the solution. How can we focus on these issues as an industry and lend our support to ideas that work?
SAMANTHA
I love that question, and I love what we’re doing at WRE. One example is the partnership between Windermere and the Aspire Program at UW.
SARAH
Yes, we just interviewed Renée Cheng in our last issue, who is the Dean of the College of Built Environments at UW.
SAMANTHA
We still talk about that first round of interns. At the end of the internship, they did a presentation on how Windermere could bring more agents of color into the fold, because entering the profession is expensive. Windermere has created a scholarship program that any office can tap into. If an office identifies a person of color that would not be able to work in real estate without some sort of financial support, the office can bring them on, give a stipend, or fund them as they get up and running.
Do you know what percentage of agents own their homes?
SARAH
No, I don’t actually.
SAMANTHA
About 85% of real estate agents own their homes. What better way to decrease the home ownership gap for African Americans or some of our other BIPOC communities, than to bring them into our industry?
SARAH
I also think that the more diverse our agent base, the more diverse our buyers. We bring our communities into homeownership. You can speak directly to your community with trust and integrity.
How can agents support the work you’re doing? What might that look like?
SAMANTHA
I am planning on having a DEI ambassador group where each office would have one DEI representative. I would also love to see our offices hosting first-time homebuyer classes or some type of community outreach to start bringing people in and just seeing some of the work that we’re doing.
We need to be prepared to reach diverse communities. For example, members of the Latinx community will become the number-one consumers of homes in the future. They will be buying more homes than any other demographic and we will need to be prepared to reach them.
We’re known for community — that is what makes Windermere such a beloved brand. If we can do the work, it will attract more people to us.
SARAH
Yes, we can all make a difference too. There is a bilingual agent in our office, Mark Chavez, who has done a big push to get all our contracts and disclosures translated into Spanish. Then language is not an extra barrier for people to be empowered in the buying and selling process.
SAMANTHA
That’s awesome.
SARAH
I thought we’d wrap up with asking, what are some of your favorite teaching tools, besides our amazing DEI website? Lectures on YouTube, books, podcasts?
SAMANTHA
I’m big into books. I always have an audio book going in the car. One of my favorites is Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum. I love this book. It goes into the history of why we are where we are. I also do podcast a bit, and I go the DEI spaces on the social media platform Clubhouse. There is a lot of great content and conversation there.
SARAH
Cool, two things I have not heard of. Thank you! Samantha, it’s been so nice to talk to you.
SAMANTHA
That was easy, Sarah. I hope agents and owners feel like we are here for them as a central resource. Thanks for featuring our work!