Female Disruptors: Carla Ferreira of The Aurora Highlands On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Pick your battles, not everything is worth fighting for or over, compromise is great but also not always feasible, concessions must be given in certain cases. Accepting fault and moving forward is also really important. Sometimes I make a mistake and I need to clarify and move forward. Although I have different ideas and they are welcome most of the time, my mentor has often said let’s not reinvent the wheel every time. We must thoughtfully use things from the past that worked and interject new ideas around those systems.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Carla Ferreira.
As Director of Onsite Development and Principal, Carla Ferreira’s inspirational leadership style guides all aspects of The Aurora Highlands development. She handles coordination between the various consulting teams from design, engineering and construction to sales & marketing.
Carla maintains close relationships with the development’s building partners, public entities and various consulting teams. She is very involved in the local, state, and global community, sitting on community boards and acting philanthropically. Carla works with the homebuilders from Pulte Homes, Richmond American Homes, Bridgewater Homes, Century Communities, D.R. Horton, Tri Pointe Homes and Taylor Morrison on the vision she and her father created for the Aurora Highlands.
With her background in fine arts, she will be instrumental in leading the direction of the public art component of The Aurora Highlands. The development will feature artwork throughout its 12 neighborhood parks and will give this community unique personality.
Carla’s philanthropy efforts include volunteer work with Global Citizen Foundation, Christian Aid International and works with various adoption centers and kennels around Denver.
Carla has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from University of Nevada Las Vegas. Between the ages of 18–27, she focused her career on her love of art and fashion. After 10 years in the art and fashion industry, she found a way to merge her love of art and design with her passion for philanthropy, people and cultures into designing and building communities with her father, Carlo Ferreira. She formally joined our family business in 2017 with her successful father who was behind the various developments in Houston, TX, Las Vegas, NV and now Denver, CO. Carla loves living in Colorado where she takes her dog hiking during her leisure time.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Out of college, I entered the arts and fashion industry. After 10 years, I found a way to merge my love of art and design with my passion for philanthropy, people and cultures into designing and building communities with my father and seasoned developer, Carlo Ferreira. I’m very close with my dad who raised me on his own and brought me up on his own and surrounded me with influential people. He has taught me everything about the industry.
My first job in the real estate development industry is with The Aurora Highlands. I was inspired to help my father achieve his vision of building a community that connects Denver International Airport to downtown Denver to the recreation of the mountains. We’re building a convenient, accessible and family-friendly master planned community in an underdeveloped part of the Denver metro area. The Aurora Highlands is part of the Aerotropolis Region, and will add 12,500 residential units, four new schools, 21 miles of trails, 20 neighborhood parks, recreational facilities, libraries, outdoor entertainment venues, shops and restaurants and approximately 170,000 jobs to the metro area upon completion.
As Director of Onsite Development and Principal, I guide all aspects of The Aurora Highlands development from design, engineering and construction to sales and marketing.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
I look at the development of our community differently, looking at how we can use every square inch of land for the betterment of this community. Every piece of land has its challenges, The Aurora Highlands is no exception. For example, we have a large ditch running through the middle of our development. Most developers would build around it, thinking there’s nothing that can be done with that land. With my background in art, I saw the perfect place for a linear park and public art to run through the community. I’m taking what most deem unusable land and turning it into something beautiful. The 100-acre linear park, called Hogan Park at Highlands Creek, is now in its first phase of development and will be the highlight of The Aurora Highlands community.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I was learning to off road on the open dirt of The Aurora Highlands site and needed about 10 men to dig my car out of the situation I got myself in. I was crying in the car at my mistake and because I damaged my car, the men were laughing at my predicament. One man even said, “should I teach you how to drive?” That stung. But I have learned that I cannot change the way others act, I can only change my reaction and how I let things affect me. While it was extremely embarrassing, I learned a lesson, I now know that the dirt mounds for storm water mitigation are in fact less dirt and more like concrete.
Also, not knowing the meaning of acronyms has led to some embarrassing situations so I’ve learned that it’s ok (and very important) to ask questions.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
This industry is traditionally dominated by men, women represent only 10.9% of the construction industry but The Aurora Highlands is breaking that mold. I work with five women who hold leadership roles with our homebuilders. These women are Leslie Moen, Co-founder, Owner, and President at Bridgewater Homes; Linda Purdy, Colorado Division President at Tri Pointe Homes; Ricarda Dietsch, Mountain Region Area President for Taylor Morrison Homes; Liesel Cooper, National President of Century Communities; and Natasha Gandhi, Division President of Richmond Homes.
This many women working on a development in a major urban area is not common, we are proud of that but what I think is most impressive are the things we are teaching one another and supporting each other when in a male-dominated room.
The other big role model in my life is my dad, Carlo Ferreira. He has always treated me as an equal. He supported me and showed me that if I worked hard enough, I could do anything in the world that I wanted and there’s no hindrance to that based on gender.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
There is always a time and place to be disruptive. Even the systems and structures, that have withstood the test of time require updates and in residential development, that means having more women at the table. If I cannot lift something because it’s too heavy or it’s a more onerous task than I expected, I will look for help. Whether it’s a fulcrum, a crane or simply another individual, I’ll ask for help from others around me. Asking for help is not a weakness. Working well with others, being humble and collaborative is an asset to being a leader. I will disrupt when I see any injustice, I will stand taller and speak louder. I’m no longer intimidated when I’m told that I’m naïve because I’m a girl or the developer’s daughter. I allow my actions and the delivery of my diction to explain why I am here at the table in a male dominated industry, and why they should be listening to what I have to say. In turn, I will listen and respect the words from others.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
I am still searching for advice daily as I continue to grow. There are many words of inspiration and motivation that have lead me to today. If I had to choose it would be don’t give up when it seems hard, pick your battles and know the role of every person on your team.
Don’t give up when it seems hard or impossible, there’s always a solution. Sometimes taking a break and having a reset can offer a fresh pair of eyes or fresh perspective. A simple example of this is when my team and I are looking to design an advertisement or marketing email, sometimes I will look at something too critically and need to take a break and come back to it, and it is always helpful to get another set of eyes, to call for help and get a second or third opinion.
Pick your battles, not everything is worth fighting for or over, compromise is great but also not always feasible, concessions must be given in certain cases. Accepting fault and moving forward is also really important. Sometimes I make a mistake and I need to clarify and move forward. Although I have different ideas and they are welcome most of the time, my mentor has often said let’s not reinvent the wheel every time. We must thoughtfully use things from the past that worked and interject new ideas around those systems.
Know what every person on your team does and understand their roles. I cannot ask someone to do something that I wouldn’t do myself, and in situations where it is a special skill set needed that surpasses my abilities, I still need to understand, research, and learn so that I am not blindsided or in the dark. For example, I have learned about contract laws, real property law, surface use agreements, mineral rights, engineering, and construction in more depth than I previously understood. While I am by no means a lawyer or an engineer or a project foreman, I have learned about their key roles and drill down on specifics when a problem arises, and in many cases, have learned proactively to prevent a problem.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
In a few years, I will likely take over the business. Learning from my mentors and my father so that I can lead this project is key, I’m not sure I will ever feel truly ready, there’s always so much more to learn but I want to continue to empower women and make sure they have a voice and a seat at the table and my table is always open. On Wednesdays we wear pink but we aren’t mean girls.
I honestly am a big fan of the movie Legally Blonde. I love what it represents for women in the workplace or in an educational institution. The movie’s message is don’t hide your femininity. If you are a girly girl then be that. At the same time, it’s ok if a gender role does not feel right to you or you don’t fit in a box. Being oneself and expressing oneself in our appearances is important and while I may wear a black simple suit one day and construction boots the next, I will also show up in a pink suit or a pink hardhat and not be ashamed to look like a woman.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
As a female executive in residential development, I’ve found that not everyone in this male-dominated industry is open to seeing a woman in the boardroom. Men usually aren’t scrutinized for their professional appearance… clothes, hair or makeup. Sometimes women will apologize for taking up space in a room. Sometimes we apologize for interjecting where a man in the same position would just assert and assume. But slowly we are working to combat these stigmas and behaviors. I think sometimes as women we may be more afraid of failure because we worked so hard to get where we are and a stumble will keep us from continuing our climb up the career ladder. Caution sometimes can be a downside for women. We need to be less fearful of failing and more confident in our abilities and know that one misstep doesn’t mean failure or set-back. There shouldn’t be a double standard that I need to uphold to be here. Being a disrupter means bringing other women into our field and carving out our place. It means not apologizing for having an idea. To be blunt, it means that I shouldn’t be afraid of being judged by those who aren’t used to answering to a woman, who think that I am too bossy or bitchy, when I am being clear and stern with my position and direction. It means that we see each other as equals.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
I read a lot of sci-fi novels and feminist novels. “The Beauty” by Aliya Whiteley is a great short novel about a world without women and how men adapt and what happens when nature tries to fix the problem. “Autonomous” is a novel by Annalee Newitz and is an amazing sci-fi book that questions big pharma, capitalism, technology, artificial intelligence and gender and what it means to be autonomous.
“An Unkindness of Ghosts” by Rivers Solomon one of my favorite books and is about classism, racism, gender, space, religion and the future. It’s very much about socio economic factors and how they can unjustly overrule society.
Finally, “Ancillary Series” by Ann Leckie is a must-read series if you like sci-fi about the subtle nature of how gender is meaningless and how humanity and colonialism and totalitarianism get intertwined in the wrong leader’s hands.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’m going to share something very personal. I was in an abusive relationship, I felt so small and weak and like I had forgotten who I was and lost the tenor of my own voice in my head. I felt brainwashed. After I got out of the relationship, I turned to journaling and wrote a very messy, 100-page book as a release that is full of essays and poems and feelings. That was a great catharsis for me. I found my voice again, I received calls from people I look up to and people who loved me and believed in me and finally found myself again.
It’s healthy to talk about what hurts us and what we have been through, it should be normal and accepted. Being able to relate to someone who went through something similar is so powerful because it helped me to not feel so alone or ashamed or weak. I felt brave for sharing, I felt proud of myself for being here. After my experience, I struggled with mental health and depression, but I felt better each time I opened up. Every time I felt like falling, I spoke to a strong woman who pulled me up and welcomed me to sit beside her and share her stories.
I would love to help other women whether it’s volunteering at a women’s shelter or someday creating a foundation to help women or just being here for someone who needs to share her story. I have a passion to help women in our society and to teach our sons and daughters love and respect one another.
I have a degree in Anthropology and one of the courses that I still vividly remember was “Violence Against Women”. Yes, that was a course. There are simply not enough history courses being told from the eyes of women. In that class, we saw marks from abuse left on the bones and remains of women. It evoked incredible conversations and had a big impact on me. I never thought I would find myself in a similar situation than those women we learned about from long ago. Violence against women still exists and we prefer to hide it. The ME-TOO movement is a disrupter, it’s shaking things up and I support it.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Yes! I have the following poem from Rupi Kaur in my office. It just sums up everything I feel.
I stand
On the sacrifices
Of a million women before me
Thinking
What can I do
To make this mountain taller
So the women after me
Can see farther
How can our readers follow you online?
My LinkedIn page is where I share many of my successes and accomplishments and keep in touch with industry trends and people. You can follow the work of my development at https://theaurorahighlands.com .
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Carla Ferreira of The Aurora Highlands On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.