Hudson Peters' Kimberly Lay (right, with a client) may be one of the top buyer and tenant reps in Dallas, but her start was a little unorthodox, beginning her senior year of high school when she oversold yearbook advertisements by 400%. Her business methods haven't changed much since. She still sends handwritten notes everyday (though she outsources it to someone else). Doing good work for the community means "fellow volunteers know that you're going to treat their real estate deal with the same common sense and energy." Her advice to young women: figure out what you're great at and improve upon it daily. If you're not good at it, let someone else do it. (Guess that means we need to stop trying to juggle.) Read more about Kimberly here.

Jackson Shaw prez Michele Wheeler (also from Dallas) learned at the feet of two very strong women: her mother, a residential broker for Ebby Halliday, and her grandmother, who owned a department store. She learned about listings, showings, and hard work (particularly that real estate was not a 9-to-5 job). Today, she's steering the company into three new projects, with more coming. Her advice: build strong relationships, and you have your reputation one time. Heed those words and one day you may find yourself working on projects like The Brickyard in Maryland (750k SF of commercial, 450 townhomes, another 400 units of multifamily, and more on the way) and Cascades at The Colony, a 100-acre, mixed-use, master-planned community. Read more about Michele here.