Rosemary Connors is best known for her 15-year stint as an anchor at Philadelphia’s NBC10, but her career is now going in a very different direction.
The former journalist is carrying on her mother-in-law’s commercial real estate legacy through a new scaffolding company called Rosette Specialty Trades.
“I recognize I’m in a unique position in that my mother-in-law really paved the way,” Connors said during Bisnow’s Philadelphia Women Leading Real Estate event Thursday at the Wanamaker Building’s Crystal Tea Room.
That kind of mentorship and leaning on relationships is critical for women looking to advance in CRE, panelists agreed.
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The idea for Rosette Specialty Trades came from Connors’ longstanding “unpaid consultant” work at Media-based chimney restoration company D.J. Cross, which Connors’ mother-in-law, Jayne Cross, founded in her kitchen in 1981.
The former anchor’s husband, Benjamin Cross, has since bought the business with his brother, but Jayne Cross was still a key figure there as recently as last year.
Scaffolding is an integral part of any chimney specialist’s operation, and Cross was interested in bringing that part of the operation in-house.
Connors decided to pounce on the opportunity herself with some guidance from her mother-in-law.
“It was around the time I was looking to leave news,” Connors said. “The timing was just right.”
Cross connected her with some contacts with scaffolding expertise who were leaving their previous firm.
Connors snatched them up alongside a former Occupational Safety and Health Administration employee, whom she connected with through her hairstylist.
“It’s about using all your contacts and all your resources to push ahead,” she said.
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The sort of support Connors received from Cross has been an integral part of many women pushing into CRE in recent years.
“Mentorship is key,” Trammell Crow Co. Vice President Lauren Black said. “I’ve benefited from that throughout my career.”
But that kind of guidance wasn’t readily available for Mosaic Development Partners Chief Operating Officer Leslie Smallwood-Lewis when she helped found the company in 2008.
She now takes great pride in Mosaic’s internship program.
“We make sure they get a dynamic and thoughtful experience,” Smallwood-Lewis said. “It’s so important for us to really train the next generation.”
She said she is looking forward to more growth for Mosaic but added that some corners of CRE are facing strong headwinds due to policies being implemented by the Trump administration.
Smallwood-Lewis said she is particularly concerned about the affordable housing sector, where she said developers have begun to shelve some projects due to the unfavorable climate.
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On the other hand, business is growing for Rosette, which is working on projects in Maryland and Center City.
Connors said she believes Philadelphia as a whole is on an upswing. The former reporter covered crime in Philly extensively during her time at NBC and said the city is in a better place on that front than it has been in more than a decade.
She was particularly enthusiastic about 2026, when the city will celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary and host six FIFA World Cup matches and the MLB All-Star Game.
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