Native Washingtonian Cathy Delcoco of CBRE (with former colleague Chris Soucie) started selling residential real estate while still at UMD, in part, because “someone said it would be easy to study for tests at open houses.” But after graduating, she had the itch to move to the commercial side and was hired by CB in ’89. Since then, hard work has helped her complete deals with some of DC’s blue-chip tenants like Bechtel, AOL, and Northrop Grumman, though she tells us she enjoys working on small transactions as much as the big ones. "[Those deals] are often the ones keeping our clients up at night," she says. Cathy served on CBRE’s board for two years and says personal sponsors (as opposed to mentors), like the firm’s Chris Ludeman, have been instrumental in her success. Cathy’s also the mom to two kids and loves spending time at ballet practices and baseball games. To Cathy, real estate is a long-term business—“an Iron Man, not a marathon,” and says hard work, creativity, and passion will pay off for young brokers.