Karen Smith

I started my professional career as an office assistant for a team of insurance brokers, doing mainly secretarial duties such as typing, diary planning, arranging meetings, conferences and office functions. Thereafter, I became a Broker Consultant for an insurance company. My duties were presenting and selling the company's priduct to independent brokers. My job also involved planning meetings, doing presentations, marketing and hosting broker functions. I then landed myself in a property company, where I started as an administrative assistant to a project manager. We were directly involved in the design and construction of our international airport parking area as well as the re-design of the airport interior. It was there that I discovered my love for property and construction. From there, I moved on to a property company as a leasing executive. What made this position exciting was the fact that I had the opportunity to convert old houses into worable office space. This involved having to space plan each potential tenant's office in line with their requirements. Converting an old house into an office does not only involve the planning of space, but also knowledge of construction, interior design as well as landscaping. The important part in this is delivering to the client the product you pictured to them. The difficult part is making the client visualize the outcome of the initial old house and getting the client/tennant to believe that it can be done. The reward, well that goes without saying, a happy client and a signed lease agreement.