Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Taylor.
Hi Jennifer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started in the industry in the early 1990s. I was a nursing student at the time and happened to stumble into commercial real estate. In my early career, I managed commercial real estate for institutional and non-institutional investors. This is where I cut my teeth and is really the foundation for a long career. I managed class A, B and C buildings. But the class C buildings are where you really learn. Class A buildings are core assets and do not require the same type of attention that buildings which need a little more TLC do. During my time as a property manager, I received my real estate license as well as the CPM® (Certified Property Manager) designation.
This is also the time that I learned the value of networking. I was not married or did not have kids for the first five years of my career, so it allowed me to attend lunches, dinners, conferences, golf tournaments, and other functions. In my opinion, networking is the most important thing in one’s career. Mastering a skillset goes with the territory, but if you learn how to network this will put you in a whole different ballgame. Doors will open, and opportunities will find you.
After ten years of property management, I then moved into investing. With my first investment management platform, my then partners and I amassed the largest office portfolio in Honolulu, Hawaii. We executed our repositioning strategy and sold the portfolio to an institutional investor. That was in August 2007. The timing was perfect as the financial landscape shifted into what is was known as the Great Financial Crisis. During this period in my career, I received my CCIM (certified commercial investment manager) designation.
I was fortunate to ride out the downturn, and when there were signs that the market was going to turn, I started a new investment team. We ended up buying back half my portfolio from the investors I previously sold to (at a steep discount!) and focused on developing grocery-anchored shopping centers in four Hawaiian Islands.
In 2018, I started my current platform Ambiculture Advisors where the focus is on investing and developing commercial real estate in markets with strong Asian demographics.
Around this same time, I got more involved in the Filipino-American community in Los Angeles. I am Board VP Emeritus for one of the oldest and largest Filipino non-profit organizations servicing the community out of Historic Filipinotown through health and human services, community economic development, and cultural enrichment programs. I initially joined the board to help them with a proposed development deal. As a result, I have helped them reposition their real estate portfolio. I helped institutionalize their standard operating procedures for the asset management of their existing real estate portfolio and proceeded to complete a mixed-use development deal. We sold their headquarters real estate to a partnership that they are a part of and structured a deal to have commercial space on the ground floor to serve as their new headquarters and programming space for the community. In addition, the floors above now serve as permanent supportive housing for the previously unhoused.
I currently serve as board president of FIIRE (Filipinos in Institutional Real Estate). The networking group was founded in 2009. We have since formed a 501c3 non-profit industry organization and have grown to ten chapters in the United States and launched our first international chapter in the Philippines this past Feb 2023. The pillars of the organization are to network, educate, and mentor Filipinos in Institutional Real Estate.
I co-founded the non-profit organization with my daughters called Swirls for Girls that focuses on self-advocacy, identity issues, mainstream influences, and forming social consciousness relating to girls of multi-cultures. I also serve on the board of Filipinos Advancing Creative Education (FACE), a 501c3 that uplifts the next generation of Filipino Americans through music, film, fashion, and creative art.
As you can see, everything I work on these days has to have a multicultural component.
I attribute my success to the two things I did really well in high school – writing notes and talking (my freshman year, I was voted Most Talkative at my school). Other influences in my life that helped with my work ethic and values is my own personal family experience. My parents are immigrants from the Philippines. My mother came to the US after college in the medical technology program, and my father was an electrical engineer. My parents left everything they knew to start a new life in the United States. They met in New York. Their sacrifices and determination have afforded me an incredible Westernized lifestyle with beautiful Eastern traditions and culture integrated into my everyday life.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I believe that the best things come on the other side of adversity.
As a child growing up with immigrant parents, it was a constant battle. We were being raised in a Westernized environment by parents with Filipino values. Growing up, I had an identity crisis because most of my friends and school did not look like me.
I then married someone out of my own race, and we have three interracial children – Black/Filipino. While our kids are now college-aged (one already graduated), I am certain that their journey is more complicated than my own. One way I tried to understand my daughters is by founding Swirls for Girls. I knew at some point that there would be situations that I could never relate to, and I wanted to make sure my Black children received the support that they needed. Swirls for Girls is a diversity group based out of Los Angeles that brings girls of all flavors together to support and inspire each other through culturally diverse and interactive education, mentorship, friendship, and activities. In addition to supporting the girls, the group is a great place for parents to share ideas and have personal discussions about parenting.
Being the minority is something I have grown accustomed to. The commercial real estate industry, investment, and finance is very pale male-dominated. So the ‘struggle’ as a female minority in my profession is an age-old challenge. Since the racial reckoning of 2020, there has been some improvement in diversity, equity, and inclusion, but not enough to say that we have made a dent in solving the problem.
I am 25+ years into my career. I have intentionally put myself in the position to speak from experience, mentor the young, and be an agent of change even if in my own little way.
We’ve been impressed with Ambiculture Advisors, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Ambiculture Advisors is a female and minority-owned real estate investment and development platform that focuses on investing in markets with strong Asian demographics. If you look at where institutional investors are putting their capital, they are in urban markets where Blacks and Hispanics are, but they have yet to figure out the Asian markets. That is the hole Ambiculture Advisors fills. We invest and develop commercial real estate – office, retail, mixed-use including, but not limited to, affordable housing.
Over the course of the last twenty years, most of the assets I have invested in or developed have been in Los Angeles, CA and Honolulu, HI. I will typically only do deals in markets that I have a competitive edge. I live in a suburban city, Arcadia. My parents bought in Arcadia back in 1977. When I was growing up, most of my childhood friends were blonde hair and blue eyes. Fast forward to 2023 and most of my neighbors now look like me. I have had the opportunity to see the evolution of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California shift in demographics to a mainly Asian population. As the population changed the real estate repositioned to many Asian food concepts and services. Because of the unique circumstances, I am able to know what merchandising mix works and does not work for real estate projects in Asian American areas. This is my competitive edge – an urban ambiculture real estate strategy.
Ambiculture = Western real estate combined with Eastern concepts.
In addition to our own investments and developments, we also advise and mentor general partners in the urban ambiculture space.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
During the pandemic, I spent a lot of time in introspection. What I realized is that our personal accomplishments die with just us but what we do for the greater good will be part of our legacy.
Therefore, many of the deals I work on are in the places and markets I know and love – Southern California and Hawaii. I also try to find the intersection of what I know how to do (real estate investment/development) and what I love (my community). This is where the magic begins.
I am also an advocate for multicultural awareness and would like to be remembered for the work I do in advancing marginalized groups in the various professional, personal, and charitable initiatives I work on.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ambicultureadvisors.com
- Instagram: _taylorish_
- Facebook: Jennifer del Rosario Taylor
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifertaylor626/
- Other: swirlsforgirls.org; fiireusa.org; sipacares.org; facefwd.org
