Women in Real Estate Leadership: Why the Women Who Lift Others Are the Ones Who Last

Category: Leadership | Women in Real Estate | Culture
Author: Leesa Booyzen | WIN Ambassador, eXp Realty | Founder, Kaya Team Portugal

Reading time: 5 minutes

We talk a lot about breaking the glass ceiling. But not enough about what happens when the woman holding the hammer uses it against another woman. This is that conversation.

The Weight We Carry That Nobody Sees

We have all felt it. The exhaustion of fighting to be seen in a room that was never designed with us in mind. The invisible weight of managing a career alongside health challenges, family responsibilities, and the relentless pressure to prove ourselves in an industry that has historically rewarded men for the very qualities it penalises women for.

Confidence becomes aggression. Ambition becomes threatening. Boundaries become difficult.

And yet, here we are. Showing up. Building. Leading.

But there is a conversation we need to have more openly in women's real estate communities, and it is this: not every woman in a position of power is a leader who lifts. Some have internalised the very systems that held them back, and they use those same tools against other women. Dominance. Exclusion. Public undermining. The quiet but deliberate act of making another woman feel small so that they can feel large.
This is not strength. This is survival dressed up as leadership, and we deserve better from each other.

The Divide and Conquer Trap

Throughout my career, I have seen firsthand the stark difference between leaders who unite people and those who choose to divide and conquer. The latter often operate from a place of insecurity. They see the input of strong agents, particularly strong women, not as an alliance but as a threat.

I once worked under a leader whose primary goal was to prove a point, and it was the good agents who suffered most. Divisive leadership fractures the foundation of any team, but in a world where women are already navigating so many additional layers of complexity, it is especially damaging.

When a woman in leadership chooses to cut someone out, to make an example of a colleague in public, to weaponise a personality clash rather than work through it, she is not just losing one person. She is sending a message to every woman watching. Your voice is only welcome here if it does not challenge mine.
That is not leadership. That is ego wearing a title.

What True Leadership Actually Looks Like

True leadership requires something far more demanding than dominance. It requires a personality shift. A willingness to get to know the person beyond the transaction, beyond the sale, beyond the professional mask we all wear when we are trying to hold it together.

As women, we understand better than most that there is always more happening beneath the surface. Health battles that are invisible to the outside world. Family pressures that do not pause for business hours. The emotional labour of being the person everyone leans on, at home and at work.

A true leader in this space sees that. She does not use it against you. She creates a safe place for you to grow through it.

Personality clashes are real and they will always exist. That is not the problem. The problem is how a leader chooses to respond. My role, within my own team and alongside our country leadership, is to look beyond the clash and find a mutual place of operating. True leaders lean into friction with patience and emotional intelligence. They build bridges rather than walls. They understand that behind every difficult personality is often a woman who simply has not felt safe enough, heard enough, or valued enough to show up differently.

Divisive leaders take a completely different path. They cut people out. They make examples of colleagues in public, deliberately undermining them to assert dominance and control. And in doing so, they do not just lose one person. They poison the well for every woman who is watching and wondering whether it is safe to speak up, to lead, or to simply be themselves.

The Culture That Changes Everything

This is why the culture at eXp matters so deeply to me. Built on collaboration, transparency, and genuine support, eXp does not reward those who lead through fear or division. And nothing demonstrates that more clearly than the leadership we are fortunate to have in Portugal.

I want to take a moment to give a very genuine and heartfelt shoutout to @João Miguel Louro, eXp Country Leader for Portugal. João is, without question, the kind of leader this industry needs more of, and the kind that women in real estate rarely get to experience.

He gives us a safe place to grow. He understands that agents have a voice. He recognises that the people on the ground are the ones navigating the real challenges every day, and he listens, genuinely listens, for options and solutions within his power to assist and direct.

What makes João exceptional is not just his skill as a leader. It is that he embodies everything eXp stands for. Collaboration over competition. People over politics. Growth over ego. In a world where so many leaders talk about culture, João lives it. He creates an environment where agents feel seen, supported, and empowered to bring their best, and that is not something you find everywhere.

As Team Leader of Kaya Team, that safe environment is everything. It allows me to support my team, to expand and grow throughout Portugal, and to model the kind of leadership I wish I had seen more of earlier in my career. When you have a country leader who leads with integrity and humanity, it raises the standard for everyone beneath that umbrella. It gives us all permission to lead the same way.

A Message to Every Woman in This Industry

If you are in a leadership position, this is your reminder: the women around you are watching how you handle power. They are watching whether you use your seat at the table to pull up a chair for someone else, or whether you guard it.

In any organisation, there will always be those who just want to be heard and feel important for themselves. True leaders know how to sift through the noise, focus on what matters, and still make every person feel seen, especially the ones who are hardest to see.

The women who last in this industry are not the ones who clawed their way to the top and pulled the ladder up behind them. They are the ones who built the ladder and helped other women climb it every step of the way.

Be that woman.

"When you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back and you give other women a hand."
Michelle Obama

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If this resonated with you, share it with one woman in your network who needs to hear it today. The conversation only grows when we are brave enough to start it.

About the Author

Leesa Booyzen is a real estate professional, women's advocate, and WIN Ambassador for eXp Realty's Women Impact Network, a global community dedicated to empowering, connecting, and elevating women across the eXp network and the wider real estate industry.

Based in Portugal, Leesa leads with a deep belief that the most powerful thing a woman in this industry can do is create space for other women to rise. She brings that same philosophy into her daily work, her leadership, and her commitment to building a culture where every voice is heard and every woman feels safe enough to show up fully.

Leesa is also the Founder and Team Leader of Kaya Team and operates across 28 countries through eXp Realty's global network, covering the whole of Portugal from Lisbon and Porto to the Algarve, Alentejo, Comporta, Cascais, the Douro Valley, the Silver Coast, and beyond.

📩 leesa.booyzen@expportugal.com

🔗 Follow Leesa on LinkedIn for weekly insights on leadership, women in real estate, and the forces reshaping the Portuguese and European property markets.