Anywhere Real Estate’s Esther-Mireya Tejeda has unified national marketing efforts

As the first chief marketing officer of Anywhere Real Estate, Esther-Mireya Tejeda helped rebrand a company formerly known as Realogy Corp. and unify a far-flung marketing effort that covers such brands as Sotheby’s, Coldwell Banker and Century21. She recently transitioned into an advisor role at Anywhere as she prepares to launch an independent consultancy later this year. She’ll bring her learning from Anywhere, where she has worked for two years, as well as from prior marketing roles at SoundExchange, Audacy and Univision. Read about Ad Age’s 2024 Leading Women here “I’ve done transformation work for the better half of my career,” Tejeda said. Unifying Anywhere Real Estate was a particular challenge given the diversity of brands and traditionally local and fragmented approach to marketing in the industry, she said. “It was super important to find ways to leverage all of these powerful brands and operate in a way as a parent company that makes it easier to leverage the power of that scale while keeping the differentiation, individuality and ethos of every brand intact,” Tejeda said. Tejeda built a neuroscience research hub with what she bills as “emographic analytics” to build personas of Anywhere customers for planning and marketing development. She also built a new data and measurement infrastructure that helped the company reduce marketing spending by 18% while increasing return on investment by 22%. What advice would you give to your younger self? Be your own best champion. As women, we are often taught that keeping our heads down and doing the hard work will be enough to grow our careers. It’s not. While getting results and delivering for the business is critical for professional growth, it is only as good as the people who know about it. It is paramount to your success to enlist sponsors and mentors to share your story and help you be seen for the work you are doing. Champion early and often for those supporters who will say your name in the right rooms. What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? Over a decade ago, I made the decision to focus on business transformations, taking on complex IPOs, mergers, acquisitions and rebrands as part of my charter. By definition, a business that is transforming in these ways is facing a challenge, and there is always substantial risk associated with big change. However, I have found that the reward is even greater. Looking back at my career so far, some of my proudest moments are those when seismic strategic and operational shifts are made as part of a transformation plan. Those organizations are forever changed and improved, and having that lasting impact is not only invigorating but well worth the risk every time. If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing and why? I would run a dance club. The energy of people dancing and singing to loud music with a heavy bass—the kind that you can feel in your chest—is electrifying. What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks? Our biggest challenge as an industry is not encouraging women and people of color like me to join, but rather it is retaining us. Statistically, as you look further up the ranks in the marketing business, there is less diversity. The industry must ask itself what is happening that is driving women and people of color out of the industry, or worse, keeping many stuck in entry to mid-level roles. Significant work is needed to reshape business culture, both in our discipline and the industries that we serve, to make a path for all talent to have sustained success through the years. How will AI impact your job in the future? Machine learning and AI have been in our ecosystem for a while fueling enhancements in operations and productivity. That will certainly continue. However, the human touch and ability to create, feel, and reason will always be necessary for good business. AI will not replace us, but it does offer a unique opportunity to get the job done better and faster. Read about Ad Age’s 2024 Leading Women here

Anywhere Real Estate’s Esther-Mireya Tejeda has unified national marketing efforts

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