Gabriela Cortiñas Pagés

“I don’t think life, especially your profession, is truly ever a linear experience, and if you’re lucky enough, all of your interests should almost converge wherever you end up.”

ArchNative, meet Gabriela Cortiñas Pagés!

Gabriela is the Marketing Manager for New Development at Avdoo & Partners Development, a New York based multi-disciplinary real estate development and investment firm. During her tenure with Avdoo, Gabriela has developed and implemented strategic marketing plans for new development projects and determined brand identity and artistic direction across multiple campaign mediums.

We spoke with Gabriela about her path to real estate after a seasoned career in marketing spanning a variety of roles, how her network is one of her greatest resources, and how social media platforms have impacted and enhanced her creative process.

Bring us to the beginning. Your career in marketing spans many years and a variety of roles, how did you land on real estate development marketing?

How I landed in real estate development marketing really boils down to a giant melting pot of my interests.

I grew up in a marketing and communications family, which was spearheaded by my mother and her siblings and focused on clients in consumer goods. I remember always being intrigued by the strategic thinking and creative processes that went into their work, but never wanting to apply it in the same way. Simultaneously, we were always, and still are, a very artistic household. My mother and father have collected art since before I was born and I practiced fine arts throughout my entire life up until the end of high school. When it was time for me to go to college I realized I didn’t want to only be a creative, I also wanted to be business driven. I was weirdly into psychology, and would read Plato and Aristotle, and I was always fascinated by the human mind; people’s thoughts and emotions, how they lead to their decision making, and the art of storytelling and creating experiences.

I always had a love for interiors and architecture. I was that kid, and slowly became that person, who stared at façades and materials, and spent their free time going to the furniture stores to browse because I had a “client” I was sourcing pieces for, when in reality I was just familiarizing myself. Eventually, I took on a few projects of my own in New York and the Dominican Republic and loved it, which I occasionally try to do still, but ultimately I knew I was craving something at the intersection of marketing, art, psychology, architecture, luxury, and design.

During my time at Columbia’s MSRED program, we had Elisa Ours from Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group come to visit as a guest lecturer. She ran through her entire process, every detail, and I was hooked.

Tell us a little bit about Avdoo & Partners and what your role entails?

Avdoo & Partners is a multi-disciplinary real estate development and investment firm, with more than 25 years of experience in the New York metro area. We collectively source, acquire, capitalize, design, construct, market, manage and sell curated projects with a focus on luxury condominiums, multi-family, mixed- use and value-add assets. My role as Marketing Manager predominantly focuses on new development project marketing. I'm involved through the entire development marketing process, from pre-development, branding, advertising, PR, and design, through model and amenity staging, and the physical sales experience. I’m also involved in company level marketing, social, PR, and investor relations.

What do you see for the future of the company?

I see a lot of growth and collaboration. The team is not only growing rapidly, which helps us have a lot more bandwidth to continue to produce work that we’re proud of, but expanding its focus with many new projects coming down the pipeline. What I hope, and what I think the future holds in store is a lot of collaborative opportunities for the company to tap into the arts, lifestyle, luxury, and hospitality, and continue to partner with small local businesses and individuals who contribute to the communities we choose to be a part of.

What does a typical day look like for you?

There is no typical day. Every day is different, and slightly unexpected at times, and that’s what I love about what I do. I’m someone that needs to be stimulated and moving and thinking on my feet. My day can look like being at the office reviewing design documents, jumping into a meeting to talk through paid media assets and campaigns, and revising budgets one minute, then suddenly going to the project site to do a hard hat tour with our public relations team, filming content with the social media team and our partners, or even spending a day hosting an event and shooting around the neighborhood for hours. What’s great is I’m able to sit in and contribute to design decisions and budgetary discussions, and still get out and be boots on the ground.

How do you approach each new project?

When approaching a new project I always focus on location and then the profiles that define the market we want to target. The neighborhood context, history, architecture, and demographic, among other things, are looked at alongside who we want to cater to, and in connection with a “need” and the audience's many “wants”. This starts to establish the product, which sets a foundation for the project’s brand concept and identity, and the story we want to tell. Once that story is created, we get to work on all of the elements that make the story come to life, this includes all print and digital marketing collateral, as well as elements of production, such as film and photography, 3D models, sales applications, model residences and galleries, and more. Every detail, every material, every amenity and piece of furniture is thoughtfully considered, and the goal is to create an experience that people wish to be a party of.

You have obtained an MS in Real Estate Development from Columbia University. Tell us a little bit about this decision to pursue this degree and what you believe were the biggest takeaways from the program that you utilize until this day.

While my experience prior to attending Columbia focused on a majority of the aspects that are a part of my role today, I didn’t have enough real estate experience to understand how my skills could translate to the industry. I didn’t only want to pivot in my career, but I wanted to learn and actually get to understand each part of the process. To me, that was the goal. I knew what I was going for and which areas I would focus on. I made sure to learn enough of everything to understand how all the pieces come together, but I knew to focus and give my all to construction, zoning, the development cycle, and what I knew I would need and still reference to this day.

What are the biggest resources you turn to in your role? (book, podcast, network etc)

I’m in constant communication with my network. It’s easily the most valuable resource I turn to, aside from the design content I often consume on social and the architectural inspiration I takeaway from the places I’ve traveled to, or the projects I find and love, which often inform my design choices. I’m big on collaboration. My network is always top of mind, and I’m often thinking of the ways I can involve different talents in my work. Being surrounded by a variety of artists, art curators, film directors/producers, creative agencies and more throughout my upbringing and into adulthood has been super beneficial. At almost any given time I can think of something I’m working on and connect it to someone I know. It’s exciting to admire the people in your network and always think of the ways in which you can include one another - and it just makes everything more fun.

What is your advice to someone looking to get into the real estate development marketing space?

To start, something that’s always worked for me is speaking with people in the industry and getting a real understanding of what every aspect of the role entails, because that really helps you envision yourself in that position and conclude if and why you’d want to be in the same position as them.

Once you’ve done that and feel like you have a better understanding of what you’re potentially pursuing, leverage your creative and strategic skills as much as possible and mold them to understand people and attract them to a product. Know how to put yourself in the shoes of multiple users and think of what they would want, and the reasons why. Real estate development marketing, is of course very different and a lot more complex, or simply complex in different ways, than trying to market, advertise, and sell any other product you can think of, but big picture - you’re trying to empathize with people, understand what they’re missing, what they want, what they need, propose solutions to those problems, and show them why they need what you’re selling. It’s yet another product that although unlike any other, needs to be marketed as something you need and can’t live without.

How have platforms like tiktok and instagram, as well as the influencer space, changed the type of work you do, if at all?

I wouldn’t say it’s changed the work I do, as much as it’s complemented it. Social has brought a lot of opportunity and served as an aid for community and collaboration, which in turn has created another source of exposure. It’s another avenue that allows you to continue to challenge yourself, think creatively, and keep things interesting - learning how to embrace these platforms and its users, thinking of the ways each can help you and knowing which aspects of each best suit your brand and your goals.

What is a piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

There’s a tendency to think that certain experiences that don’t perfectly fit your “professional mold” are a waste or a delay in your purpose or process; time that could have been spent doing something else that’s more closely related to what you envision yourself doing. I’m proud of where I am, and how far I’ve come so far, but I had a really hard time when I was younger thinking that focusing on art, then on business, and then on interiors, prior to getting into real estate, was a diversion from where I could have been all along. The truth is all of those things are what allowed me to be in the position I’m in today. I don’t think life, especially your profession, is truly ever a linear experience, and if you’re lucky enough, all of your interests should almost converge wherever you end up. You have to go through this nonlinear experience of exploring all of your interests to really get to know yourself, and from there, find the thing that allows you to enjoy as many of those as possible - That’s what I’d tell my younger self. No experience goes to waste. Each and every moment of those individually are chances to grow, and ultimately lead you to where you want to be.

Also, I think more prominently when we’re young, we focus a lot more on our weaknesses than our strengths - “our gifts”. I’ve never done school as well as I've done work, and I’ve always been very aware of that. I would constantly focus on the weaknesses I needed to develop, like math and sciences, and while I was fostering my gifts, my perspective on what I couldn’t do heavily outweighed what I could do; what I was naturally good at. I’m not saying it’s not important to try and develop those skills which maybe you’re not great at; like a muscle, you should try and fortify them all, even if some are stronger than others, but I would say to lean into your gifts. At the end of the day, looking at what serves you long term, they’re the things you see and understand by nature, which almost always can’t be taught.

Photo Credit:

Head Shot: Luis Guillén

58 Saint Marks Place: Connor Harrigan

Bergen Brooklyn: Renderings by Darcstudio

Sara Agrest