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87 » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM As Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at FHFA, Levine ensures that minorities, women and individuals with disabilities are fully included in any and all job and business opportunities at FHFA and the regulated entities–Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the eleven Federal Home Loan Banks. Levine joined FHFA in June 2012 and served as an Associate General Counsel from September of that year but now serves as FHFA's OMWI Director. Your work is focused on the struggle for minority and women inclusion. Tell us about how much progress has been made since you broke into the industry and what you still think needs to be done to further the cause. What we're finding out from diversity and inclusion professionals and people who are interested in this area is that women have made significant strides and minorities have made some, but there has been no systemic change for diversity and inclusion. It still is not looked at as a business imperative, strategically or as something that ought to be integrated into one's business. at is really the direction in which the industry is headed right now, because of demographic trends in this country, it is leading people to think about the flexibility they need to have in their workplace, what products they are producing, how they are executing, what they are delivering to their customers, and who those customers are. ose changes are really driving the approach to diversity and inclusion. ere is a lot of work left to be done but conversations have to take place. We have to be willing to ask the hard questions. We don't necessarily have answers, but I believe that by asking the questions we will be better informed and better positioned to deal with the changes, because this is all about change. Who are the mentor(s) that helped you get to this point in your career? I have to go back to my first mentor, who was my mother. She instilled in me all the values I have for my outlook on life. I've developed and matured over the years, and she is no longer with us, but the values that she placed in me have made me who I am today. . I've had mentors in the form of bosses. I started practicing law in the early to mid 80sas a general real estate attorney. At that time, I was one of the few female real estate attorneys, so more often than not I was the only woman in the transactional setting. My bosses at the time were male. I had quite a few good male bosses who themselves were mentors. ere was one mentor in particular who said something to me consistently: take the high road. When you are confronted with adversity, when you are confronted with people who want to do you evil or do you wrong, take the high road, because it keeps you focused, it keeps you positive, and it keeps you moving in the right direction so that you're not distracted by the meaningless stuff that tends to derail you. ere have been other mentors. It all depends on where you are in life. You need mentors for different things. I've had administrative assistants who have been mentors. e professionalism and maturity that they demonstrate has really been instructive. One would not think necessarily that you can have a mentor in someone who is your subordinate, but I have had several administrative assistants, who I considered mentors. What challenges did you face in the real estate industry and housing industry as one of the few women practicing real estate law at that time? Being the only woman was in and of itself a challenge. It felt lonely to begin with. Often times, my gender was a surprise to the people on the other side of the table. I found that I always had to prove myself. As a woman and as a woman of color, the presumption is that you're not the equal of your counterparts. I always had to demonstrate that I was equally qualified and equally competent in running these transactions. e challenge was staying focused on that. I couldn't be derailed by all of the collateral stuff that really was not that important. I was determined to succeed, and any challenge that came up, I viewed it as just that--a challenge to be worked at and to be overcome. What advice do you have to women are trying to get into the housing industry? Competence and qualification are essential. It is not an easy path. It is a grind. It's long hours, it's excruciating work. It's putting your shoulder to the wheel and just grinding it out. ere is no substitute for that. If you have dreams and goals, you have to figure out what is important to you. It's not money, in my case. If it were, I'd be sitting in a large law firm right now making a lot of money. Find your vision for who you are going to be and what you're going to be doing, and articulate that goal for yourself and work toward it. Figure out how you get there and just always keep that in the back of your mind. Also figure out what you're willing to compromise on, because life is full of compromises. I will not compromise my values. I will not compromise those things that make me who I am as a person, as a professional, as a woman. Look for the leader with whom you are going to work. You yourself have to be a leader, but look for that person who is going to allow you, or enable you, or facilitate you, to meet that goal. At FHFA, for instance, when I applied for this position, I wanted to ascertain what level of commitment our Director at the agency had to diversity and inclusion. If I had been dissatisfied with the answer, I wouldn't have taken the position. Luckily, our Director is absolutely committed to diversity and inclusion. It is easy for me to follow him, because he set the path and he knows very clearly, where we should be headed. I am fortunate in that regard. SHARRON P.A. LEVINE Director, Office of Minority and Women Inclusion Federal Housing Finance Agency DIVERSITY PERSPECTIVES

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