Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos.
Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos
Co-founder, president and COO at Flag Luxury Group
Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos is used to being the only woman in the room. She has led Flag Luxury Group alongside her husband Paul Kanavos for decades. Most recently, she led the development of the 50-story Ritz-Carlton NoMad in Manhattan, finished in 2022.
But, when her daughter entered the workforce at Starwood Capital as the only woman on her team, Olarte de Kanavos knew she had a role to play.
“Women still aren’t used to speaking to each other about business,” said Olarte de Kanavos. “They’re not asking each other the questions like, ‘How did you finance this deal? How did you structure your capital stack?’ Things that you readily share with men at the table.”
That led her to launch the inaugural Women’s Power Breakfast last March, a conference for business women and entrepreneurs at any point in their career. The event, which was hosted at Flag Luxury’s Ritz-Carlton South Beach, will take place annually. “This was about trying to open up those business conversations, so that we can support each other, and then also help the next generation of women support each other,” the developer said.
When she’s not advocating for women in business, Olarte de Kanavos has plenty of other business to attend to. The Kanavos family owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach together with Lionstone Development and the Ben-Josef Group.
The development group was approved to build a 15-story condo building next door to the Ritz-Carlton and behind the Sagamore Hotel, which they also own. In exchange for the height allowance, the development group will upgrade the Lincoln Road stretch that fronts the Sagamore and leads to the beach — making it more accessible, adding public art, and even installing a Morris Lapidus-inspired arch to commemorate the famed architect’s vision for Lincoln Road.
The group has also pitched a larger transformation of Lincoln Road that will see it fully pedestrianized — as Lapidus intended — and hopefully cure some of the crime and loitering issues plaguing the area. That awaits approval from city officials. “We want to create a beautiful district and really bring it back to luxury,” said Olarte de Kanavos.
