Taylor Walker, 28

Much of Taylor Walker’s life growing up revolved around lacrosse.

The Glastonbury, Conn., native played on club teams and attended camps and clinics in the summer, where her adept play in the midfield drew the attention of Boston College while she was a high school sophomore. Her BC team was so good they played in the national championship game three consecutive years. They prepared by taking their matches one play at a time.

“Emotions were high and it was incredibly intense,” she said. “There was an extra push to try to keep going as far as you could.”

Walker kept the same mentality of preparation and cooperation when she joined CBRE’s Boston office in 2019 after college. Several BC alumni and people connected to her lacrosse team had entered the industry, so it was an easy decision. But moving to New York three years later was more difficult.

“I felt like I could home in and advance in my career and never move, but I thought I needed something bigger than Boston and had a lot of friends who moved to New York after college, so I took the leap of faith,” she said.

Walker joined CBRE’s life sciences team and helped New York University find a 50,000-square-foot lab for its incubator facility in Court Square, Long Island City. She has since been a free agent, splitting her time between being a tenant rep and working with landlords. Last year she helped the owner of 26 West 17th Street lease up four floors of its 120,000-square-foot office.

Walker doesn’t play lacrosse anymore, although she teaches lessons to girls who want to learn the game. But the sport helped her think about the importance of following through on every aspect of a deal.

“You have to be humble, put your head down, and do the hard work to get noticed,” she said. “You should celebrate the little things and know there’s an end goal in mind, but the deal isn’t over until the last 1 percent of it is done.”