Caroline Collins, 29 

Collins was surrounded by C&W luminaries like Bruce Mosler, Mark Mandell and Ethan Silverstein, and Collins didn’t misuse the moment.

“Because we were in the office we started seeing clients — we were not allowing COVID to isolate us, and that differentiated us,” Collins said. “There were days, weeks, months when things were slower, but that also gave me [a chance] to integrate myself on an important team in New York City with the senior-most people.”

Thirty months later, Collins is responsible for leasing over 3 million square feet spread across eight buildings, while still having a hand in the tenant side of the business. Prior to the pandemic she and Mandell had been trying to find New York space for CoStar before the search was put on pause; but in 2021 the search began again, and the pair found the company space in Brookfield’s 55 West 46th Street.

She also brought a slew of tenants to 61-63 Crosby Street in SoHo — including Comcast, the Elisabeth Murdoch-founded media company Sister, and the appraisal firm Bowery Valuation — as well as becoming something of a SoHo maven, representing 72-76 Greene Street, 520 Broadway, 524 Broadway and 580 Broadway. Some of the rents that she’s gotten (even in the middle of the pandemic) were high-water marks for the neighborhood.

It was probably inevitable that Collins would wind up in real estate. She grew up in the Washington, D.C., area where both of her parents were in real estate, as were cousins. (She’s currently engaged to another C&W broker.) She was a political science and economics major at Bucknell, and after graduating worked briefly at UBS before jumping to C&W.

“A lot of success is dependent on having a great team and great mentors,” Collins said. “I’ve had really fab mentors and close friends as a result of being in this business — and that sharpens the learning curve a lot.” —M.G.