Unique Personalities
By Ken Weingartner
She Took the Road That Didn’t Exist
Eight years ago, Meghan Barry joined Who’s Who with no real estate experience. Today she is the president.
One can journey along the familiar route, or one can take the road less traveled. But there is another option: Creating your own path. That is the route Meghan Barry prefers.
Barry’s path to Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate and LuxuryRealEstate.com was all her own. Barry, who was recently named the Seattle-based company’s president, joined the group in 2002. She had no real estate experience, but her diverse background and drive helped her advance within the growing company.
“From an early age it was ingrained in me that you would always be responsible for your path in life,” says Barry, who majored in anthropology and religious studies in college, then worked for her family’s jewelry business, an IT consulting company and a start-up online custom jewelry business before arriving in real estate.
“When I started here, I knew the nuts and bolts of technology and marketing, but I didn’t necessarily have the real estate background. But I admired the company and believe that you can’t just desire a specific role in a company. I saw myself as part of something bigger over the course of my career. I wanted to be a part of growing LuxuryRealEstate.com.”
A Boston native, Barry describes herself as a “lifelong learner,” even if it sounds “cliché.” An inquisitive nature, though, is only a starting point.
“It was never just about what I studied, it was also whether I was utilizing the education that was provided to me,” says Barry. “When I deal with our clients, whether they are an agent within a large company or an individual working for a small boutique family firm, most of them are entrepreneurs at heart. They are all responsible for their own destinies and success. I can identify with that.”
Ahead of the Game
A popular builder with athletes, Scott Simmons’ architecture background helps make him a winner.
Scott Simmons has built his name on home construction. The Texas native, who earned an architecture degree at the University of Arkansas, studying under renowned Frank Lloyd Wright disciple Fay Jones, started his award-winning building company 20 years ago and continues to thrive.
Simmons Estate Homes won the 2010 Greater Fort Worth Builder Association’s Kaleidoscope of Homes Best of Show award for his 9,500-square-foot Spanish Colonial estate, Casa Montecito. Overall, the Southlake-based firm received 15 first-place awards at the event.
“This is not the easiest business, but when you get those pats on the back, or people praising you for innovative ideas, it makes it all worth it,” says Simmons. “There’s a lot of satisfaction in that.”
After graduating college, Simmons worked as an architect, but always was interested in residential properties. When he got the chance to join developer Trammell Crow and its fledgling homebuilding division, he made the move.
“When I was an architect, our ideas rarely got done, or they cut all your cool ideas for budgetary reasons,” says Simmons. “With homebuilding, I thought it was so cool how you could design something and build it in a matter of less than a year and get instant satisfaction from somebody. My architecture background has probably helped me stay a step ahead of my competition.”
Simmons has found a niche in the sports world, building homes for more than a dozen athletes, including Dallas Mavericks standout Dirk Nowitzki, baseball all-star Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and pro golfer K.J. Choi.
“It’s been word of mouth and taking care of people,” says Simmons, whose company does $10 million to $15 million in business annually. “What gets me excited is getting people into a home they really enjoy living in.”
[...] Unique Personalities [...]