Christina Crawford Udelhofen

I would attribute my success to saying yes and taking risks, but then after a certain growth point of coming into womanhood, understanding that yes doesn't mean that you have to just be blown with the wind. So being able to harness accepting other opportunities and taking a risk, and then being brave enough to stand in those convictions and decisions, and always allowing myself to pivot. I don't see myself in only one way, because if I see myself as only one thing and one way, it doesn't allow me to be flexible, to continue to change, make mistakes, grow, and then turn around. Not trapping myself in one identity has been key to my success.

The best career advice I ever received was actually from one of my managers who told me that a position was not a good fit for me. I could have been really offended by that, but at the same time, I was so appreciative that she wasn't firing me, she was just moving me to a different position within the company. She said my enthusiasm or energy could be best used in a different field, and she was right. When you're young and you're thinking that you want to do one thing like go to college, get a job, sustain yourself, pay your loans, you feel like you have to stay in that path. But I realized it's okay to not force myself to be a round peg in a square hole and try so hard to be great at that. I can sit in my own little round hole as a round peg and just achieve so much more.

My advice to young women entering this field is to be fully yourself and constantly be a learner. You can't be a 10 at everything, you just can't. And if you understand that early on, just focus on your strengths, but have a learner's attitude to understand where you're a 2, and that you may always be a 2, and that's fine. As soon as you can recognize that, you can then reprioritize things and really go at it your own way. Once I realized I'm a 2 at corporate but I'm a 10 at working with people, having ideas, and taking risks, that became the path for me. With real estate, what made me successful was knowing all facets like finance and really walking people through that, understanding their goals, digging deeper, and also being personable. If you truly do want to help people, that's okay too. Sometimes you feel like you're in a boys' club and you need to act like a man to be in the room, but I don't want to be a boy. The only way I've found at this age to do that is just to keep down my path, know what I'm a 10 at, and let being a 10 here lead me to meet the right people and have better conversations, instead of trying so hard.

Right now in Jacksonville, there are so many people who are invested in the growth of the city, myself included. However, as an individual putting myself in different spaces like the leadership class of ULI or NEFBA, I had gotten the feeling that all the spots were already taken. Everyone I reached out to was super helpful in a way, but no one was creating a path for me. It felt like extra steps of running in the wrong direction, like there's a whole club out here of people who think they're the only ones doing it or passionate about this city. The entrepreneurship path I've been on means I get extremely encouraged and then have moments of being extremely discouraged, and it's really living in that in-between. I know this is a great idea in my heart and things are moving forward, so I'm trusting that it's all going to work out. I'm not worried about feeling left out or being seen or having the biggest billboard with my face on it. My goal is not so much to make an impact in that way, but to focus on what's going to be great and beneficial long-term. I'm trying to constantly keep my focus on the little steps, and then it'll grow.

The values that are most important to me in work and personal life are definitely faith, integrity, and honesty, which I kind of tie in with integrity. I never really had a mentor in any professional thing that I pursued, so I had to make sure for myself that these were right decisions. When you're young, like in your 20s, you're hoping that you're making the right decision, but it's so hard. I just needed to get in a place where I could truly understand myself because of my faith, and so I really had to press into that to then make these decisions on my own that were very adult at a time where I probably shouldn't have been making those decisions. Integrity is so important to me because in this stage of my life and career, it's so much easier when you're just yourself, meeting great people who understand what they need, can be concise, and do what they say, or their actions speak louder than their words. Personally, this is so important to me because I've been divorced and this is my second marriage. I really prayed for a man who has such strong integrity, and Justin is that person. He allows me to be brave and make decisions. What I respect most about him is just his integrity and always wanting to do the right thing for our family and our marriage. He models it in our home and in the world, and it makes me want to really model that in the world too.