Her Story
About Kari
Kari Trujillo serves as Area Sales Manager for a new home builder, overseeing sales operations across Northern Colorado. She brings more than a decade of experience in new home sales, having progressed from an entry-level sales assistant role to her current leadership position managing nine team members in five communities. Trujillo earned her degree from CU Boulder and previously spent seven and a half years at Target Corporation, advancing from cashier to Executive Team Leader before transitioning industries. She participates in the Home Builders Associations across Colorado and attributes her success to years of dedicated effort and personal sacrifice alongside her husband. Trujillo advises women entering the field to persist through initial challenges in this male-centered industry, noting that advancement is achievable as demonstrated by female leaders at her company.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kari
01What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, I think it's been a lot of sacrifice. My husband and I have been together for almost 15 years, and a good first 10 years of our relationship was we worked opposite schedules. We worked, he was in retail still, and so there was a lot of late nights. We didn't really have time together, that took away from family time. It's tough, but I think we kind of just grinded in our 20s, and knew that we had an end goal, of eventually raising a family, and hopefully early retirement. I think it was just, honestly, putting our head down and knowing that you have to really prove your worth, and put the time in, and sacrifice a lot of things in order to hopefully come out on the other side of being successful.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be afraid to break into an industry, or to start at the ground level of an industry. It might be a little intimidating because it is male-centered, but it could take some time, and it could take some hurdles and tears, but it's clearly possible. You can breakthrough and redefine those molds for sure in this industry.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Home sales in general right now, interest rates being kind of what they are over the last couple years coming out of COVID has been a major change. Those people who could sell or need to sell their current home, they're locked in at a 2.5%, so they're not going anywhere. We call them the interest rate golden handcuffs. That's a big pool of buyers for us that just aren't in the market right now. On the flip side, inflation has gotten out of control. Building homes isn't getting any cheaper, and so finding that affordability for our customers is key. We're fortunate in that we have a little bit more affluent buyer pool as a luxury home builder, but we still have a wide range of product lines with those people who are price sensitive and interest rate sensitive, and so just trying to navigate how we get through that challenge to still hit those numbers for the shareholders.
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