Marcela Baumgardner
Marcela (Brasileiro) Baumgardner is a real estate attorney turned owner-operator, currently serving as Director of Real Estate for The Baumgardner Group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She began her career in Brazil in 2012, working with top-tier law firms and handling some of the country’s most significant and complex real estate transactions. During this period, she developed deep relationships across the industry, gaining a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics and investment strategy. In 2022, she relocated to the U.S. to pursue a Master of Laws (LL.M.) at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, earning a Wharton Business and Law Certificate while expanding her professional network and connecting with leaders in the U.S. real estate sector.
Since joining The Baumgardner Group, Marcela has pivoted from legal practice to actively managing and growing her family’s real estate portfolio, which spans 40 years of construction experience and includes industrial, commercial, and luxury residential vacation properties. As Director of Real Estate, she has helped structure the business as a family office and now oversees investment strategy and portfolio management for $40 million in assets. Her role focuses on identifying new opportunities to increase property value, securing leases, and forging strategic partnerships with developers and investors. Through these initiatives, she positions the portfolio to maximize returns while supporting broader economic growth and community development.
Marcela’s dual expertise as a lawyer and owner-operator allows her to blend legal precision, financial insight, and entrepreneurial strategy. She is deeply committed to fostering thriving, sustainable communities by ensuring the right spaces exist for businesses to grow, create jobs, and strengthen the local economy. Actively engaged in the Philadelphia and South Jersey business communities, she participates in the Atlantic County Economic Alliance, Business Network International, and philanthropic initiatives such as Penn Fight Night and the Penn Grad Boxing Club. Fluent in English and Portuguese, with working proficiency in Spanish, Marcela continues to drive value at the intersection of real estate, law, and strategic investment.
• Wharton Business and Law Certificate
• Real Estate Investing & Analysis Certificate
• Master of Laws
• Real Estate Investiments
• University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School - LLM
• Universidade Católica de Pernambuco - LLB
• Legal 500 Recognition
• Chambers and Partners Recognition
• Associate to Watch
• Rising Star
• Professional Women in Construction - Philadelphia Chapter
• PFN 2023 Fighter / PGBC 2024 Board Member
• Tribunal de Justiça de Pernambuco (TJPE)
• SP Quentinha
What do you attribute your success to?
I'm a dreamer. I'm very delusional about things, in the best way. I think dreaming and maintaining that forward-thinking mindset has been so important to my success. I've always been a big dreamer, and that's what has really pushed me forward in my career and helped me take the leap from being a lawyer to becoming a real estate director and owner-operator. It's about believing in possibilities and not being afraid to pursue them.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Marcela will be jumping in to add details in her own words regarding her passion and zest for life and her career shifts and excitement for real estate, as well as details about her personal inter4ests, and how she would love to connect with other incredible women in our community and inspire our readers.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Talk to people. Connect as early as you can with someone that you somehow admire, or want to be in their shoes in the future, in the near future. Find a mentor that is exactly what you want to be. It's hard to find someone, it's hard to engage people to help you, but when you try, and you genuinely connect with somebody who is doing, or has done, what you want to do, that's invaluable knowledge that you can't find anywhere else. You can't find it through AI, a great university is not going to give it to you, your peers are not gonna give you that. It's free experience when you don't have experience. That connection with a mentor who has been there is something that cannot be replicated through any other means.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Human connections are what's going to make you do great things, maybe not now, maybe not immediately, but eventually when the time is right. My father-in-law George Baumgardner has taught me so much about the value of relationships over purely transactional interactions. When you're young, we think that it's just action, doing things, going here and there, but then you get so caught up in this process of achieving and doing that you forget that the people, the human connections, are actually what's going to enable you to accomplish great things. I've learned from George about being more understanding and compassionate, meeting everybody's needs instead of just imposing what we want. His approach has been about being fair and good for everyone, and that's created these long-term relationships that are the core of everything we do professionally. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunities, encouragement, and lessons I've been given from my relationship with George, who I truly respect and admire.