Pulse BEAT
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN Laurel Lewis reaches summit at work and in life
BY ALISON BAILIN BATZ / PHOTO BY CLAUDIA JOHNSTONE
For Laurel Lewis, every goal is within reach – as long as you’re willing to make the climb. And in her case, it’s figurative and literal. “After staying home with my kids for the first 10 years of their lives, I set my sights on getting into the commercial real estate business in 1992,” Lewis says. “At that time, it was still very much a male-dominated industry, so I had my work cut out for me.” And work, she did. Over the past three decades, Lewis – now a senior vice president at NAI Horizon – has sold more than $100 million in local office properties and completed $61 million in real estate transactions. But that isn’t the only uphill battle she’s won. An avid local hiker, Lewis decided she needed a bigger challenge a few years back. The result? In recent years, she successfully summited both Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and climbed Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the continuous 48 states. But it is her newest uphill climb of which she is most proud – volunteering at New Pathways for Youth, helping guide local at-risk youth through long-term mentoring. “Right now, I have a 12-year-old female mentee who will be with me through college,” Lewis says. “We’ve put together goals for her life – short- and long-term – and meet weekly to hone in on actionable ways to achieve them. We also take part in monthly, structured workshops and, of course, go have fun.” And that second climb? The organization’s signature event, AZ BizBash. “We are putting on a fabulous concert, foodie fest and silent auction at The Venue Scottsdale on Oct. 5 to raise critical funds for the organization as well as get some new blood involved with what we do,” Lewis says. “We hope to raise more than $150,000 this year on that one night.” For more information on the organization, mentorship program or AZ BizBash, visit www.npfy.org.
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So Scottsdale! October '17