who struggle with poverty.” She applies that ethic to her work in very specific ways. “We recently welcomed HealthQuarters as a tenant at Riverwalk,” she says. “HealthQuarters is a nonprofit that provides affordable reproductive care and sexual health services and education for women. It’s important to make a difference in young women’s lives by improving access to services and health care within our region.” It’s all part of building community partnerships that Darcy sees as central to her role in the real estate industry, and the benefits of which flow in a number of different directions. As chair of fundraising for Groundwork Lawrence, for instance, she promotes community gardens throughout the city, increasing green space and playground areas for families and children and helping to develop educational programs that teach parents about healthful cooking and family wellness. But, she says, she also works hard to support her company’s tenants, without whom the revitalization of a Gateway city cannot occur. “We thrive on our tenants’ success,” she says. ”We develop marketing plans and schedule community events to celebrate their achievements.” She also brings the tenant-community relationship full circle in a variety of ways. One is their annual Thanksgiving event, where the company donates a turkey to Lawrence’s Lazarus House for homeless families for each tenant who attends. Such outreach efforts remind everyone involved of their interconnectedness. Darcy’s roommate during her freshman and sophomore years at Wheaton, Melissa Greenwood, isn’t surprised by the energy Darcy brings to her position, and the myriad responsibilities in which she involves herself to achieve the best possible results. Even back then, Greenwood says, “she set the bar very high for herself. There wasn’t any lounging.” There still isn’t. “I’m usually up between 4:30 and 5,” Darcy says. “I prefer to work out before I begin my day. It starts me off
crisply.” She usually works straight through lunch and then tunnels through long, productive afternoons. But she does not burn the candle at both ends. “I’m a big advocate of getting sleep,” she says. “It’s so important. I make a concerted effort to be in bed by 10 o’clock every night. It allows me to think more clearly, be more effective.” Darcy also practices meditation—“I sit in silence for 30 minutes” every morning, she says—and has gone through yoga certification. “I try to cultivate mindfulness,” she explains. “I try to be present and to be in touch with my own voice.” She strives to separate the workday from her private life as well. “When I’m working, it’s full throttle,” she says. “But when I’m done, it’s full downtime. I had to teach myself that. It’s more of a challenge for us today,” because of the technology that brings communication constantly to our fingertips. The separation is critical. It al-
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lows her to recharge every day so that she can always do her best work, for which she has to constantly be on her toes because that work occurs in so many different silos—the construction site, the leasing office, community organizers’ headquarters and politicians’ anterooms. That knack for combining her real estate acumen with her ability to deal with influencers at all levels to better a community’s progress positions Darcy as a kind of iconoclastic Jill-of-alltrades. That said, much of her involvement has been in an industry that is traditionally male-centered. And it hasn’t always been easy. Even today, as a senior executive, Darcy sometimes encounters men who challenge what she brings to the table and initially don’t take her seriously as a knowledgeable player. Those situations, says Darcy, make her more aware of her leadership role in encouraging young women to reach their full potential—no matter what. “I didn’t have the benefit of having a strong female role model as I made my way in what is perceived as a ‘male’ career,” she says. “I wish I had more women to lean on as I evolved professionally.” The approach she developed over the years is not to deal with people’s presuppositions about gender defensively. Rather, she just gets in there and does her job. When she starts talking, she says, everyone can see that she knows her stuff, and then everyone can get down to business. Doing what she wants—leaving other people’s assumptions out of her mental notes and her career decisions—is a life lesson in which she actively engages her two teenage daughters. “One of the things I’ve always tried to instill in both of my daughters is to fulfill their passion, their dreams, to try to understand what they naturally migrate toward,” Darcy says. “They have to feel free to explore their own interests. If you have other voices telling you where to go, you don’t hear the voice inside you.” Clearly, Darcy’s inner voice has served her—and others—well. Q SPRING 2017 33