Member Spotlight: Julia D. Silva and Erika Thompson
“Your creative license is not just a privilege but a responsibility. Use it to inspire and mentor the next generation, for they are the authors of the future.” - Unknown
The CREW Tampa Bay Member Spotlight for November shines its collective light on two inspiring women who teamed up to launch the Tampa office for Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate: Julia Silva and Erika Thompson. Julia is the President/Founder and Industrial Broker, and Erika is the Founding Principal and Industrial Broker for the company’s new Tampa Bay regional office. Lee & Associates was founded back in 1979 in Orange County, California, and it has grown to become the largest broker owned commercial real estate firm in North America. Their launch of the new Tampa Bay regional office continues to enhance that growth. Julia and Erika are strong, independent women who work well together. They are utilizing their own collective experiences, personal drive, and creative licenses to facilitate and inspire success through their leadership roles at Lee & Associates; not only for their current team, but for generations to come.
Julia, a Cuban American, was raised in Port Chester, New York, and immigrated to Tampa in 1992. She began her career in commercial real estate in New York City and has blazed trails as a female CRE leader and broker ever since. Julia has loved working in the development, sales and leasing side and has been in the business for over 30 years. For Julia, the opportunity to lead and grow Lee & Associates’ Tampa office is very exciting! Julia is an extremely optimistic person who says, “Every day I wake up happy!” She knows if her family is happy, and the clients are happy, then everything is good! Julia enjoys cooking, working out, snow skiing, and fishing. She believes that family is the most important thing in life, and she has raised five successful kids who range in age from 24 to 34. She takes pride in being a mentor to many and giving back wherever she can. A lot of people may not know this about Julia, but she coached competitive cheerleading for many years and enjoys on occasion coaching and utilizing her creativity to choreograph or judge cheer competitions for local, competitive cheerleading squads.
Erika grew up in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. She moved to Tampa and attended St. Pete College while waitressing and working in multi-family property management. Erika went back to school to become a paralegal, and by chance, she got into commercial real estate in 2002. Since she started her CRE career, Erika has been involved in various internal operations, including property management and marketing. She eventually moved into the brokerage side where she has been working for nearly 10 years. When not at work, Erika likes to read, work out to keep in shape, and she loves to travel throughout Europe. She has even taken the Chunnel from London to Paris! A fun fact about Erika is that she is a certified scuba diver. Among other great destinations, she has dived The Bahamas, St. Lucia, The Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Tortola. One of her coolest, planned excursions was a dive with sharks! Erika genuinely enjoys her family time, and she has one son who attends Jesuit High School.
Julia and Erika have been active members of CREW Tampa Bay for many years! Julia joined in 2008 as a founding board member, was on the Board of Directors from 2011-2014, and served as President in 2012. She was the founder of Go Fish, and, she was one of the members who started the Excellence Awards Program (NOTE: The 11th Annual Excellence Awards Program was held last week!) Erika joined in 2016, was on the Board of Directors from 2021-2022, and chaired the Members Only Committee while participating on the Programs Committee. And both of these amazing women are members of CREW Tampa Bay’s Executive Council.