Melissa Rutland, 38

Melissa Rutland is proud of the “CCIM” acronym that follows her name. It stands for certified commercial investment member, and only about 16,000 people nationwide have achieved that designation. Furthermore, just 1% of CCIMs are women, she says.

“It’s like a CPA for people who are making commercial real estate investment decisions on a financial basis, such as tax consequences, how things are going to be treated on a balance sheet, whether to rent or buy … those sorts of things. I consider myself more of an adviser than a salesperson. You’re helping businesses make really important decisions on a daily basis, like where to locate their projects and how to analyze performance.”