Just above Everest Base Camp
By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
On Friday, we started accepting applications for our annual “30 Under 30″ feature, in which we take time to find the best and brightest in the business under the age of 30. I apologize for just getting the word out about it until now. For the past two weeks, I was on Mount Everest climbing beyond base camp, a lifelong dream realized and a 30th birthday gift to myself.
I was inspired to travel there in the first place because of an interview I conducted with Sugar Ray Leonard for REALTOR® Magazine, during which he said to me, “Whatever you’re dreaming, dream bigger.” That was the moment that I started to write down my dreams.
And when I was on the mountain, waiting out a huge blizzard, I remembered my interview with Mary Lou Retton when she said with passion, “Never, ever, ever, give up.” (And that’s an abridged version: She actually had about 20 or 30 evers in there.) After that, I kept thinking of the line from my favorite Coldplay song “Fix You,” which says, “If you never try, you’ll never know just what you’re worth.”
Over the course of the year, I receive several phone calls from young practitioners telling me that — not unlike my own quest to hike part of the world’s tallest mountain — their dream is to be named one of REALTOR® Magazine’s 30 Under 30. Well, now is the time to actualize that dream: Registration is open!
You can learn about how to fill out an application here. I encourage everyone under the age of 30 who has demonstrated significant success, ingenuity, creativity, and leadership in their real estate careers to apply. If you do, please take the time to tell the editors what makes you stand out from others in the industry. Too often we read generic applications, which honestly get lost in the shuffle. (Sadly, climbing Everest won’t ensure you get chosen as a 30 Under 30 honoree, but I might read your application a little more carefully if you did.)
So please apply today, and remember: “If you never try, you’ll never know just what you’re worth.”
