Content at the Core: Allison LaForgia and Brena Nath on HousingWire’s Strategy from NYC to The Gathering

HousingWire

HousingWire’s Brena Nath and Allison LaForgia take you behind the scenes of a standout two-day media production at the New York Stock Exchange, Times Square, and a high-rise suite just blocks from the action at MBA Secondary. In this conversation, Allison and Brena share how location, storytelling, and strategy came together to produce executive interviews, social content, and a full slate of multimedia deliverables.  Looking ahead, they highlight what’s next at The Gathering — an upcoming three-day event in Colorado Springs at The Broadmoor Hotel. With an agenda packed full of insights across the housing industry, full-scale production support, on-site branding, and new activations, Brena and Allison invite industry executives to step into the spotlight and make their mark.

Transcript

00:00Brenna, we just wrapped up a couple of days at MBA Secondary in New York City.

00:04You sat down with a couple of different leaders in the industry.

00:07Let's talk a little bit about who we talked with this week.

00:10It's hard to believe that we are almost halfway through the year.

00:14So you have forecasts getting rewritten.

00:17You have predictions on the rest of the year.

00:20What are we going to bring into 2026?

00:22All of those conversations are happening at Secondary as we look forward to the gathering.

00:27What to expect in August, going beyond.

00:30The themes within that have, okay, what's happening with the new administration?

00:33We're beyond 100 days.

00:34We also have those headlines come out.

00:36We've had a 100-day mark.

00:37What has happened so far?

00:38How can we bring some certainty into the unknowns?

00:41Or continuation of what are the unknown unknowns?

00:44And how do we deal with that?

00:45How do we operate as lenders, housing, real estate leaders?

00:49And the second half of that is the role that technology is going to play.

00:51We're excited about the AI Summit coming up, which is right after the gathering.

00:54We're bringing the AI tech conversation into that.

00:58So those themes not only are here, they're in the conversations I'm having,

01:02but people are looking for continuous ways that they can find some certainty that they can get in this market.

01:08I think one of the fun things about having the Housing Wire team at all of these conferences

01:12and why I'm so excited to be in Colorado Springs, your hometown,

01:17is that we're having more and more content come out.

01:20So you sat specifically with people from Empower,

01:24and Housing Wire is partnering with Empower at the gathering, correct?

01:28Correct.

01:29That's one I'm particularly excited about.

01:32Also appreciate our sponsors who are working with us for the Empower session

01:36and the MBA partnering with us on it.

01:38I've been thankfully given the ability to host conversation with some amazing women leaders

01:45in the industry over the years.

01:47And I'm always in awe of how that conversation does shift.

01:53There's some themes that we continuously bring up,

01:55but the one theme that has stood out to me right now is we're at an interesting intersection

01:59where you have the statistic that the middle ring of the women in leadership funnel is gone.

02:05There's women in executive leaderships, there's women coming into their career,

02:08and then they're all dropping out in the middle and not wanting to continue into management.

02:12And then you look at that and think, okay, how do these women who have carved such a beautiful path

02:17forward, pave the way, also then spearhead these new women coming in and say,

02:21how do we keep this going?

02:22How do we fix this rung that broke in the middle and honor the next generation,

02:28see what's going forward?

02:29And the best way I can explain this is my teaser for the session.

02:33As we were talking to an executive, she's one of the first leaders at a lender,

02:36and she was talking about how when some of the current executives in the space got into the industry,

02:41they were sitting down at their jobs and they were just thankful to have a job.

02:44Like, I'm here, I have to sit down, I have to work, you still had to wear a dress,

02:47you were just thankful and you showed up.

02:48And now they're sitting in job interviews where someone comes in, sits down and says,

02:52hey, great, I'm so thankful for this job, but what are you going to do for me?

02:55And how do you approach that as an executive where this new generation is saying,

02:59okay, cool, but what do I get out of this?

03:01What's my career path?

03:02Where am I going to go next?

03:03When at the time, they were just happy to have a role in that.

03:07And so there's such a conversation there that needs to be had on how do you respect that,

03:10honor that, but also grow and bring into this new group to then solve,

03:14which is the issue that we know that's there, is this middle rung in the funnel that's broken.

03:18So I went on on that question.

03:20Clearly, I'm passionate about it, but that's one that I'm excited to have that's important.

03:25I think it's a really good teaser for some content that we'll see at the gathering.

03:29And there's more interview information and a little bit even more of a teaser

03:35in two interviews that are coming out that Housing Wire filmed on site at MBA Secondary,

03:40which is a unique partnership, I think, between the content studio and events,

03:45having more content come out, not just from Housing Wire's presence on site,

03:49but also at events that we host, like the gathering and the AI Summit,

03:52where the content studio will also be.

03:54Yes, if I could brand a shirt for Housing Wire, I think I would probably say content flywheel.

03:59We love a good content flywheel.

04:01A lot of we did.

04:01What that means in action for everyone, whether you're attending the event,

04:04whether you're watching us online, there's such a breadth of life that can come from the content

04:10we create, whether you want to engage with us on site, or, which I'll let Allison dive into

04:17a little bit more, which is getting access to the content studio.

04:20We are a media company at the end of the day.

04:22You have the sessions on stage, but you also have the videos that we produce.

04:26So if people want to get connected in that area, I'll throw it back at you, Allison.

04:30What do they need to know?

04:31So selfishly, as the managing editor of the content studio, I will say we will be on site

04:37at the gathering, filming video interviews, podcasts.

04:40If you love Housing Wire Daily and Sarah Wheeler, you'll be able to see her film actual episodes

04:46of Housing Wire Daily.

04:47You'll see Logan on site.

04:49James Kleinman will be on site.

04:51We'll have Diego Sanchez filming episodes of Powerhouse on site.

04:55And we'll also be doing a limited few number of select exclusive executive interviews.

05:02Those spots are limited.

05:03There are several that are already spoken to you.

05:05I think there might be a few open spaces.

05:07So if you're interested, whether it's video interviews, meeting the people who are actually

05:11behind the podcast at Housing Wire, the production team, or seeing podcasts be filmed or even

05:17potentially recording a podcast with one of our hosts, reach out to the content studio.

05:22I'm on LinkedIn.

05:23Diego Sanchez is on LinkedIn.

05:25Brenna is on LinkedIn.

05:26Reach out to us.

05:26We would love to see you.

05:27We would love for you to come see how the content is actually made and developed and potentially

05:32even record an episode with you.

05:33So LinkedIn clearly is our favorite platform.

05:36You can definitely search all the things and find us.

05:38So definitely DM us there and reach out to Allison.

05:41Reach out to us and keep an eye out for content that will come out from MBA Secondary, from

05:46Housing Wire's The Gathering, which is coming up shortly, and then Housing Wire's AI Summit.

05:51The year is not yet halfway through, so we've got a lot of things in store.

05:55A lot of exciting content coming up.

05:57Thank you, Brenna.

05:58Appreciate it.

Category

Transcript

Recommended