Letters in Legacy: Women Lift Up Communities

Written By: Andrea Sanchez-Mendoza ​​​

In celebration of Women’s History Month: 
We are honoring and celebrating women who inspire us through our blog series. This month we are featuring Dimple Jobanputra, a social justice advocate, and alumna of the Represented community. Throughout this article, you will learn more about her work at the intersection of philanthropy and real estate, including her thoughts on mentorship as a vital component of the empowerment for women of color. 

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dimple over Zoom where she shared with me that “Women's History Month is really an opportunity to remember. So for me, I think about all the women and non binary folks who have come before me, and have paved the road so that I can have access to the opportunities that I have access to today. Really pushing the curb, and pushing that in my own life and in my own journey, because I know I reaped the benefits of what they did.”

“I think it's also an opportunity to look forward as I am beginning to think about motherhood. I think about what it means to really pave the road ahead, as I feel a deep sense of responsibility to pay it forward, and really continue to create opportunities for other women, particularly women of color, to reach their fullest potential. Because I know that generations of women have done that for me.”

Her time with Represented Foundation:
Dimple Jobanputra was a part of Represented Foundation’s fourth Vision. Execution. Results. (V.E.R.) incubator cohort, where she grew and developed her idea of Sarvasya Yoga. The name draws from a Sanskrit phrase meaning yoga for all. Of her time with Represented, Dimple expressed that “at the time, I was focusing on yoga and wellness, and really wanted to build that out.” Her time in the incubator gave her the confidence to approach different organizations and pitch her ideas. “Being able to get connected with mentors, and folks who are entrepreneurs, or from different communities, [that] really just gave me the confidence and [the] tools to implement these ideas that I've been sitting on for a long time.”

Photo by: LizJ.photography

One of those ideas and emerging motivations taking on new meaning for Dimple. Specifically she wants to focus her energy on uplifting women of color in the real estate businesses “because women are the ones who hold communities together. They're the glue of the family, and I want to leverage that because I think that's one of our biggest strengths.” Increasing the visibility and accessibility of women of color has been her focus, a field she is now fully devoted to. Making her way on that journey, Dimple recently gained her real estate license, and is currently working at a boutique firm in New York City called, Mont Sky Real Estate. ​

The conversation we all need to have: 
For me, it was extremely interesting to hear Dimple bring up so many valid points that most people do not consider on a daily basis during our interview. She talked about the barriers of people of color face trying to own land, including housing discrimination laws, and the struggle to build generational wealth. “Various housing discrimination laws and policies have prevented communities of color from being able to own land. As a result, “it's been a challenge to really build generational wealth and think about land ownership from a diversification lens.”  

By having these thought provoking conversations with members of her community it sparked the idea behind her new passion, to create her own real estate brokerage firm focusing on hiring a team of all women of color agents. Dimple expressed that "This longer term vision is what I'm fighting for, as we must equip and support women of color in this field, not only to represent the communities that they come from, but also to break down barriers."

Finding other women mentors: 
Support is very important when it comes to chasing your dreams and passion in life. When I asked her about mentorship Dimple shared that her “main support system in life has always been women of color… [They] have been my rock, they have been my people, my community. So I've been really blessed to have different types of women from all walks of life, to be there for me and support me.”

She is inspired by a variety of women in her life and knows how strong and capable they are because not only do women hold communities together they also keep families together. Similarly to when you translate that into real estate and generational wealth, Dimple knows that women are innate leaders to do this work. 

Dimple cited Ahniwake Rose (Executive Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute) as a mentor early in her career and she continues to be one today. The opportunity to have a mentor in your life to guide and support you is not something that everyone is lucky enough to have, which is something Dimple realized when she entered the real estate industry. “I realized that the lack of mentorship is a huge challenge and a huge barrier. So for me, investing in a network of women of color agents who are grounded in community and culture is critical."

Her legacy:
When asked what she would like her legacy to be, she expands on her thoughts about starting to build a mentorship collective to support women in the real estate industry. 

“My long term goal is to have my own real estate brokerage firm, which is predominantly women of color agents who are doing all types of transactions and [being able to] work in all types of real estate markets, commercial, residential, everything in between.” 

She aims to one day fill this gap by creating a mentorship and educational collective to help train and support women of color in the real estate industry. 

“That's what I would love for my legacy to be, that the people who are making those systemic changes are the women who come from these communities and are not only uplifting themselves, but are also lifting up their entire community in doing so.”