Women Of The C-Suite: Andrea Virgin Of The Center for Arts & Innovation On The Five Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive

As a part of our interview series called “Women Of The C-Suite”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Andrea Virgin.

Andrea is the woman behind one of the most important multi-million dollar development projects in South Florida: The Center for Arts & Innovation. A professional ballerina turned civil engineer, she is spearheading the vision for a forthcoming first-of-its-kind cultural creative hub designed by the internationally-acclaimed, Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW).

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

As with most people, my backstory is made up of a series of pivots and reset moments that have shaped me into who I am and what I’m doing today.

As the daughter of Cuban immigrant parents who came into this country with nothing, I was raised with the premise that for one to be stable and secure, practicality and a profession were important. Still, I was inherently someone who craved creativity in her life and fell in love with the performing arts through ballet as a young child. After graduation and through encouragement from my parents, I found a way to pursue both paths: performing as a professional ballerina while simultaneously pursuing my degree in Civil Engineering (which I perceived at the time to be a stable — albeit boring — second career).

The first abrupt pivot in my life came during the Great Recession in 2008. Unfortunately, the arts and culture sector was one of the first to be impacted and the company I was dancing with folded, forcing me to switch out my pointe shoes for a hard hat a lot earlier than expected. I did so begrudgingly at first as I saw civil engineering as something rather boring, so black and white and non-creative.

Soon though, I realized I could differentiate myself in this new career by applying my creative side to the work (a direct benefit from my exposure to creativity at a young age). By looking at my projects creatively, I brought tremendous value to my developer clients, soon found success in the real estate world, and started my own company.

The second abrupt pivot in my career came in 2015. My husband, who was also in real estate, died in a tragic accident at the age of 31. He came from a long lineage of real estate developers who had helped build Boca Raton into the city it is today and wanted to follow in those footsteps to help further define its landscape. Unfortunately, he didn’t get that chance so I decided that I would somehow pick up that baton for him.

The opportunity to do that arose in 2018. Given my realization that I could be gone tomorrow, I decided to get involved in the community and joined the board of the organization that trained me as a dancer. In that first board meeting, I realized they were still performing in venues that didn’t mirror their quality of work. Given my passion for the performing arts, my experience in the real estate world, and my desire to help change the landscape of the City in homage to my husband, I quickly volunteered to lead the establishment of world-class cultural infrastructure that would initially help that organization but soon became a project that would not only change our city in a profound way but cultural infrastructure on a global level. That was the day The Center was born.

In short, when I was dancing, most found it odd that I was also studying to become a civil engineer. Then when I switched careers, those in the real estate world found it quite surprising that I was a former ballerina. Right brain, left brain, creative, black and white: I was a walking oxymoron. And yet, after years of keeping both passions alive, I found a way to marry the two. And in my hometown and in honor of my late husband, no less. I feel incredibly fortunate to have found a way to marry two very dissimilar career paths into one that contributes tremendously to an area I grew up in through a project that will forever change the way cultural infrastructure is viewed around the world. Overall, my background proves a central message of The Center: exposure to arts and culture at a young age, applied to any business (in the arts or otherwise), enables future leaders to enact creative solutions and change the world. I want to bring that opportunity to anyone who comes through our campus and encourage other communities to see that opportunity for themselves as well.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

A great project cannot be achieved by one person or idea alone. This journey has taught me the importance of not losing sight of the bigger picture while seeking new perspectives, especially those different from my own.

The Center’s vision has evolved tremendously since its inception, but one story in particular completely changed the trajectory of our organization. The story begins with a consultant by the name of Brett Egan of The DeVos Institute of Arts Management, who was the first consultant I brought on to help us strategically plan this project. At first, we were seeking to develop a ‘center for the arts’ to benefit the organizations within our community. Quickly, with his background and in seeing the need for disruption, he encouraged us to add two simple words to our name: and innovation.

At first, it was unexpected, given the traditional organizations that sparked the development of The Center in the first place. However, he was able to quickly illustrate to us the importance — both economically and socially — of looking at cultural infrastructure through a new lens and seeing how we could push it to realize its fullest potential.

That was the single most important change in this entire project and has driven everything we’ve done since. It’s also an example of two critically important characteristics of a great leader: 1) the ability to take in another’s perspective, even if materially different, and 2) the ability to pivot. Had we not done both of those things, we would not be where we are today.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Throughout the course of this project, I have learned — true of any big pursuit — that there will always be doubters along the way. People may test you and make things more difficult, so you have to be smart about circumventing those situations and not letting them set you back. While perhaps not my “funniest mistake,” I’d have to say my biggest mistake in the beginning was letting those voices have my attention or distract me. Over the years, I’ve learned to discern opposing views that might help give me a new perspective on anything that is purely just negative. By shutting out the noise and not wasting energy looking in the wrong direction, I’ve been able to achieve results much faster.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Certainly, no one’s success is attributed only to the person themselves. It is 100% a team effort. Overall, I would thank everyone who stepped in to support this vision from the very beginning: from our first employees to the community leaders who endorsed us, to the early funders who backed us, to the city who believed in us, to the consultants who developed our project with us, etc. It was through this tremendous collective that we are where we are in the development process.

I also have to say, if I had to pick one individual who has driven me consistently along the way it would be my late husband. Had it not been for his passion and ambition while alive, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Wanting to keep his legacy alive keeps pushing me forward. He has been — and continues to be — my greatest influence. He wanted to make a difference in this world, especially in his community, and through this project and the impact that will follow, we will do just that.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

Undoubtedly, great leadership involves very tough decisions and some of the hardest I’ve encountered in leading this organization has had to do with ensuring we have the right team at the right time doing the right thing.

Especially at the beginning of any startup, those who are there working beside you — either as staff or consultants — are people you know and trust and are in many ways like family. But as you grow and scale, those involved in the earliest days aren’t always the right fit for the next or future chapters of your company or business. Building a world-class team is a task I’ve taken extremely seriously and the decisions involved along the way have not been easy ones. While tough decisions have had to be made over the years, I’m reassured by the notion that success only happens by remembering the importance of having the right person, at the right time, in the right place, for the right reasons.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

My role as CEO looked a lot different when we first started than it does today. As a small startup, you’re not only the CEO with the vision and strategy, but you’re also the receptionist, the marketer, the courier, the lobbyist, the sales manager, the janitor, the coordinator, etc. So, in the very beginning when resources are tight, you’re both visioning outwardly while also executing internally.

However, what I’ve learned in recent years as we’ve grown into a major organization is that to continue to grow and scale, the CEO (especially a founding CEO) needs to learn to eventually let the reins loose to find the right people at the right time to be put in the right place in order to delegate or offload all those ‘hats’. A CEO should be outwardly focused, constantly looking for innovative opportunities and then bringing those opportunities to other leaders in their organization or company to execute.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive? Can you explain what you mean?

The notion that CEOs follow a linear career path is something I can personally debunk. I am a living example of how far removed that myth is from reality, having gone from a ballerina, to a civil engineer, to volunteering for a cause, to leading an initiative as a volunteer and donor, which ultimately led me to being asked to become the CEO for that cause.

The other myth I’d dispel about being a CEO is that success is a result of your leadership alone. The success of any organization is a result of the collective team. You are only as great as the sum of your parts and I strongly believe in celebrating and highlighting our team when we succeed.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by women executives that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?

As an established leader in South Florida real estate, I’ve witnessed the industry evolve significantly. When I started, there were few women in senior leadership roles, and a lack of representation meant that mentorship opportunities from individuals who looked like me were rare. Thankfully, my mother — one of few civil engineers in her field — has long been a strong example of female leadership in an otherwise very male-dominated industry. In her words, “Female leaders are like Georgia peaches — they can be soft and graceful on the exterior while still maintaining a strong pit on the inside.” That saying has stuck with me throughout my career and guided me on how to handle tough situations.

While there are certainly still instances in which female leaders find themselves being treated differently than their male counterparts, I’m pleased to say that I truly see positive changes taking place. As a rather young Founding Chair and CEO, and a female at that, I thought I would face a lot more difficulty in bringing our project to where it is today, but that has not been the case.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

Real estate developments typically take time to come to fruition, especially public projects that involve a lot of stakeholders and, frankly, the stars aligning. So in leading this project, I thought I’d need to push as hard as I could as fast as I could to be considered successful. What’s been a striking difference in my perspective over the years is that while yes, you don’t want to take the pedal off the medal, you also don’t want to burn yourself out and miss opportunities or make mistakes by moving too quickly. I’ve found that instead, it’s best to occasionally slow down, celebrate our successes, regroup, and recharge to ensure that when we do accelerate again, it’s strategic, mindful and effective.

Is everyone cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

I think there are differences between executives and leaders. I think everyone can be a leader, no matter where they are in the hierarchy, but perhaps not everyone is suited (or even prefers) to be an executive.

What makes for a great executive is someone who can explain a vision and strategy to pursue that vision, assign and allocate resources to meet goals, and overall empower and inspire a team to move forward with excitement against a mission. Other traits include feeling at ease in the spotlight, commanding a room, or facing or owning criticism when things don’t go right. As such, many of these traits are associated with big thinkers and extroverts, and that’s not everyone.

So I think while many people can lead their own responsibilities, that doesn’t necessarily mean they would make great executives, nor are there people that would even want to be in that position. I’ve known many amazing people who would prefer to never become executives because they love what they do and they love helping to facilitate success at the ground level. As they say, it takes a village and no matter the role in that village, so long as people are happy, excited, and motivated, that village can accomplish anything.

What are your “5 Things You Need To Succeed As A Senior Executive” and why?

1 . Grit — There will always be naysayers or setbacks along the way. You have to be determined enough and passionate enough to stay focused and, most importantly, committed to the goal you’ve laid out. There have been countless moments in the development of our organization where it would have been easy (and maybe even understandable) to throw in the towel, especially during our early days when we were still proving ourselves to the city council, community and donors. But in those difficult moments, I dug deep, doubled down, showed my team that I’m committed to figuring it out with them (no matter the doubters or difficulties), and it’s been that trust and belief that has compelled everyone to keep up the fight in bringing this vision to reality.

2 . Being a good listener — Deep listening opens the opportunity to see problems from multiple angles. Our team has incredible ideas and I’ve surrounded myself by people far better than me in their fields. By humbling myself to listen and learn and by taking the opportunity to check in weekly as a team and then one-on-one with all departments, I’m able to get many different perspectives that in turn have allowed me to make more informed decisions.

3 . Being collaborative — You can’t achieve great things alone. When you value the skills and input of every member of your team, collaboration becomes easier and essential to achieve a common goal. One great example of this has been the creation of a short film we made that helped to underscore our organization’s ‘why’. Together with the marketing team, fundraising team, administrative personnel and certain stakeholders, donors, and partners; we’ve been able to curate an incredible film that took into account the many different perspectives of our mission.

4 . Decisiveness — Trusting your gut and making timely decisions is crucial to keep moving forward. Wafting in indecisiveness delays progress, reduces confidence in your ability to truly lead, and puts at risk your project’s momentum.

5 . Giving credit and owning failures — As a senior executive, it’s hugely important to give credit to your team. When it comes to failures, it’s equally important to own those, no matter who in the team dropped the ball. Ultimately, the buck stops on top and if we failed as a team, it was because I failed to see that outcome or allocate the right resources. When your team sees you take ownership, share what we can learn from those lessons, and re-strategize to avoid those failures in the future, it shows them that we’re in the trenches together and willing to brush ourselves off with them to improve and get better.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I strongly believe in the power of creativity. While so many in society somehow still find it discretionary, nice-to-have- or non-essential, through my own career and experiences, I know it to be essential and at the core of everything in our world. The concept of STEM is incredibly important, but the limitless potential is unlocked when those tools can be taught on top of an established vessel of creativity. The creative application of STEM tools is what provides solutions to ever-increasingly difficult problems and — in turn — changes the world.

Creativity is universal. For thousands of years, creativity or arts and culture has been a way of inspiring, connecting, generating, innovating, and enabling the imagination and in turn making possible new things in the world. Every great invention and creation was a result of a creative person who asked daring questions and sought dangerous answers. Ultimately, The Center’s mission is to offer a space where creativity and innovation can thread themselves through the many sectors they impact in society and four of them in particular: the arts, education, business and community.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

I’ve long been a fan of David Rubenstein. In no particular order, some of the reasons I’m a huge fan and would love to meet him are:

His Patriotism: David’s incredible knowledge and appreciation for our founding principles as a country and the history that made that all possible. As a first-generation Cuban American, my family sacrificed everything to come to the US and start from scratch. They did so because of the tremendous opportunities presented by our country and its democracy.

His Whit, Humor, and Balanced Approach to Life: I could listen to David’s interviews of some of the greats of the world on repeat and it wouldn’t get stale. His ability to tie in light humor into the interviewing of some of the most impressive, successful, people on earth and get them to laugh at a joke while talking about hugely serious topics amazes me.

He’s a Role Model for Generosity: Rubenstein’s approach to philanthropy often emphasizes the concept of “patriotic philanthropy,” where giving is seen as a civic duty. His example encourages other wealthy individuals to use their resources for the greater good, fostering a culture of generosity and responsibility. As a young philanthropist, I’m one of few in my peer age group and I’d love to meet him to hear more about how I can help empower others like me to join in giving back to the world — and not waiting too late in life to start. From experience, I know all too well that tomorrow is not promised.

His Intellectual Curiosity: Known for his insatiable intellectual curiosity, Rubenstein frequently interviews notable figures and scholars, sharing these conversations with the world. His dedication to lifelong learning and promoting education highlights the importance of knowledge and intellectual growth.

His Leadership in Business: He’s clearly been successful as an executive. I’d love to meet him to learn more about his leadership style and find ways to apply those principles in my own personal growth as a CEO and leader.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Vanessa Morcom is a millennial mom of three and founder of Morcom Media, a performance PR shop for thought leaders. She earned her degree in journalism and worked for Canada’s largest social enterprise. She can be reached at vanessa@morcom.media