You wouldn’t expect a kid who grew up from humble beginnings to make it as an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team for field hockey, attend one of the nation’s top universities and go on to call some of the biggest tech companies in the world (Google and Tesla to name a few) her clients. But that’s exactly what Michelle Quinn did.
Now, Michelle has entered another competitive arena—that of advising commercial tenants on their real estate strategy and execution. And it’s no surprise she’s excelling at that, too.
Michelle credits her “underdog” spirit for her accomplishments, one that she developed at a young age. Growing up in San Diego, her family moved around a lot, and she went to several different schools. Having to “start over” so often, she learned that you can usually get what you want by working hard and being persistent. That attitude helped her in her early years, throughout high school and college, and is still a big part of her success today.
From Open Fields to Hallowed Halls
In high school, Michelle was recruited by her gym teacher to join the field hockey team. Thanks to her competitive spirit, a lot of practice and great coaching, she became an alternate for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic team. She then received a scholarship to the University of California at Berkeley, where, unfortunately, a knee injury ended her college field hockey career prematurely.
Not to be deterred, Michelle focused on her scholastic career and finished college in three years. She didn’t give up on field hockey, though. The competitor that she is, she’s kept in shape, still plays in various tournaments to this day and coaches a high school team in San Francisco!
Lessons in Office Furniture & Design
After college, she began working for a Knoll dealer who supplies commercial furnishings. Starting low on the corporate ladder, she excelled quickly and eventually led teams for huge accounts like Tesla, Sony, DreamWorks and Google. In fact, she traveled the world with Google helping design and furnish many of their global offices. She was even nominated as CoreNet Service Provider of the Year in 2023 after helping to develop multiple custom furniture products from recycled materials.
When the pandemic came along and changed the way office space was used, Michelle began looking for her next challenge. Because of her background in the office environment, one of her female mentors encouraged her to go into commercial brokerage.
Transition from Designing Space to Finding Space
Learning her way into commercial real estate required a shift in perspective. Instead of helping people create their office space, she now took a step back and focused on helping businesses find the right office space to begin with—location, size, requirements, rates, flexibility, immediate and growth needs. It’s a complex set of challenges to solve for her dynamic clients, but she tackled it with the same intelligence and persistence she’d used to accomplish everything else in her life.
Today, Michelle says, she loves being that partner for her clients—the one who can fight to make sure they get everything they need and deserve—to go to the mat for them with pricing and terms and tenant improvements.
“I was the underdog plenty of times through the years,” notes Michelle, “and I’m used to working an issue to a winning outcome. I’m now in a great position to be an advocate for my clients and their business needs.”
Thankful for Help Along the Way
Michelle is quick to acknowledge those who’ve helped her achieve her goals, from the coach who sent her to the Olympics, to the Google clients who sent her around the world.
“Happily, many of my mentors have been some pretty fabulous women, which helped me to not be discouraged in some of these more male-dominated career fields,” says Michelle. “And it was a woman who introduced me to CRE. Now, I’m proud to be with Hughes Marino, a company that champions women in so many ways.”
Having found her calling as a skilled and enthusiastic tenant rep broker, Michelle looks forward to fighting the good fight for her clients for many years to come and is excited to be a role model for other women who want to enter the commercial real estate community.
