by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
When Sharon Voss decided to get more involved in her local Greater Orlando area chapter of the Women’s Council of Realtors, she had no interest in being president.
She wanted to do marketing, so that’s what she did for two years.
The next year, she started to get the itch and decided to run for office.
“The person who was president-elect stepped down, but they went ahead and put me in as president-elect,” said Voss, who works out of the Watson Realty office in the Orlando suburb of
Longwood. “In 1998, I became the president of the Greater Orlando area WCR
chapter.”
Voss then saw bigger things in her future and just knew that she could do more. What she saw was a place for her with the state WCR.
“I said, ‘I can do that’,” said Voss. “I have a lot of knowledge that I could share with people. I could be a good leader and help other people.”
Prior to joining WCR, Voss had been involved in other organizations in the community.
“I felt I had the skills to do it,” she said. “Also, by belonging to WCR, it enhanced any skills that I did have and gave me more courage to do this. I never thought about it, it just hit me that I could do it.”
The order of the state WCR’s offices start with treasurer, secretary, vice president, president-elect and then president.
She decided to run for the state office of treasurer, but didn’t win.
“It’s better to do that (start at the bottom) because you learn so much more about how the organization runs from the inside,” she said.
In 2001, she tried again to win a state seat and didn’t win, but in 2002 she got lucky - very lucky.
“In 2002, three people decided not to run, so we had three spots open,’ she said. “I got elected but I didn’t start at the bottom. I was voted in as vice president. I was in the same spot that I would have been in had I started from the beginning.”
Now she’s the president of the Florida Women’s Council of Realtors, and she says she is right on schedule.
She started getting prepared early.
“When I decided to get involved in the state, I followed some of the presidents around to see what they did,” she said. “I visited other chapters to see what they did. It helped my chapter and I gathered ideas on how others worked and what they thought.”
Although her year is half over, Voss is very happy with how her term has gone and looks forward to the rest of the year with excitement.
“My goal is to bring more leadership out of the local chapters,” said Voss. “This year, I wanted to encourage more people to be leaders. I wanted them to get in the leadership line and go on up and advance themselves. I want them to step out of the box. The whole thing I am talking about as I visit chapters is to step out of the box and what leadership is. I’m trying to get them excited and let them know that can do this to. They can do what they set their mind to. There are people just hiding in the corners and it’s always that way.”
Voss oversees 37 local chapters with 2,500 members, making it the largest WCR state chapter.
Voss said her request for more leadership has paid off in one very evident way - her quota of district vice president’s spots are all filled, which hasn’t happened in years.
So far this year, Voss has visited most of her 15 districts and even squeezed in a few extra chapter meetings. Most districts have three chapters in them.
She is coming to Jacksonville in September to visit the Jacksonville Women’s Council of Realtors, which is in the district that has Gainesville, Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Flagler County, which was formed in March 2004.
“The Flagler County chapter has 49 members already,” said Voss.
As the state president, Voss said the main difference she sees is that now she has more responsibilities.
“It’s a local chapter on a bigger scale,” she said. “We don’t have a set location for the state chapter. All state chapters report to the National Women’s Council of Realtors, which is in Chicago. The state office is located wherever the president would be at that time.”
Voss said the need for a state president is that there needs to be one central spot for all the local chapters to report.
There are four governors in Florida, each with a district. When there is a problem in a local chapter, the local chapter president
contacts its governor.
The district vice presidents
also report to the governors and then report to
Voss.
“Everything should be handled without the president having to get involved,” said Voss. “If they can’t, then of course the president steps in. That does happen from time to time.”
As the president, Voss tries to carry out the strategic plan of the National Women’s Council of Realtors by visiting chapters and helping make sure they are accomplishing what they need to. She also attends all of the state and national Realtor meetings to represent Florida.
One thing National wants is for the local meetings to be more business meetings than social. The preference is to have meetings
with speakers delivering business information to the
members.
“They want the local WCR chapters to be known as a business resource center,” said Voss.
Though she was the president of the Greater Orlando area WCR chapter, she has moved since and is now an active member of the Osceola County WCR and the Orlando Regional Realtor Association.
In order to keep her busy life as a president, a member of her local chapter and a Realtor for Watson, she treats everything, no matter what it is, as an appointment.
“Don’t let clients run you. You can control your life by setting your own time frame,” said Voss.
Prior to real estate, Voss was an elementary and middle school teacher.
She started her real estate career in 1982 with The Keyes Company.
“My father had been after me to get my license for a long time but I said no because then you are a doctor on call,” she said. “I’m not a person who can do things halfway. It’s either all or none. I’m the type of person who gives 110 percent. When I get involved, I get involved. I finally decided to get my license in 1982 because my one child was in college and the other was getting out of high school and going into college. I said now is the time.”
Her husband, Bob Voss, and Pat Gasti opened Pat Gasti Properties in 1983.
“When we decided to close that company’s doors, we just decided to go with Watson Realty,” said Voss, who has been with Watson Realty since 1995.
Though future plans do not include seeking the national WCR presidency, she will still be quite involved. In addition to her involvement in her local chapter, next year Voss will be a state governor and the nominating chairman for the state.
“It’s been very rewarding being president and being able to travel and get to know people,” she said.