Rob Marin is dedicated to supporting his community. The Keller Williams Larchmont agent has served as a board member and vice president of the Women's and Children's Crisis Shelter (WCCS) and board member of the Rotary Club in Los Angeles, among several other community facing roles.
Marin considers his greatest accomplishment of 2020 to be developing a new fundraiser and awareness event for WCCS. He also generously donates $500 to the WCCS for every escrow that he closes.
Here, Marin details his extensive involvement with WCCS, the virtual event he helped create during the height of the pandemic and offers advice to other real estate professionals who are looking to a post-COVID future.
RISMedia’s Real Estate Newsmakers honors were created to recognize the people who are raising the standards of professionalism in the real estate industry. What does it mean to you to be named among this year’s honorees?
I was honored. As I perused the other honorees, I was overwhelmed with humility to be given the privilege to stand amongst these industry giants. My passion has always been to help and serve others. It’s a calling to use the opportunities in the real estate industry to further serve others, both professionally and in the community.
You were selected as a Newsmaker within the Inspirations category which is dedicated to the big-hearted and brave within our industry. Could you tell us a little bit about the work you do at Women's and Children's Crisis Shelter (WCCS)?
This is my passion. WCCS’ mission is to serve victims of domestic violence. I created a fundraiser, with the dedicated help of an incredible committee, called the Wine and Cheese Soirée to raise funds and create awareness for the shelter. Domestic violence shelters have a challenge of creating awareness, because sharing names, faces and events at the shelter is not possible due to a focus on anonymity.
With the support of the community, the first event was created in 2016 and we hope to continue doing events after the pandemic. During this time, I grew closer to many board members and leaders at the shelter and was honored by the board to become a board member. And one year ago, I became vice president of the board.
Tell us more about the new fundraising and awareness event you helped create and launch at WCCS.
Normally, the WCCS Board would put together a Lip Sync Contest during the month of October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness month. With the pandemic restricting gatherings, I chaired the fundraising committee and put together our first virtual fundraiser, “Show Your Love.” The event took place in February and coincided with Valentine’s Day.
I have a background in computer graphics and used that for video editing of past lip sync performances. We mixed those with informative statistics, a client testimonial read by our local councilwoman, messages from the president of the board and information about what we can each do about domestic violence.
What would your advice be to other real estate professionals about moving forward as our country begins to reopen and the pandemic slowly nears the end?
We are here as human beings to care about each other. I was honored at the Downey Association of REALTORS® awards ceremony with the Community Service Award (with my fiancé and mother there to support me). Speaking from my heart I said, “I believe we have all been put on this earth to care and love one another, especially those in need.” I still believe that.
