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Omar Wala, has began building a legacy that will have him remembered amongst the titans of New York real estate. A deep seeded member of the Brooklyn Community, Omar has always been surrounded by success.
His grandfather started Brisa Builders Corporation close to two decades ago and was responsible for numerous urban construction sites. It is on these sites, that Omar developed his love for construction. That love for construction has transitioned in 2019 to one of the largest minority real estate firms in the United States. In the last four years alone, Brisa has built over 1000 affordable housing units, in the greater NYC area. For such a great feat, Omar says he is just getting started and has a vision for even bigger goals in the future.
His ambitious, intelligent disposition comes from his mom. Ericka Keller- Wala, a natural born intellectual. Becoming pregnant with Omar at the tender age of 16, she managed to become the valedictorian of her senior class and graduated with all honors, which allowed her to have a full scholarship to the majority of prestigious institutions.
She chose New York University because of its proximity to her family and graduated Magna Cum Laude maintaining a 4.0 gpa during her collegiate career. Immediately after graduating, she received multiple lucrative offers from numerous corporate firms and passed on them all. She instead chose to be a servant of the community and pursued a career in social work and then education. Ericka Keller remained an educator for over 20 years before deciding to serve the community in an even greater capacity. To date, Brisa’s construction efforts have created housing for thousands of families, in addition to thousands of employment opportunities as they have been responsible for more than 500 million dollars in construction in the last few years.
Omar, a young father himself, wants to leave an impactful legacy in his community and be the example of an exemplary man for his daughter. His personal and professional obligations have expanded greatly. Recently, he has come on board as the Chief Operating Officer of First Round Management. For those unfamiliar, First Round is a premier sports agency with over 100 MMA fighters and scores of NFL players on their roster.
With years of overseeing large professional teams, his project management experience comes as a necessary addition to an agency with over 145 million dollars in negotiated contracts and multiple moving pieces. With hundreds of athletes on their roster and a constant recruiting process of prospective players comes stringent NCAA, NFL and UFC compliance.
This comes second nature to Omar, due to his experience working in Brisa, and being responsible for all of the OSHA, HPD and HUD compliance. He has a diverse skill set that is so much more than technical compliance savviness , his duties also include setting up fundraisers and community outreach where he can bring some of the same service driven values that makes him a pillar in the real estate community. That singular unifying purpose of service, be it with his colleagues, clients, family or community gives Mr. Wala a powerful “Why’’; and history has shown that a man with a purpose always prevails.
Omar is not only developing the homes that the next generation of children will live in but helping in sculpting the careers of athletes that will be role models for millions of families. Mr. Wala has already made a massive positive economic impact on his community and his new position at First Round, will allow him the opportunity to impact the country. Leaders like Omar are giving the next generation of diverse entrepreneurs a blueprint to follow. “True leadership is stepping out and being the change you wish to see in the world”, which has been famously coined by Mahatma Ghandi.
If Omar Wala does not embody the quote, then no one does,. Honestly, the entire family embodies it, it is pure poetry that the strength of one family has provided homes for thousands of other families.
A true testament to human kindness, Omar’s role at First Round Management is to bring that same service driven culture to their growing company. He provides guidance and professional assistance to the agents to ensure that First Round can continue to deliver world -class customer service to their clients. Juggling the two roles is a lot of work, more than most people could probably handle, but let’s not forget relentless ambition runs in his family.
Omar has already left more of a legacy at a young age than most men do in a lifetime. He works everyday as if he has something to prove and only the world to gain. One thing is for certain, 1000 apartments in New York City is just a stepping stone for the great things this man will achieve.
If I was a gambling man, I say its a solid bet to say that Omar Wala and Brisa Builders will facilitate housing for over a million families and lead the nation in managing some of the largest names in sports.
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