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Prior to founding Cohen Closing & Title, Kelly Cohen spent a decade as the VP of a title and closing company in Southern NH. In addition, Cohen has practiced brokerage, is a licensed real estate instructor who has taught pre-license courses and recertification courses and actively participates as a mediator on real estate matters through the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. She served on the board of the Women’s Council of Realtors and the Greater Manchester/Nashua Board of Realtors, and serves on several local community boards: Child Advocacy Centers, BeBold and is an advisory member of Swim With a Mission.
You started Cohen Closing & Title on your own. What was your experience with that?
Challenges are going to come, opportunities are going to come, peaks and valleys are going to come. Whether you start a business in life, being a mom, being a wife, being a woman, you just have to learn to enjoy the high times, know that they’re not going to last, not get too sucked down on the low times because they’re not going to last. But I think for me, when I chose to do this, I looked at it like I loved what I was doing, and I was working for a title company for 10 years, and I loved it, but I saw that some of the options were limited under the parameters of that structure. So, I thought, I can do this in a way that is mine.
I have an amazing support system in my husband, who has been in corporate America his whole life. So he’s like, “I’ll help you, you got this.” And the kids were 2 and 4, and I was kind of like, it’s probably going to be (difficult) for some years. But you know what? I look at them and I want to show them that, if you have a dream, you want to make something happen, you can do it. It doesn’t mean it’s going to be rainbows. And I’ve always been the type of mom and business owner that exposes my kids to the highs and lows, right? And I don’t want them to be surprised by life challenges, whether that is market conditions, whether that is people, whether that is being underestimated in life, whatever it is. But, we only have one life, so we might as well live it and enjoy it.
Your staff is 90% female, with a strong focus on advocacy for women in the workplace. Can you share more about that?
I’ve always had to surround myself with women who empower me, women who have mentored me. And I think it’s like a “pay it forward” situation, which is so important for me as a woman-led business that is supporting my community, encouraging other women to live their most authentic, best versions of their lives. At Cohen, it’s my job to match individual skill sets with people and then what role can have them shine the most in the organization. And then, if that changes, moving around and just being totally open to that.
I’m 100% certain all of it stems from watching my mom at a young age. She was in real estate, she started a real estate school, and she started in our kitchen with three students sitting at the stools, and my brother and sister and I would be in the other room. And then over the years, she moved to the dining room with six students. She had doubled in size, and it was like, oh my gosh. And then she rented space at a local real estate office and there were 12 chairs. And now she’s with hundreds of people at SNHU. So, watching that is wholeheartedly been very inspiring and empowering to me.
Being part of a community and having support from the people that you’re going through this life with, that is one of the integral parts of being happy as a human. So that to me, is our duty as being part of the human race.
What advice would you have for the next generation of female business leaders?
Do everything you can to shrink your amygdala — that’s your fear, your doubt. I just feel like the excitement, the grit, the grind, the fire in that belly, let that lead you and not the rest of the stuff that can cause us to get stuck and overanalyze and care too much about other people’s feelings or being a people pleaser.
Stay authentic to yourself. In business, in relationships, you can start to see yourself either doing things because you think people want you to do it that way, or say things because you want people to say it that way. Who you are as a human has to be your first priority always. And staying true to those principles, those values, those ethics, those morals. That has to be what drives you and keeps you grounded.
