Nikishka Iyengar: The Invisible Hand of Real Estate

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The real estate market is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and overlooked forces in shaping our cities and communities. Without truly addressing this area of the economy, it is hard to imagine real reform, especially toward a more equitable future. Nikishka Iyengar, the Founder and CEO of The Guild, based in Atlanta, Georgia, is on the show to talk about her work in this sphere. 

The Guild aims to build community wealth and power through cooperative real estate and entrepreneurship models. It is working to combat gentrification’s destructive and alienating forces and limit skyrocketing market prices. In our chat with Nikishka, we get an inside look at what this looks like and how she applies her varied experience and expertise to this complex issue. 

Nikishka is also the co-host and producer of the Road to Repair Podcast and has an interesting personal journey after her birth in Mumbai, India, and her initial career in cooperate America. We cover the systems thinking and emergence strategy that ground The Guild, their philosophy around finances, racial justice, equitable development, and climate action, as well as how they unite their efforts to provide stable long-term rentals for residents and businesses. Join us to catch it all in this fascinating conversation.

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Key Points From This Episode:

  • Nikishka shares some of her background, early years in Mumbai, and route into her career. [0:01:30]

  • A little about The Guild and the grounding principles of their work in Atlanta. [0:04:10]

  • How Nikishka connects the dots between the climate crisis and environmental issues. [0:12:34]

  • Important information about The Guild and what they are dealing with right now. [0:14:14]

  • The educational aims at The Guild and the ultimate goal of empowerment and responsibility. [0:21:37]

  • Understanding how investors benefit from the model at The Guild. [0:24:58]

  • The landscape of land trusts and forward-thinking real estate initiatives right now. [0:29:19]

  • Bringing the conversation back to the climate crisis and our future. [0:31:09]

  • Nikishka talks about how her work has changed her personally. [0:33:25]

  • How listeners can follow and get involved with the good work at The Guild. [0:36:40]

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Tweetables:

“Not everyone seems to get a grasp on how much of an invisible hand real estate, as an industry, has been in our cities and our communities, in terms of every major social inequity you can think of.” — @Nikishka [0:05:16]

“As we have launched two other pilots, we have realized that there is a need to actually think about an integrated capital fund that can support scaling of this work of community ownership.” — @Nikishka [0:11:24]

“What we are trying to achieve is fundamentally different, it's not a stepping stone to investing in extractive investments.” — @Nikishka [0:24:31]

“There is almost a national movement emerging around this work, with differences based on geography and other things. And the next few years will be really telling.” — @Nikishka [0:26:37]

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Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Nikishka Iyengar: http://www.nikishka-iyengar.com/

The Guild: https://www.theguild.community/

Road to Repair Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/road-to-repair/id1599558504

Groundcover: https://www.groundcover.us/

The Guild on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guildcommunity/

Shaun Berry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sdberry/

Kensington Corridor Trust: https://kctphilly.org/

Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust: https://www.bnclt.org/

EB PREC: https://ebprec.org/

KC Tenants: https://kctenants.org/about

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