Who did you meet with today?
Today I met with different people connected to the real estate and construction world: UCLA professor Eric Sussman, Nick Bundra and Sydney Landry from Cal Geo, and Joe Wilson from Blueprint and Cecilia Melgares from the Equitas School project.
Where do they work? What does the company do?
Eric Sussman is a managing partner at a real estate investment firm that owns apartment communities across six states, and he also teaches at UCLA and works as a paid expert witness for court cases. Nick and Sydney work with Cal Geo, an association representing geotechnical engineers, who are responsible for testing soil and foundation stability to make sure buildings don’t sink or shift. Joe works at Blueprint, and Cecilia works at Equitas and talked about the school project, which involved converting a former armored vehicle facility into a functioning school.
What did you learn today? What were some highlights?
I learned a lot about the different ways people take to get into real estate and construction, and how big the industry really is. From Eric, I learned that college isn’t necessary for everyone to build a successful career. Trades like plumbing, roofing, and electrical work are completely valid paths, and that online resources like books, AI, YouTube, and articles can teach you a generous amount if you’re willing to use them. He also shared that he got laid off from his first job out of business school for whistleblowing on fraud, which pushed him to start his own real estate firm and eventually became a UCLA professor. That is a reminder that bad things happening can redirect you toward something better. From Nick and Sydney, I learned how associations like CalGeo work: they can’t set prices as a group due to antitrust laws, so instead their value comes from networking and showing the importance of the profession. My highlight was hearing how geotechnical engineers must sign off on hospitals and schools specifically because public safety is at stake. From Joe and Cecilia, the important take was knowing how community pushback like protests, appeals, and unprofessional or slow inspectors can seriously delay a project, even when there’s a hard deadline like a school opening day that hundreds of families are counting on.
What insights did you gain into the field of real estate development?
Real estate development is far more layered than just buying land and building. It involves legal risk, public safety, community relations, and constant problem-solving under pressure. Eric’s experience showed me that the business side such as finance, accounting, and ethics is just as central to real estate as the physical construction, and that expertise in the field can open doors like consulting and expert witness work. Nick and Sydney’s insights showed me that behind every project there’s a whole ecosystem of specialized engineers and associations working to protect public safety, and that staying open-minded to new evidence and differing opinions is essential. You can’t be defensive about your own ideas if you want to get things right. Joe and Cecilia’s experience with the Equitas School project highlighted just how many outside forces like neighbors, inspectors, city permitting, even COVID-related slowdowns can affect a project’s timeline, and how developers have to manage people and politics just as much as physical building
What did you find the most interesting about the field after today?
What impressed me was how human the field of real estate development actually is. Geotechnical engineering, for example, is essentially AI-proof because every site has unique soil conditions, seismic risks, and environmental factors that require real judgment and adaptability. Similarly, the Equitas School story showed that even with strict deadlines and safety requirements like making sure no leftover diesel tanks or chemical hazards could harm children. The biggest obstacles often come from people such as protesting neighbors, slow inspectors, and remote city staff during COVID rather than the engineering itself. It made me realize that success in this field depends just as much on patience, communication, and resilience as it does on technical skill.
Photos: Christian Acevedo, Summer Intern 2026
