Yana Walder
37 | Director of Leasing and Marketing, Lake Point Properties
Residence: Montpelier
Career highlight(s) you are most proud of:
Helping Vermont businesses and professionals find office space. Seeing folks pursuing what they are passionate about and succeed is very special to me.
Your community involvement:
Includes volunteering on the Montpelier Historic Preservation Committee, helping newly arrived refugees, and coordinating direct help for people in need amid the turmoil in Ukraine.
Inspiration for living and working in Vermont:
I fell in love with Vermont’s landscape, food and people around 2003 and became a resident 
around 2008. I appreciate the level of community involvement and self-sufficiency in the state, but Vermont’s nature is where I find my inner peace.
Favorite part of your job:
Building bridges between tenants and owners and being a connector between buyers and sellers of properties that results in a benefit for all parties involved.
Most inspiring mentor:
A person who year after year teaches me how to balance risks and the unknown with patience, commitment and trust. I’m keeping the name secret.
Best career advice you have received:
Make space for yourself at the table when you find there is no chair for you.
Something fun about yourself that few people know:
I am Ukranian, with family still in Kharkiv. I bartered potatoes for English lessons in 1998, the winter we had nothing to eat.
Three words that best describe you:
Resilient, resourceful and creative.
Favorite Vermont escape:
Lake Seymour in the Northeast Kingdom.
Favorite Vermont season:
Spring, when green things explode in color.
Favorite downtime activities:
Reading a book, preferably at a lake or by a river somewhere.
Favorite social media:
Instagram. Two minutes after something happens in Ukraine, it is posted in my friends’ stories.
Person you would most like to share a Vermont beverage with:
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Cause(s) you would support if you had unlimited funds:
Direct cash grants to people in need. In Ukraine, I have been involved with fundraising for evacuations, lifesaving surgeries, replacing blown out windows, food delivery for the elderly, gear for the Ukrainian military (a few of my friends are serving) and animal rescue. In Vermont, I would build smart micro-apartments for young professionals and houses for first-time homebuyers and guarantee their loans to enable more people to own their own homes.
A song on your playlist you are embarrassed to admit to your best friend:
“Lambada” by Kaoma.
Where you see yourself professionally in the next five to 10 years:
I’d like to continue gaining experience in commercial real estate and manage a few construction projects/developments.
Goal(s) you’d like to accomplish in the next five to 10 years:
Bringing more women into the commercial real estate industry and creating a humanitarian aid foundation.
How your community service has changed since the pandemic:
Post-COVID meetings tend to happen remotely; it’s amazing what kind of complex tasks can be accomplished completely online.
How your job has changed since the pandemic:
People still need housing, so my job hasn’t changed much. Tenants did not stop running their businesses, and residential tenants still need maintenance and services. Many organizations’ services became more accessible online, which is great.
