JLL Managing Director Lucia Hedke is strapping on her gloves and stepping from the real estate arena into the boxing ring to participate in this week's Haymakers for Hope's inaugural Miami Beach brawl.
She'll battle against Lauren Nappi, a property manager at rival CBRE in Boston. This inaugural Miami brawl is set for Thursday evening at The Fillmore Miami Beach. The fundraiser had commitments for donations totaling $380,141 as of late Wednesday.
Founded in 2011, Haymakers for Hope is a nonprofit group that raises money for cancer research, awareness and survivors, through boxing matches and other events globally.
When she's not sparring for her match, Hedke leads JLL's Florida healthcare practice. She recently relocated to Miami Beach from Orlando.
Hedke told CoStar News she first encountered Haymakers For Hope when she was working in Washington D.C., to help support a colleague of hers.
“It was actually a couple of weeks before the fight. I saw him and he was black and blue and I was worried about him," she said. "He told me, 'No, I'm okay, I'm just sparring for this event.' That's how I found out about it."
But it was family that inspired Hedke to get into the ring herself, she said, after her sister was involved in a "horrific" car accident nine years ago. Her sister had to be airlifted to Tampa General Hospital for immediate care.
“She spent years in Tampa, trying survive on feeding tube, breathing tube, everything, inpatient, outpatient for many years,” Hedke said. “I am just really blessed to have a very healthy life and I'm incredibly strong. And I'm going to get in the ring because I can.
"And all of the money I've raised is going to Tampa General."
On the fundraising side, Hedke has raised $25,200 for her bout against Nappi, who was a mere $18 behind her opponent as of Thursday morning.
Hedke said there are “a lot of synergies,” between boxing and real estate — especially as a woman, she added. Discipline, strategy, and “just being tough and standing my ground and fighting for when I think I should be in the room, just like I'm fighting to be in the ring," are both necessary for the boardroom and the boxing ring, she said.
"Especially in Florida, where I can count on one hand how many female brokers that are in this business," Hedke said.