Condo Media - December 2020 - 8

News Desk

SO LONG,

Farewell

C

Reﬂections On and
By Condo Media's
Retiring Writer,
Nena Groskind

8

CONDOMEDIA December 2020

Coming of age, as she did, during
the antiwar, antiestablishment
movement of the early 1970s, nowretiring Condo Media writer Nena
Groskind never imagined she'd ﬁnd a
match for her writing aspirations in
the business media. A job at Banker &
Tradesman-a trade paper covering the
Massachusetts real estate and banking
industries-changed her mind.
She remained at the weekly paper
for nearly two decades, until moving
to Austin in 1995. Working ﬁrst as a
reporter and eventually as editor of the
publication, she also enjoyed a longterm " side gig " writing a popular real
estate question-and-answer column
for the Boston Globe.
" To my amazement, the more I
wrote about real
estate and ﬁnance,
the more I learned
about it, the more
interested I became in it, "
she recalls. What
she liked most,
she says, was the
opportunity to
write in-depth
articles and work
with " smart and interesting people, "
many of whom became and remained
business contacts and friends, even
after she moved to Austin.
It was through that network
of contacts that she connected
with Claudette Carini, the CAI New
England Chapter Executive Director
and a member of the Condo Media
board, which hired her in 2002 as a
freelance writer for the magazine.
Once again, a good match became
a long-term relationship, spawning
both a professional partnership and
personal friendships that make her
retirement " bittersweet, " Groskind
says, and equally bittersweet, Carini
adds, for the Condo Media board and
readers of the magazine.

" Nena has been an important part of
the Condo Media 'team' since her ﬁrst
cover story was published in January
2003, " Carini says. " She has worked
with the Condo Media editorial board to
shape story ideas, interviewed hundreds
of industry professionals, met - without
exception - more than 1,000 story
deadlines, and helped the magazine
become an important and trusted
resource for condominium association
board members and professional managers. Condo Media has beneﬁted from
her keen knowledge and understanding
of industry issues, and from her sense of
humor and wit, which have resonated in
all of her stories. "
The Condo Media board wishes
her much success
and a much-deserved respite from
deadlines in this
next journey.
Board members
Richard Brooks,
a partner at Marcus,
Errico, Emmer &
Brooks, and Jared
McNabb, CMCA,
PCAM, general manager of Brook House
Condominium Trust
in Brookline, added
accolades for Nena's
work and fond personal memories of
working with her. Both admit to being a
bit star-struck initially by the prospect
of being interviewed by a well-known
Boston Globe columnist.
" At ﬁrst it was like chatting with a
celebrity, " recalls Brooks. " But over the
years, the awe turned into a friendship.
I will miss her greatly. "
McNabb describes a similar evolution
in his relationship with Condo Media's
long-time writer. " It was a bit intimidating the ﬁrst time she interviewed me.
But because she is so easy to talk with,
within 30 seconds, all those anxieties
vanished. I will miss her relaxed nature
and her ability to make me sound intelligent in her articles. "
Condo Media - December 2020

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