Faith Hope Consolo

Faith Hope Consolo is the chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing and sales division. Before joining Elliman in 2005, she served as vice chairman of Garrick-Aug Worldwide for nearly 20 years, founding the firm’s international division in 1987 and opening the European office in Paris. Well known for her signature pink and ubiquitous slogans, such as, “To Find the Best Retail Space — You Need Faith,” Consolo has brought many prominent retailers to Manhattan, including Cartier, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Giorgio Armani and Fendi. An only child, she was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on July 25, 1945, and moved to Westport, Conn., as a young girl. Her father, John, who ran a real estate business, died when she was 2; her mother, Jill, a child psychiatrist, died when she was 12; and she was raised mostly by her grandmother, according to Joseph Aquino, who was her business partner for 26 years. No immediate family members survive. Ms. Consolo studied art history at New York University and also attended Parsons School of Design. In the late 1970s, she married and moved to Malibu, Calif. While there, she opened an interior design business in Beverly Hills, decorating movie studios and the homes of film stars, according to an interview she gave in 2005. But the marriage was short-lived, and after her divorce Ms. Consolo returned to New York. In 1985, Ms. Consolo met the owner of a firm called 2001 Real Estate and took a part-time job there cold-calling landlords and retailers, hoping to find vacant stores and shopkeepers who wanted to lease them. So great was her knack for deal-making that she was soon recruited by the retail powerhouse Garrick-Aug Worldwide. She remained there for nearly two decades, eventually becoming vice chairwoman. She joined Douglas Elliman in 2005. Early in her career, Ms. Consolo met Jerome Sidel, a Wall Street broker and financial consultant. They were deeply committed for more than 30 years.