It was the seventies. The National Organization of Women had just been founded. Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique, was a celebrity. And the Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress.
But Patty Ricketts Scarafile '66 was sticking to her plans. She was teaching high school English and happily married. In 1969 she had her first child, stopped teaching and became a stay-at-home mom. She raised her growing family of three children for six years until, to her great surprise, her plans changed.
Scarafile realized she wanted more for herself than homemaker, wife and mother. She wanted something all her own. And who doesn't? So many women do what's expected of them. Too few women do as they'd like.
Scarafile made a decision to have her cake and eat it, too, and she has managed remarkably well since 1977, when she boldly took a stab at a piece of the real estate pie. She began as a part-time real estate agent, and, two weeks later, she was working full time. She never made a conscious decision to move forward, full speed ahead, with her real estate career. It just took on a life of its own.
Scarafile has gracefully balanced her wants and needs along with those of her four children (she adopted her fourth child from Russia in 1997) and about 75 employees and 800 independent contractors at Carolina One. She had become a vice president in the nineties and then CEO in 1999 (when the company merged with Prudential), all the while juggling car pools and tennis matches, college trips and meetings with clients.
"It's just kind of how my life runs," she says matter-of-factly about the constant hustle and bustle and balancing act she walks each day.
Like Betty Friedan, Scarafile is a wonder woman in her own right. It's evident she loves her job as she sounds off about market share and name recognition and the company's core values (truth, excellence, relationship and financial benefit for all). But it took her time to forgive herself for joining the workforce and leaving the playground.
When Scarafile realized she needed to work outside the home to be fully happy, she was surprised and torn. She struggled with her own disappointment and the confusion that follows when life switches courses unexpectedly. "I adored these children and they were clearly the priority of my life," she notes, "and yet, I wasn't real happy as a stay-at-home mom. That was a huge struggle for me."
These days, with her three oldest children working alongside her at Carolina One, she couldn't be happier with her life's work. Insisting that real estate is a more interesting, challenging business today than it was just a few years ago - when "you could barely keep up with it" - she explains, "we have the highest affordability we've had in 18 years, based on the national median. As Realtors, we've had to be smarter and more strategic ... but it's been a proactive opportunity."
Reflecting on her decades in this highly competitive market, as a pioneering woman blazing trails into a man's world, she says, "If we keep open minds and open hearts, there are no disadvantages as a woman. It's really up to the individual to tap her full potential." 