Carolyn Watanabe spent most of her career in the hospitality industry. Early on she met Mike Paulin, owner and founder of MARC Resorts and Aqua Hotels & Resorts. He told her that Real Estate is the key to success, and that she should look at her job in terms of Real Estate, instead of "selling a hotel room". So she took a TON of real estate classes, and purchased her first property in the building that she worked in. It was a foreclosed property (REO), which gave her the opportunity to do a Short Sale. She became a member of HIREI that year, 2009, and together with her mom Lily Ochoco, has tried a variety of different types of real estate since then.