Photo Credit: Towbin Motorcars

Everyone always gets to see the success, but no one ever gets to see what it took to get there.

It takes a special ingredient in the human psyche to achieve greatness and more so to push with vigor. Carolynn Towbin and Jesika Towbin-Mansour, with the rest of their family, lost the man who started it all, but it didn’t knock them down once. It only pushed them to be stronger and in turn, made them more successful and prominent in their industry.

It was June 2009 when TIME Magazine “Quality Dealer Award” recipient Daniel Towbin passed of a heart attack at the young age of 54. His wife Carolynn Towbin took over as chairman and dealer principal of Towbin Automotive Enterprises and his daughter Jesika Towbin-Mansour became the managing partner for Towbin Motorcars.

Yet by looking at their external life, you would think their world is perfect. You would never know this is something that lingers because the Towbin women carry such resilience and strength in their presence. It is an energy that is not aggressively male but exists eternally in the power of the female energy.

“There’s nothing worse than trying to be a man in business. The best thing you can do is be a woman,” Towbin passionately affirms. In a wildly male-dominated industry, you must understand this is not easy to uphold.

It may come as a surprise that even with their extensive years of experience and philanthropic work, they sometimes face moments when their intelligence and expertise as auto dealers is questioned. Towbin-Mansour shares this type of behavior is not an often occurrence for her as opposed to the earlier years of her mother’s career “but it still does happen.” She grew up in the family business and was primed by her father at an early age.

Photo Credit: Towbin Motorcars

Towbin-Mansour is a far cry from the “dealer’s daughter,” title she quotes in the air. Here is this impressive young businesswoman with an empire whose A-list clientele depends on her for the latest in luxury cars. She flies nationally and internationally tending to notable negotiation meetings, but she’s a mother and wife first. Even with her busy schedule, she doesn’t miss a beat. She wakes up in the mornings to take her son to school. She helps with school projects too. And, with the help and support of her husband, Towbin-Mansour can pat herself on the back because she does it all. “I am no longer the dealer’s daughter,” rings so true.

There’s a lot of pride in what they do and how they feel about family when these two women speak. Towbin‘s son and Towbin-Mansour‘s husband also work in the family business.

The latest addition to their dealership roster is the Towbin Ferrari Maserati showroom. It had been on the goal list for the entire family, but a dream specifically for Daniel Towbin. The 45,000-square-foot showroom had already been home to Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Aston Martin. With the addition, it is now the biggest ultra-luxury and exotic automobile complex in Nevada. Carolynn and Jesika are the first and only sole female owners of a Ferrari and Maserati showroom in all of North America.

“But it’s 2017. You’d think there’d be more of us [women dealership owners],” Towbin teases and champions with a gregarious laugh. It is a great accomplishment and highlight, but they don’t want to be the only women.

It wasn’t until they mentioned a trip to the Ferrari headquarters in Italy that I remembered just how prestigious, and busy, these two businesswomen are. Their humility and generosity are blinding. In fact, it wasn’t until Towbin’s phone rang that I realized we had been talking for two hours. They proved to be grander than their riches filled with absolute depth and kindness. They are admirable, inspiring, and candid people. Upon my arrival to their office were words of affirmations hanging from the walls. I would later find that Carolynn is an avid follower of meditation and a literal student of Deepak Chopra. There’s even a meditation room at the Towbin Ferrari Maserati showroom.

Amidst one of their greatest challenges, they have remained all grace. They have gained not only the respect and acknowledgment from their industry, but have fruition the dream of the husband and father who started it all. As a collective family, they have defined and taken the Towbin name to higher heights that I feel even Mr. Towbin could have never imagined, but also something he’d be undoubtedly proud of. In the presence of Carolynn Towbin and Jesika Towbin-Mansour, their stature and accolades don’t make you feel small. On the contrary, they uplift you to be larger than life– man or woman. When you think of the Towbin women, only word should come to mind: respect.