Your Strategic Real Estate Partner
At Canvas, we believe real estate is a business strategy—not simply a transaction.
As a fractional Head of Real Estate, we partner with founders and growing companies to develop and execute real estate strategies that support hiring, operations, customer experience, and long-term growth. Whether you're evaluating your next office lease, expanding your retail footprint, or managing a growing portfolio, we provide the executive-level leadership needed to make informed decisions with confidence.
We work as an extension of your team, bringing together strategic planning, transaction management, lease negotiations, portfolio oversight, and project execution under one trusted partner. And when brokerage services are required, we provide end-to-end representation or coordinate with trusted brokerage partners to ensure every transaction aligns with your broader business objectives.
Because great real estate decisions don't start with finding space—they start with understanding your business.
“Growing companies deserve access to executive-level real estate expertise before they're ready to hire an internal real estate team. That's why I built Canvas—to provide strategic leadership that helps businesses make smarter decisions, move faster, and scale with confidence.”
Marilynn Joyner, Founder & CEO
Marilynn Joyner is the Founder and CEO of Canvas, a strategic commercial real estate consulting firm serving as a fractional Head of Real Estate for startups, growth-stage companies, and multi-location businesses.
With more than a decade of experience in commercial real estate advisory and brokerage, Marilynn has advised leading organizations including HSBC, Sidley, KPMG, Adidas, and Convene on complex real estate strategy, lease negotiations, and portfolio initiatives. Her experience spans office and retail leasing, market expansion, portfolio optimization, and large-scale headquarters relocations, including KPMG's 450,000-square-foot New York City headquarters transaction.
As both a commercial real estate advisor and startup founder, Marilynn brings a unique perspective to helping businesses scale. She understands that real estate decisions impact far more than occupancy—they influence talent attraction, operational efficiency, capital allocation, and long-term growth.
Through Canvas, she partners closely with founders and leadership teams to provide strategic real estate guidance, oversee complex leasing initiatives, and serve as an outsourced real estate executive—helping organizations build smarter, more scalable portfolios without the need for a full-time internal team.
Marilynn is also the Founder and CEO of Her Workplace, the career platform and network designed to support corporate women, and Fund Her Network, the AI-powered capital access platform connecting female founders to the right investors.
She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and London Business School, as well as a Master's in Real Estate from Georgetown University.
Our core values of
strategic partnership, agility, trust, excellence, and innovation guide everything we do.
Your Outsourced Head of Real Estate
Canvas was built on the belief that growing companies need more than a broker—they need a strategic partner.
We provide the leadership, expertise, and execution needed to navigate complex real estate decisions, from long-term portfolio planning to lease negotiations and transaction management. Our goal is simple: to help businesses make smarter real estate decisions that fuel growth.
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