At age 30, Sirena Sosa is CEO of The W Group, the successor to storied Visalia real estate brokerage the Whitlatch Group. Photo, logo via Sosa

Sirena Sosa, 30, has officially launched The W Group International Inc., marking a transition for a longtime Central Valley commercial real estate firm.

The firm is the successor to The Whitlatch Group, which was founded in 1984 by Bill Whitlatch, a broker and developer.

Sosa, a Visalia native and mother of two, was mentored by Bill Whitlatch before starting her own company this year.

“I am honored to carry this legacy forward — not just the name, but the relationships, values and vision that have shaped it for decades,” Sosa said.

Sosa is the first woman owner of a full-service commercial real estate firm in the Central Valley.

“This is about more than business,” Sosa said. “It’s about showing what’s possible for women, minorities, first‐gen professionals and anyone building something in places that often go overlooked.”

The W Group will operate out of the same office as the Whitlatch Group in downtown Visalia. The W Group also added an office in Downtown Fresno’s Pacific Southwest Building, the tallest building between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

As part of the company transition, its property management firm was sold to Equity PM, a local firm.

The business is now divided into two divisions: brokerage and development consulting.

The brokerage division focuses on leasing, land acquisition and investment sales, while the development consulting division offers site selection, entitlement processing and pre-development planning.

Sosa said in a news release that the approach is designed to deliver “maximum value with minimal waste.”

The firm’s motto is, “blending tradition with innovation.”

The W Group has grown from a two-person group to a seven-person staff, including international professionals.

Advisory services are available in nine different languages and the firm partners with engineers and architects to provide full project delivery.

Sosa previously worked at Cushman & Wakefield in Fresno before moving to government real estate projects, renewable infrastructure and right-of-way acquisition for state and federal transportation. She is also a licensed real estate broker and right-of-way professional and is pursuing her CCIM designation and a general contractor’s license.

Her work has been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Leaders of Influence in Commercial Real Estate Brokers” and CREi’s Summit’s “Top 87 Most Influential Women in Commercial Real Estate.”