Vanessa Bergmark “Is this about indies surviving, or is it about them thriving?” Vanessa Bergmark, owner and CEO of Red Oak Realty, asked panel moderator Clelia Peters in advance of their Inman Connect Now panel on Thursday, which also featured Kofi Nartey, founder and CEO of Society Real Estate. The answer: thriving, with a few caveats. Over the course of the Connect Now panel entitled “Will the Indie Brokerage Model Thrive in 2021?” the group discussed how indies have been able to channel their best attributes to thrive over the course of the pandemic, and how they might keep the momentum going into the new year.