"If I had a camera, that's what I'd take a photo of, this to me is Canberra," she says.

"It's the banter that occurs, the human interaction, so there are the firies and the mum with, I think, twins."

We have both instantly noted the possibility of the young children being twins – not very surprising, really, given the interviewer is a twin and the interviewee has twins.

After almost a decade as the face of the Property Council in the ACT, Carter is one of the most recognisable faces in the national capital.

Her high profile is a result of her responsibility for all aspects of the organisation's operations, policy development and public relations.

"The Property Council is very much one of those sink or swim organisations where a lot is demanded of you, but it also encourages and rewards people who are innovative and work hard," she says.

She is about to leave her post as executive director and set up a consultancy. Before that, her family will spend Christmas in Europe.

"When I get back, there are some exciting projects in the works, but I can't tell you just yet," she teases.

"I'll be working for myself, you will see more of me but in a different way – it's very Canberra focused."

Carter has thrived in the male-dominated property sector and received an ACT Telstra Business Woman of the Year award in 2010.

"Only 13 per cent of workers in the property and construction sector are women," she reflects.

Carter settled in Canberra after working as an adviser for a NSW government minister and in a communications role for the federal government.

She spent her childhood as a "military brat". The continual movement from school to school bred resilience. And bad handwriting.

"That's from going to too many primary schools in rapid succession while I was growing up, it's apparently a really common thing among army kids, because they're taught different styles in different states," she says.

"I think I am pretty resilient and quite dogged, I suppose. I'm quite sociable and adaptable and so I think I'm typical of a lot of people I've met [with my type of upbringing]."

From her late father, Major General Geoffrey Carter, she has drawn resilience and tenacity.

"It's perhaps no surprise that I am working in what is perceived by many to be a very tough, blokey industry," she says.

"My father was a career army officer and a career army officer absolutely through and through. He was a great inspiration to me and I was very close to him.

"He always said to me when we were growing up and to my brother and sister, 'You can do anything'. That was always a lesson we grew up with.

"I actually think I am quite like him – that ability to persevere even when times are tough, to work hard and to do what I say I am going to do – that has certainly helped me through my career."

Her mother was painfully shy, a nurse who delivered babies in the bush, decided to go mountain climbing and later joined the air force.

"She was a very adventurous person which seems incongruent to how shy she was with people," Carter says.

"Back in the 1950s, my mother and her sister went from Western Australia to New Zealand for skiing and mountain climbing. When I reflect on that, it's actually extraordinary."

Her great-grandmother brought back artifacts collected during cruises to Borneo. "I think the women in the family are fairly tough, tenacious, adventurous sorts of people."

These family traits mean Carter doesn't need to be the most liked person in the world.

"But a good way to leave would be for someone to say I was honest and had integrity," she says.

"It can be difficult doing my job sometimes because there are so many vested interests and it's not my job to represent individual interests no matter how they're put to me, my job is to present the consensus view of the industry.

"You have to be able to stand your ground and try to stay true, you need to try to be true to that ideal of walking on the straight path."

And what about the criticism of developers she reads in the letters pages of daily newspapers?

"They say developers want to concrete over the planet; it's simply not true in my experience," she says, pointing out that many of the developers working on Canberra projects are personally invested in the territory.

"Their families have lived here, very often, for several generations, their children go to school here, they're interested in making Canberra a better place to live, that's just the truth of it," she says.

She is annoyed those letter writers don't always reveal their links, whereas her regular contributions to The Canberra Times declare her position.

"I am sometimes unkindly called in the [letters], the developer's mouthpiece," she says.

Does she find that derogatory? "Of course, it is my job, but I'm not offended by that ... I am the development industry's mouthpiece.

The property sector generates almost 25,000 jobs across Canberra and is the second largest employer after government.

"I think that is a fact that is not often recognised," Carter says.

"The other thing that people very likely don't see when they go around Canberra is we have the country's third largest office market after Sydney and Melbourne. There are 2.5 million square metres of commercial office in Canberra.

"It doesn't look like that because Canberra is very spread out geographically, but we are a very significant property market and about 60 per cent of that is occupied by the Commonwealth government so we have an important relationship there."

Given her unique position watching Canberra's skyline, how does she see the future of the national capital?

"There is no doubt we're at the bottom of a property cycle and things have been tough for the last couple of years," she says.

"We had this enormous construction boom, about five years ago now, the largest construction boom in this city's history, and now we're now at the bottom of that natural property cycle but also we've been hit by Commonwealth government decision making, I think there's another couple of years in that before the city comes out of it.

"Of course, Commonwealth government decision making, particularly with respect to employment, has an impact not only on industry but on the ACT government's coffers. It is inextricably linked – decisions like that create difficulties for the ACT government and hence the ACT economy.

"When public servants are no longer in a big building in a particular location, it impacts on surrounding businesses, coffee shops and so on.

"However, in spite of what I've just said, I actually personally feel very confident about Canberra and its future.

"I see how the city has changed just in the decade I've been doing the [Property Council] job and I think largely it is positive and the reason I am confident in saying it's positive is because it's how people respond to changes in the built environment.

Her interest in the built environment means she is excited by precincts such as New Acton and Lonsdale Street.

"It really interests me, the evidence that the built environment provides spaces for the community; it's really evident when you go to places like that," she says.

"The property sector of course is a very significant part of that renewal and change, and things that people like.

"Canberra people did that, not faceless developers, actually local people.

"The property industry that I work for isn't complacent by any means, they're always seeking to do something better, to be innovative, to create quality – I think that's exciting."

Carter is very pleased about the growing trend for younger people to stay in Canberra.

"We have a very strong cultural life in Canberra. When you see local musicians or artists or craft people, establishing in Canberra, the city seems to thrive, I think that's wonderful and it makes me feel positive," she says.

"There's something going on every weekend, whatever your interests are – shows, art galleries, markets or theatre.

"Canberra is vibrant – it's not only full of people, they're all really animated. And what Canberra truly has going for it, in the way I haven't experienced before, is a strong sense of community."

Is she successfully managing to nail the tricky work-life balance?

"That's the aspiration, it's an ongoing challenge," she replies.

"One lesson that I would share with other women in my industry is that with passion, drive and commitment, it is possible to be successful without compromising other things that make life so rich and special, including the importance of a quality life outside work.

"I've been very fortunate working for the Property Council, which is a very outcomes-focused organisation, not a bundy-on, bundy-off place.

"I'm really privileged in that way and I recognise it because not everyone has that opportunity in their work.

"I work very long hours but it's flexible enough so that I can decide when I do the work or when I need to take a couple of hours out to go to a kid's concert or something, because my No. 1 priority in my life is my family, well ahead of anything else.

"My children are No. 1 and I'm just lucky that everything else seems to have worked out and fallen into place, in a good way."

@rosspeakeCT