In this reflective talk, the speaker celebrates completing her seventh marathon—the Charlotte Marathon—highlighting the supportive community spirit of runners who cheer each other regardless of pace or outcome. She draws a parallel between that camaraderie and the current turmoil within organized real estate, specifically the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), noting that many stakeholders are focused solely on personal goals and neglecting those who are struggling. The speaker explains that volunteers affiliated with her have been threatened with losing their positions, but she refuses to pursue a petition at the upcoming board meeting to protect these supporters. She acknowledges a private petition signed by about 300 members calling for structural reforms, but assures signers they are not at risk. Looking ahead, she envisions a future where organized real estate serves communities, consumers, and realtors collaboratively, urging participants to challenge the status quo, join a prospective think‑tank, and continue working together in North Carolina and Washington, D.C. The message ends with a call for perseverance, principle‑based action, and the hope that everyone can earn their “finisher bling.”
Chapters
I might be the luckiest girl ever living in North Carolina when you have a beautiful sunny Saturday in downtown Charlotte for the Charlotte Marathon, which by the way, this was my 7th marathon. And if you know anything, 7 is often the number of completion. And what's also interesting is of my other 6 marathons, none were in North Carolina. I've run everywhere except Charlotte, and finally the stars aligned so I could run here at home. And I always look around at a run event, and it's kind of interesting that runners cheer for each other no matter what. If a faster runner passes you, you cheer as they pass you. If somebody falls down or looks like they're hurt or cramping, we all stop and ask if they need medical help. And then you start cheering for strangers. People that don't know you will cheer for you. And they've never met you. The finish line looks the same because the finisher bling— as my dearly departed friend Valerie always said, the bling's the same no matter how you get there. We all have different goals, people have different races they're running, different paces, different ways that they get there, but there's a general belief that there's something good at the end. And I was thinking about that in relation to what's going on in real estate right now, where there's so much flux in organized real estate. NAR is facing a number of challenges, and I don't have to go into all the challenges again. You guys know, and those challenges are big. And what's really interesting is that some of the people that are the fussiest about what's happening in real estate are not paying any attention to anything except their own goals. They're not watching who's falling down around them. They're not cheering for other people. They're along for the ride. And when I think about the, the ride that we're on right now, we're facing enormous challenges. And then I find out that several of the people who have been very supportive of me as a leader have been told that there's a chance they will lose their volunteer positions because they're affiliated with me. And y'all, I don't operate that way. I can't operate in a way that's retaliatory. It's not good, it's not right, it's not fair. And so because these are really great people, they're talented, they're intelligent, they have a servant's heart, we're not going to be bringing any petition forward in November at the board of directors meeting because I don't want my friends my talented supporters to be cast out into the darkness because they're affiliated with me. It's just not the right time. And if I look at races like this, I know that there's always a race out there, and every race has a different finish line and a different day for running it. So this is, this is not my day at the National Association of Realtors. I get that, and I have been so supported and encouraged. And the 300 people who signed that petition, I am so grateful for how you were willing to say, yes, we need to be thoughtful about our structure and how we do things better. And for the record, that list is private, it's not been published, and so you're not at risk because you signed it, although the idea that anybody would be at risk is A little disappointing on the whole, but it's just an idea. It's not going to come to fruition. So my hope is that when all of us get to Anaheim, we'll decide that we know what the finish line looks like. The finish line should look like how we make organized real estate work for our communities, how we make it work for the consumer, and how we make sure that realtors can make a living out there in some great fashion where we don't have to just work by ourselves. We can work together to do really big things because it's really big work ahead. And no matter what happens inside the structure of the organization, I'm going to be a part of the work going forward, whether it's here in North Carolina or it's in Washington, D.C. I know how important it is to cheer for other people. I know how important it is to stop when somebody else falls down And I also know how important it is to figure out what the goal is and how to get there. So that being said, we all need to figure out how we can be a part of the answer in the future. And the answers don't look like the status quo. I will just tell you that it's okay to challenge the status quo. And if you're the person who wants to challenge status quo, then you should totally send me a message because Maybe there's a think tank of those of us that want to see something better emerge that can bring forward ideas whenever they're welcomed. And that might not be right now, and that's what we're dealing with. So that being said, I'm not going anywhere because I can't retire from real estate yet. I have too much work to do in North Carolina, and I have too much work that I can do in Washington, DC. So stay tuned, stay together, and stay strong, because if you have a belief, you need to lean on your principles no matter what comes. And then maybe, just maybe, you get the finisher bling too.
