Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaleigh Cook
Hi Kaleigh, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In July of 2022, I lost my job of 4 years as an editorial assistant. After a year of applying to other editorial positions with no luck, it occurred to me that I may need to reframe my perspective.
I was already taking Interior Design courses at AACC with the intention of acquiring my Interior Design certificate and eventually building my own I.D. business. With that in mind, my partner suggested I pursue Real Estate.
Initially, I wasn’t very open to the idea because I had the perception that Realtors were all high-pressure sales people (which I very much am not). But, given that I had nothing more to lose, I signed up for the licensing course.
The more I learned about Real Estate, the more I loved. Primarily I loved that, thanks to the Maryland Real Estate Commission, which regulates MD Real Estate agents and enforces moral laws set in place to protect its agents and those agents’ clients, it’s pretty impossible to be a scummy sales person in this business! I also loved that each agent is treated as their own individual business; meaning I get to be authentically myself and operate my business however I want and in whatever unique ways I want (in terms of marketing and image). And having the freedom to show up as myself in a workplace or elsewhere has always been extremely important to me. Too often in our lives are we told to cover out tattoos or take out our piercings, change our hair… etc. But, I hope to draw in clients who feel comfortable expressing themselves with me.
I also love that I get to meet dozens of new people a week, assist people in one of the biggest and most exciting decisions of their life and explore all kinds and styles of houses in MD.
So, after passing the licensing course and taking the State test and National test (3 TIMES!) I finally acquired my license in June of 2023. I signed on with Keller Williams Flagship of Maryland, and I’m only a few weeks from my one year milestone in the business. Every day I am learning and growing.
At the age of 28 and into 29, I very literally started my life over, and it finally feels as though I am where I am supposed to be.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been a smooth journey.
I don’t have much as far as familial support. A lot, if not all, of my self realization has been on my own or thanks to my encouraging partner.
It hurt to lose a job I’d had for four years and to have those years of experience, as well as my degree (that I am still paying off), mean virtually nothing to job recruiters. And after the year of unemployment, the grueling accelerated Licensing course that allowed nearly no room for anything else, and the following exams, finally acquiring my license felt like a win. But then I had to decide on a brokerage!
After numerous interviews, I was encouraged to sign on with KW Flagship under a Team with the promise that this Team would be more hands-on during my learning stages (as opposed to being “thrown to the wolves” by starting out as a solo agent). So even though I craved independence and the freedom to man my own ship, I joined this Team. Long story short, the Team didn’t pan out as promised, and I was left abandoned without much guidance in the field. My brokerage assigned me a Coach in response, but, to say the least, things didn’t go well there either. So, finally, after a failed team and a Coach I felt I couldn’t flourish under, around April of this year I believe to have finally found a Coach that truly believes in me and my business and is willing to help nourish my dream rather than tell me how ELSE I could be doing it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a REALTOR® with Keller Williams Flagship of MD.
I’m also a 2016 Penn State graduate, and a young and inclusive Pasadena local. I’m passionate about Interior Design and studying to achieve my Interior Design certificate at AACC. By integrating the two fields, my creative approach to Real Estate allows me to envision clients’ needs literally, objectively, and aesthetically. And I believe my ability to visualize a house’s potential will assist anyone in finding, selling, and creating their ideal home. I think all too often we find ourselves in the hands of someone who’s seeking a paycheck and – not only knows very little about homes, what they mean to a person, and how to care for them – but also is uncaring of the people they’re meant to look out for.
I aim to always be informative about the buying and selling process as well as the homes we’ll likely see on our journey together, and perhaps most importantly, I aim to listen. Because I truly can’t help someone whose circumstance I am unaware of or don’t fully understand.
Another major objective of mine is to be authentic, and I hope this encourages my clients to do the same. This way, everyone has the best chance at discovering a home catered to their most genuine self.
And with that, I would say I am known for my creativity in all forms of design; interior, fashion, marketing, event planning… I recently hosted an EMO Karaoke Nite at a local brewery, The Crooked Crab, that was a complete success, and I hope to bring it back again in the fall. Helping other small businesses and supporting my community by hosting events that bring people together – especially perhaps an overlooked or unrecognized demographic – is something I truly love to do.
(Also, everyone who knows me knows I love, and can get very passionate about, horror movies. If you do as well, feel free to join my FB Group “Horror Haven (Maryland)” where like-minded thrill seekers chat and share memes about past and upcoming horror films as well as local spooky events.)
I think I’m most proud of my ability to rebuild/my resilience. I think I’ve experienced a lot of setbacks in my personal and professional life, but proving to myself that I’m able to start from scratch and create something genuine, like my Real Estate business, has really surprised me. And being able to assist my close friends in selling homes to and for them has truly been a gift and an honor this past year.
I think what sets me apart from others is that I come as I am. I don’t see many people who look like me or talk like me in fields like this, and I’m really hoping to change that dynamic. I know as an alternative millennial, I’m not eager to work with big-wig corporate types that care less about me than they do their commission, so I know there have to be others like me who feel the same. I hope seeing an inclusive creative who is willing to lay all her cards out on the table in what has been typically seen as a stiff corporate field, such as Real Estate, encourages those around me to not only feel more comfortable when approaching big decisions like buying a house, but also inspires them to push boundaries and be the change they wish to see in certain fields and in the world as a whole.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I’m definitely a risk taker. I really value being able to express myself, and in doing so, I always seem to toe the line of what is “acceptable,” what with my tattoos and piercings or hair color. And I’ve never been afraid to express something out of the norm (papers and assignments are often about some niche topic or an original thought as opposed to the same regurgitated things we’ve all peer reviewed a thousand times over). I’ve never really been afraid to stand up for what I felt was right or for those who are under-represented, misunderstood, or mistreated. I have several instances throughout my life where I chose to sit alone when my only other option was sitting beside people who didn’t treat me well, where I’ve spoken out against someone who was talking poorly about someone else who wasn’t there to defend themselves, I’ve told companies what I did and did not agree with in their policies or expectations, and I’ve left jobs and relationships that were not healthy for me… All of these things require a certain amount of risk.
If I didn’t push past the fear of starting over, I wouldn’t be a Real Estate agent right now. That may have been my biggest risk yet. And, I think building my business in a niche way is a risk. I could be closing myself off to potential clients all because they don’t like how I show my tattoos in my headshot – or something silly like that. But, the way I see it, there are plenty of people who see someone like me and are excited to work with me, and anyone that feels otherwise shouldn’t matter. There are other agents better catered to them, their needs, and expectations. And, I even took a risk when I asked to drop the coach that my brokerage assigned to me for a new one that I felt was a better fit.
But all of these risks I do for my own mental health and my own happiness. And at the end of the day, that’s what matters; not the money or the image. I just want to do what I love while being wholly myself, and if that helps others in any capacity, that’s just the icing on top.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kaleighcook.kw.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaleighdoesrealestate/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555874994976
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kaleighdoesrealestate
