Today we’d like to introduce you to Martha Brace.
Hi Martha , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For more than 20 years, I built my career in healthcare leadership and operations, including over 14 years with Marathon Health, where I served as a Vice President. I had the opportunity to lead teams, develop people, build relationships, and help organizations grow. It was a rewarding chapter of my life, and one that taught me the importance of leading with integrity, being intentional in my decisions, and never losing sight of the people behind the business.
In 2023, I made a decision that surprised some people: I stepped away from corporate leadership to pursue entrepreneurship and real estate. It wasn’t because I had stopped loving leadership. Quite the opposite. I wanted to challenge myself, create something exciting, and explore what the next chapter of my life could look like.
Having relocated from Vermont to Middle Tennessee myself, I understood firsthand that buying or selling a home is rarely just a transaction. It’s often connected to a major life transition—a new career, a growing family, retirement, divorce, or simply the desire for a fresh start. That perspective, combined with my business background, helped shape the way I approached real estate from the beginning.
I earned my Tennessee real estate license in 2023 and immersed myself in learning the industry, building relationships, and finding ways to bring value beyond the traditional buying and selling experience. My MBA and years of operational leadership gave me a strong foundation, but real estate challenged me to grow in entirely new ways. I discovered that I genuinely enjoy the entrepreneurial side of the business just as much as helping clients navigate important decisions.
Today, I’m proud to be part of Realty85, a brokerage whose agent-focused philosophy aligns with my own beliefs about leadership and opportunity. My role has expanded beyond serving buyers, sellers, and investors to helping support and develop other agents as we grow our presence in Tennessee.
One of the things I’ve learned throughout my career is that success isn’t necessarily about following a straight path. Sometimes it’s about having the courage to change direction, trusting the skills you’ve developed along the way, and remaining open to opportunities you never imagined.
I may have traded the corporate boardroom for real estate, but my passion for people, leadership, and building something meaningful hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s grown stronger.
And I truly believe I’m just getting started.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Has it been a smooth road? Not even close! But looking back, I wouldn’t trade the lessons along the way.
Some of my greatest challenges came early in my career, when I found myself navigating life as a divorced mother of two young boys, just five years and ten months old at the time. I was building a career in an emerging and revolutionary care delivery model, population health management, while balancing the responsibilities of motherhood and a demanding travel schedule. Planes, trains, and automobiles were part of my weekly routine, and somehow, between business meetings, airports, school activities, and raising two very active boys, I was trying to figure out how to do it all—and do it well.
There were sacrifices, difficult decisions, and plenty of moments when I questioned whether I was getting the balance right. My faith became an important source of strength through those seasons. It didn’t mean the road was easy or that I always had the answers, but it helped me trust that even in the uncertainty, there was purpose in the journey.
Those years taught me resilience, discipline, adaptability, and perhaps most importantly, perspective.
One of my biggest challenges, however, wasn’t professional or logistical. It was personal growth.
Early in my career, I was driven by what I believed success looked like. I pursued education, certifications, experience, and increasingly greater leadership responsibilities. I worked hard for the next opportunity, the next achievement, and yes, the next title. At one point, I thought I had finally “arrived.”
Ha! What I didn’t realize then was that you never really arrive. And thank goodness for that.
Somewhere along the way, my perspective began to shift. I started questioning whether the success I had worked so hard to achieve was really the measure that mattered most. I began to understand the difference between **success and significance**.
It wasn’t about the title on my business card. It was about the work, the mission, the people, and the impact I could have on others. It was about developing people, creating opportunities, building something meaningful, and finding joy in the journey rather than constantly chasing the next destination.
My faith strengthen played a role in that transformation, too. I began to see that the opportunities and abilities I’d been given weren’t simply for my own advancement. They carried a responsibility to serve others, to encourage growth, and to use whatever influence I had in ways that mattered beyond myself.
I grew tremendously during those years not just through formal education, professional certifications, and experience, but through a deeper understanding of what leadership truly requires. I came to recognize that leadership is both an opportunity and a responsibility. It requires us to be intentional in how we lead, generous with what we’ve learned, and purposeful in how we help others grow.
My philosophy became simple: **Lead with intention, share with purpose, and the rest will follow.**
Then, just when I had spent decades building a career and establishing myself in one industry, I decided to start over in another!
Leaving corporate healthcare leadership and entering real estate in late 2023 brought an entirely new set of challenges. I was learning a new profession, navigating a challenging real estate market, and building a business in a state where I hadn’t spent decades developing professional relationships. And real estate, perhaps more than many industries, is built on trust, reputation, and relationships.
I had to become comfortable being a beginner again. That can be humbling when you’ve spent years being the person others turn to for answers!
It also required faith: faith that I could take what I’d learned and apply it in a completely different environment, faith that the right relationships and opportunities would develop, and faith that I didn’t need to have every step figured out before taking the next one.
Finding the right brokerage was also part of that journey. I experienced two brokerages before finding my professional home with Realty85. Each experience taught me something about the industry, what I valued, and the kind of environment where I could make the greatest contribution.
Along the way, I was honored to be recognized as Agent of the Year just two years into my real estate career. That recognition meant a great deal to me, not simply because of the achievement, but because it reinforced that the experience, work ethic, and lessons from one chapter of life can indeed carry into the next.
Today, I find myself embracing another opportunity to grow, serve, and lead. The challenges haven’t disappeared; they’ve simply changed. But so has my perspective.
I’ve learned that success isn’t a destination, leadership isn’t a title, and starting over doesn’t mean starting from scratch. Everything we’ve experienced, including the struggles, prepares us for what comes next.
And perhaps one of the greatest lessons my faith has taught me is that I don’t always have to know where the road leads to trust that there’s purpose in taking the next step.
Here I am, still learning, still growing, still building, and trusting God’s plan for whatever comes next.
And certainly not looking back.
As you know, we’re big fans of Realty85, LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I’m proud to be part of Realty85, LLC, a real estate brokerage whose philosophy, **“Agent for Agent,”** reflects something I’ve believed, and Realty85 reinforces, throughout my leadership career: when you invest in people, you create opportunities for everyone to succeed.
My work today combines two things I’m incredibly passionate about: helping people navigate important real estate decisions and helping real estate professionals build meaningful, sustainable businesses of their own.
As a REALTOR® and licensed Tennessee real estate Broker serving Middle Tennessee, I work with buyers, sellers, investors, and individuals relocating to our communities. Having relocated from Vermont to Tennessee myself, I understand firsthand that buying or selling a home is rarely just a transaction. It often represents a significant life change, and those transitions deserve thoughtful guidance, honest conversations, and a strategy tailored to each person’s circumstances.
I’m especially drawn to helping clients navigate life’s transitions, whether that’s relocating for a new opportunity, downsizing, preparing for retirement, navigating a divorce, or exploring real estate investment opportunities. These decisions often involve much more than the value of a property. They involve families, finances, emotions, and plans for the future.
My background in business leadership and operations brings a different perspective to how I approach real estate. With an MBA and more than two decades of experience leading teams and organizations, I naturally gravitate toward strategy, problem-solving, and understanding the bigger picture. I believe in educating my clients, helping them evaluate their options, and empowering them to make informed decisions rather than simply encouraging a transaction.
But there’s another side of my work that has become equally meaningful: helping grow Realty85’s presence in Tennessee and supporting the agents who are building their careers here.
One of the things that attracted me to Realty85 was its **“Agent for Agent”** philosophy. I believe real estate agents are entrepreneurs, and a brokerage should be more than a place to hang a license. It should be a partner in their success, offering the resources, collaboration, professional development, and opportunities that allow them to grow businesses of their own.
As we build Realty85 in Tennessee, my vision is not simply to grow the number of agents affiliated with our brokerage. It’s to create a culture where agents feel valued, supported, challenged, and empowered. A place where knowledge is shared, collaboration is encouraged, and leadership is measured not by titles but by the success and growth of the people around us.
We want our agents to feel that they are building something *with* us, not simply working *for* us.
That distinction matters to me because I’ve spent much of my professional life learning that great organizations are built through people, relationships, trust, and shared purpose.
I want my approach to be different: one that combines operational experience, an entrepreneurial mindset, and a genuine commitment to serving others and making a meaningful difference in the communities we call home. I appreciate systems, processes, and results, but I also believe that behind every transaction, every business decision, and every opportunity is a person whose goals and aspirations matter.
I’m proud of the professional recognition I’ve received, including being named Agent of the Year, but I’m even more proud of the relationships I’ve developed, the trust I’ve earned, and the opportunities I’ve had to make a difference in someone else’s journey.
Ultimately, I want people to know that whether they’re trusting me to help with one of their most significant financial decisions or exploring an opportunity to build their real estate career with Realty85, my commitment is the same: to lead with integrity, serve with intention, and create meaningful opportunities for success.
**Built differently. Intentionally.**
It’s more than a tagline. It’s the culture we’re working to build and the standard I want reflected in everything we do.
What matters most to you?
What matters most to me is living a life of faith, purpose, service, and joy – and hopefully leaving something meaningful behind in the process.
First and foremost, my faith and my family are at the center of that. As a mother of two sons, one of my greatest hopes is that the life I’ve lived gives them something valuable to carry into their own journeys. Not necessarily a roadmap to follow, but experiences, values, lessons, and perspectives they can draw upon as they navigate life’s decisions.
I certainly haven’t gotten everything right! I’ve made mistakes, taken risks, changed directions, celebrated successes, and learned some lessons the hard way. But I hope my boys can look at those experiences, both the good and the not-so-good, and find something that helps them along their own paths. If they learn anything from me, I hope it’s to lead with integrity, have the courage to pursue what matters to them, remain grounded in faith, and never stop growing.
Beyond my family, what matters deeply to me is being of service to others. I believe we’re given opportunities, experiences, and abilities not simply for our own benefit, but to make a difference in the lives of those around us. Sometimes that means mentoring someone, sharing what I’ve learned, helping a person through a difficult decision, or simply being present when someone needs encouragement.
I’ve come to believe that significance is often found in the smallest moments, not necessarily the biggest accomplishments.
And somewhere along the way, I’ve learned that joy matters, too.
For much of my life, I was focused on achieving, accomplishing, and getting to whatever came next. Today, I’m much more intentional about appreciating the journey itself. I want to enjoy the work I do, the relationships I build, the people I meet, and the opportunities to make a difference along the way.
My faith reminds me that I don’t have to have everything figured out, and that purpose isn’t always found in the grand gestures. Often, it’s found in how we show up for others, the choices we make when no one is watching, and the love and kindness we extend along the way.
At the end of the day, I don’t need to be remembered for a title, an award, or a particular achievement. I hope to be remembered as someone who loved her family deeply, served others generously, lived her faith authentically, and found joy in the life she was given.
**If my boys carry a little of that forward, and I’ve made a positive difference in the lives of others along the way, then I will consider that a life well lived.**
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marthabrace.realty85.com/
- Instagram: @m_brace_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562856314189
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbracelife
- Other: https://joinrealty85tn.com/
