A reflection on career transitions and professional growth, exploring how leadership experience from one industry can meaningfully transfer to another while acknowledging the importance of humility, continuous learning, and building strong mentorship relationships.
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Influential Woman · Real Estate
Martha Brace, MBA
Principal Broker, Realty85
Portland, TN 37148
1Article published
1Award received
Her Story
About Martha
Martha Brace, MBA, REALTOR®, RENE, is the Tennessee Principal Broker for Realty85 and an entrepreneur whose career includes more than 24 years in healthcare leadership. She brings extensive experience in executive leadership, operations, business development, and relationship management to her work across real estate, consulting, e-commerce, and hospitality. Throughout her career, her focus has remained consistent: developing people, strengthening organizations, and helping others navigate change with confidence.
Her healthcare career included more than 14 years with Marathon Health, from March 2009 through December 2023, where she held progressive vice president roles across business development, enterprise business, project management and implementations, and accounts and operations. Her accomplishments included generating $4.4 million in annual contract value against a $3 million sales quota and helping build and scale operations supporting 126 healthcare practices across 41 states. Earlier leadership roles with private practices and hospitals established her foundation in practice operations, financial management, team development, and service line growth. Together, these experiences shaped the strategic thinking, operational discipline, and commitment to service she brings to her businesses today.
At Realty85, Martha leads Tennessee brokerage operations with an emphasis on agent development, recruitment, transaction oversight, and regulatory compliance. She is committed to creating an environment where agents have accessible leadership, practical guidance, and opportunities to strengthen their skills and build sustainable businesses. Named Realty85’s 2025 Agent of the Year, she brings firsthand experience serving clients to her leadership role.
Her real estate practice serves buyers, sellers, and investors throughout Middle Tennessee, with particular interests in relocation, investment properties, senior transitions, and helping people navigate significant life changes. Having relocated from Vermont to Tennessee and moved from corporate leadership into entrepreneurship, Martha understands the practical and emotional considerations that accompany a new chapter. She combines clear communication, thoughtful planning, and skilled negotiation to help clients make informed decisions. She is also an author of a book that helps readers understand real estate decisions during divorce.
Beyond real estate, Martha owns and operates MBrace LLC, providing business consulting and executive advisory services; Simulator Depot, a national e-commerce business focused on golf simulator technology and home entertainment; and Tenn-tucky Ventures, LLC, which includes hospitality and retail brands Tenn-tucky Getaway and Tenn-tucky Treasures. Across these ventures, she applies her experience in strategic partnerships, marketing, customer service, and business development.
Martha holds a Master of Business Administration from Franklin Pierce University and a Bachelor of Business Management, with concentrations in accounting and marketing, from Johnson State College. Her professional credentials include the Real Estate Negotiation Expert designation, Six Sigma Green Belt certification, and certification as a private money broker. She has shared her experience through speaking engagements on leadership, business, and financial wellness, and through mentoring professionals and emerging leaders.
Faith, family, and community service remain central to Martha’s life. Her service over the years has included supporting military families, mentoring youth, and participating in charitable fundraising. Outside of work, she enjoys road cycling, antiquing, spending time with family, and caring for her three dogs.
Martha believes leadership is demonstrated through integrity, follow-through, and a willingness to help others succeed. Whether guiding a client, mentoring an agent, or developing a business, she strives to help people recognize opportunities and move forward with confidence.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Martha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my faith, my sons, and the mentors and loved ones who have supported and challenged me along the way. My sons have always been a powerful source of motivation. Watching them become the men they are today is one of my greatest joys, and I hope my journey shows them that it is never too late to pursue a new goal or begin another chapter.
I am grateful for the mentors who recognized my potential, offered honest guidance, and helped me become a stronger leader and person. Their investment in me inspires me to do the same for others.
Perseverance, curiosity, and a willingness to step outside my comfort zone have also shaped my path. Moving from a long career in healthcare leadership into entrepreneurship and real estate required both courage and humility. My faith helps ground me through uncertainty, and I strive to meet each opportunity by working hard, keeping my commitments, and treating people with care and integrity.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Two pieces of career advice have stayed with me: “go slow to go fast” and shift your focus from success to significance.
The first reminds me to take time to listen, understand the situation, and build a strong foundation before moving into action. Being thoughtful at the beginning helps me make better decisions, earn trust, and avoid unnecessary setbacks.
The second has shaped how I measure achievement. Reaching goals matters, but so does helping someone else grow, recognize their potential, or navigate a difficult transition. It encourages me to share what I’ve learned and make time for mentoring. Some of the most meaningful moments in my career have come from seeing others succeed and knowing I played a small part in their journey.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice is to be intentional about where you begin and whom you learn from. Choose a brokerage with accessible leadership, meaningful training, and mentors who will take the time to help you grow. Ask how you will be supported when you encounter your first difficult transaction.
Treat real estate as a business from the start. Learn the contracts, understand your financial responsibilities, develop consistent habits, and build relationships through dependable service. Earning your license is the beginning of your education, and there is strength in asking questions.
For young women especially, I would encourage you to trust your voice, communicate your value, and establish professional boundaries early. You can be kind, collaborative, and firm while holding yourself and others accountable.
Stay curious, welcome constructive feedback, and give yourself permission to be a beginner. Confidence grows through preparation and experience. Build a reputation for integrity and follow-through, and as you gain experience, make time to help the women coming behind you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I see one of our biggest challenges as helping people make confident decisions when they feel uncertain about their options. A real estate transaction often accompanies a much larger life change—a relocation, divorce, retirement, financial difficulty, or a new beginning. Our responsibility is to understand the circumstances, explain the choices clearly, and help clients develop a realistic path forward. Sometimes that requires looking beyond the initial plan and bringing in other qualified professionals.
That creates an opportunity for agents to demonstrate their value through preparation, thoughtful problem-solving, and consistent follow-through. I believe we have to stay curious, ask better questions, and adapt our approach to the person we are serving. Resilience matters, and so does recognizing when a strategy needs to change.
From a brokerage leadership perspective, I see a significant opportunity in how we develop agents. Recruiting is only the beginning. Agents need accessible leadership, practical education, and guidance that helps them strengthen their judgment, understand their responsibilities, and build sustainable businesses. My goal is to help create that environment at Realty85.
I also see opportunities to use technology thoughtfully—to improve research, organization, and communication while preserving the personal relationships at the heart of this work. Ultimately, I believe our strongest opportunity is to earn trust through the quality of our service and help people move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Faith, integrity, accountability, and generosity are central to both my work and my personal life. My faith grounds me and shapes how I treat people. Integrity means being honest, keeping my commitments, and doing what is right even when the conversation is uncomfortable or the decision is difficult. Accountability means taking ownership of my actions, acknowledging mistakes, and following through.
I also believe in coming from a place of abundance rather than scarcity. I want to celebrate others’ successes, share what I know, and make connections that help people move forward. There is room for us to grow together, and I believe generosity strengthens our relationships and our communities.
Being a positive role model matters deeply to me, especially for my sons and the people I have the opportunity to mentor. I hope the way I live and lead demonstrates that ambition, kindness, and humility can coexist. I value staying open to learning and treating people with respect, regardless of their title or circumstances.
Ultimately, I want the people closest to me—and those who work with me—to know they can trust my word and count on me to care.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Martha
Starting Again Without Starting Over
Leveraging Your Experience While Embracing a New Beginning in Your Career Transition
When I began my career in real estate, I brought more than 24 years of healthcare leadership experience with me. I also had a new industry's compliance requirements and governance framework to learn, a different business model to understand, and new professional relationships to build.
Both things were true: I was an experienced professional, and I was a beginner.
Recognizing that helped me approach the transition with greater perspective. I could value what I had accomplished while acknowledging how much I still needed to learn.
For women considering a career change, that balance matters. We can become so accustomed to being knowledgeable and dependable in one setting that entering an unfamiliar field feels like surrendering part of our identity. Yet the experience we have earned remains useful—even when its application changes.
My healthcare career included more than 14 years with Marathon Health, where I held progressive leadership roles across operations, implementations, client relationships, and business development. I learned how to ask questions, organize complex work, navigate difficult conversations, and help people move toward a shared goal.
Those skills continue to serve me in real estate and in the businesses I own today.
Listening carefully matters when a client is deciding whether to relocate. Operational discipline matters when managing a transaction or building an e-commerce business. Leadership experience matters when an agent needs guidance through an unfamiliar situation.
The setting has changed. Much of the responsibility feels familiar.
One of the most useful steps in a transition is to take inventory of what you already know how to do. Look beyond job titles. Consider the problems people trust you to solve, the relationships you have built, and the responsibilities you have handled well. Then identify where those abilities could be useful in the work you want to pursue.
Be equally honest about the gaps.
My leadership background did not remove the need to study real estate, learn its professional responsibilities, or seek guidance from people with more experience in the field. I had to make room for questions and feedback. That remains part of my work today.
Choosing the right people to learn from is consequential. Find mentors who will explain their reasoning, offer honest feedback, and help you strengthen your judgment. Encouragement is valuable; so is someone who will tell you when you need to prepare more carefully.
One piece of advice I often received from an influential mentor—and continue to return to—is "go slow to go fast." During a career transition, it can be tempting to rush toward visible progress. Taking time to understand the work, establish sound habits, and build trustworthy relationships gives that progress a stronger foundation.
I also believe in approaching a new chapter from a place of abundance rather than scarcity. Other people's experience can become a source of learning. Their accomplishments can offer encouragement. Sharing a useful resource or making an introduction can strengthen a relationship long before either person knows where it might lead.
That outlook helps me stay open—to collaboration, to different perspectives, and to opportunities I might otherwise overlook.
My faith and the support of loved ones have also helped ground me through uncertainty. A new direction comes with decisions whose outcomes we cannot fully predict. I have learned to prepare thoughtfully, seek guidance, and take the next step without expecting to have every answer.
Today, as Tennessee Principal Broker for Realty85, I have the opportunity to support agents building their own careers. I want them to have accessible leadership, practical education, and room to ask questions. Having entered this profession after a long career elsewhere, I appreciate how much people may bring with them—and how much support they may still need.
If you are considering your own next chapter, start with a few concrete questions. What do you want to carry forward? What do you need to learn? Who can help you understand the work before you commit more deeply?
You do not have to dismiss your previous career to make room for another one. Let your experience inform your choices, and give yourself permission to learn.
I am still drawing on lessons from healthcare leadership. I am also learning new ones. There is value in being able to do both.
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