Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 16, 2010
Dedication to family, career places Realtor Wright on top
Erica Tuggle
Teralyn Wright says that her family is her main focus and her work comes next, but adds that commitment to both keeps her successful. She is pictured here with her husband Dylan and her children Alex and Hannah.
- Photo provided
In the department of career choices, Teralyn Wright says initially she was burnt out on the idea of going into real estate. Answering the home phone throughout her childhood for her father’s real estate business and sitting through one open house after another, she says, she never thought in a million years she would be where she is today.
Adopted by Terry and Renee Hardwick at three-months old, she grew up in Chattanooga. She has lived in several states since then, but came back to the Chattanooga area to “raise my babies,” she says.
Now the local Crye-Leike vice-president, ABR, CRS, SFR, multi-million dollar producer, number four-producer for her company in the region and joining the Circle of Excellence at only 30 years old, these accolades only slightly cover Wright’s dedication to her current endeavors.
Last year, she was awarded the level four instructor of the year at Pope’s Taekwondo school (she is also a third degree black belt) and the Cleveland YMCA Volunteer of the Year award for her work in assisting the teen programs and other areas. She says she never forgot her time at the YMCA as a child, and wanted to be a bright spot in someone else’s life like they had been for her.
The other side of the coin is all the time and effort she puts into raising her children and putting her family in the forefront of her life. She says her free time basically boils down to between the hours of 10 p.m. and when she sleeps, but when she does have time to spare, being alone is not a priority for her: she’d rather spend the time with her family.
“There will be a time when the kids are grown and I can spend all the time alone I want, so now I want to see them and be with them,” she says.
Hannah, 8-years-old, and Alex, 6-years-old, she calls the “best kids in the world,” listing off their qualities as sweet, polite, healthy and “totally adorable.” Her children also participate in Taekwondo and jujitsu, and are instructors of the sport. Hannah is a second degree level two black belt and a level two instructor and Alex is a red belt level two and level one instructor. Wright says she enjoys teaching and the time it allows for her to spend on her children and her husband, Dylan, who totes all the gear while wearing a smile.
Initially, Wright began working real estate with her father and, she says, he taught her all she knows.
“He was an ace at the
people biz, and I did what I could to increase his computer skills,” she says. “He got pretty good at it for not wanting to touch the computer to start with… He did old school handshake and a piece of paper ... I so wish some of that still existed today. However, I don’t miss the typing of every report we had on a typewriter.”
To stay on top with her work life she says she is extremely detail oriented, and works constantly to keep her files moving. She has had at least 32 transactions this year so far, and is sure many more will be rolling in.
She says, “Working is just something we all have to do, so we need to give it our all and just push through those days we don’t want to see another piece of paper or answer another call.”
Here again, she adds that in-between all this she makes time for her family with several days and vacations with the family every year in the form of Walt Disney World, Disney Cruises, trips to Washington, D.C., and attending baseball games in Indianapolis and Atlanta. The laptop does come along for these trips, but she says she recognizes these as times to have some fun and let the answering machine do a little work.
“Getting calls at 8 p.m. drives me nuts, or 4:30 a.m. which happens quite often from other states,” she says. “As a rule, many people think it is our job to be available 24/7, and this should not be true.”
She says she loves the excitement of clients at the closing table and with those purchasing their first home, but claims her right to time for herself and her family.
“In my world now, my family comes first absolutely without a doubt,” she says.
Part of her attention to family comes, again, from learning from her father in the business. Her Circle of Excellence award was made bittersweet in this respect as she received the award two months after her father died, and was unable to have him pin the award on her as she had done for him years earlier. She remembers how her father worked non-stop day after day at the business, and only in September began taking a day off each week to come play with his grandchildren only two months before he passed away. Wright says she had to tell her children about their grandfather and the raw deal he and they also got from the experience. She says she tells them now that he is always watching them from the grandstand in the sky.
“My point is we don’t have that long here, and, as much as I know we all need to work, I am going to take the time to enjoy my family,” she says.
Striding in her own, independent direction has worked well for Wright in the honors she has received, the ability to support her family with her work and her enjoyment of life by not letting “work” be the most important member of the family. The quote she tags on her emails from the late magic-maker Walt Disney buoys this philosophy, as he said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
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