As the marketing director of First Title Insurance Company, Melanie Reeves typically turns the spotlight on the company and informs Realtors about the services it provides.
But the spotlight swung in Reeves’ direction during the Women’s Council of Realtors – Chattanooga 2021 Realtor Member and Strategic Partner Appreciation event last week when the council gave her its Distinguished Service Award.
“We discussed several names for the award,” says Women’s Council President Connie Powell-Brewer. “We considered attendance at our events and service on our project teams. Not only did Melanie sell the most tickets for our spring fundraiser but she and First Title also provided a continuing education class to our Realtor members.”
Reeves says the award surprised her, as it essentially commended her for doing her job.
“Title people are very busy working and not always able to spend time networking and being involved with organizations like the Women’s Council,” she acknowledges. “So First Choice turns that over to me.”
The award was also an honor, Reeves adds, because it recognized her for doing what she enjoys.
“I love connecting people to the things they need, whether it’s a mortgage lender, title insurance, home insurance or something else,” she says. “I’ve been in the industry so long, people say, ‘Call Melanie. She knows everyone.’”
Reeves’ history in the title insurance business reaches back to when she was 18 and studying marketing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
While Reeves was a student, a local title company hired her as its receptionist. Later, it promoted her to deliveries, which put her in a company car and sent her across town delivering closing documents to banks and Realtors.
Reeves made long-lasting friendships at many of her stops. “My job provided an education in how to meet people,” she laughs.
Reeves continued with the title industry for some time, advancing from a mortgage loan officer to the manager of an office.
She returned to her first love when Arrow Exterminators in Chattanooga hired her to handle its marketing.
Reeves’ work with First Title allows her to do something else she loves – give back to her community.
In addition to serving on committees at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area, she also contributes her time to the Chattanooga Mortgage Bankers Association, Greater Chattanooga Realtors and the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga.
“Being involved in the community allows me to sell not only a company but also my personality,” Reeves smiles. “People do business with people they like.”
The number of Realtors who have brought new business to First Title in the last few months is a testament to the value of a strategic partnership with the Women’s Council, Reeves adds.
Powell-Brewer agrees and says Women’s Council appreciates all of its strategic partners, without whom the council would be unable to achieve its goals.
“Our strategic partners are vital to our network,” Powell-Brewer says. “Not only do they support us financially, they support us with their expertise in the real estate industry.
“Women’s Council provides an environment in which strategic partners and members support each other and work together to achieve personal growth and business success with a common end result – clients.”
Reeves’ co-workers at First Title, as well as her family, are proud of her, she says.
The latter includes enough people to staff her own title company, including her husband, Bob Reeves, their two daughters, their husbands and children and a Boston terrier named Sully – all of whom live in the same Ooltewah ZIP code.
“We love family dinners, spending time on the lake and going on vacation together,” Reeves says. “We had 17 for Halloween.”
Reeves’ family keeps her busy weekends, while turning the spotlight on First Title occupies her during the week. But for one moment, the spotlight was hers, and she relished the recognition.
‘It’s humbling to receive the Women’s Council’s Distinguished Service Award,” she says. “It’s an incredible organization with many great partners.”