We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Bradley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Laura, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I hope to be remembered for my strength, resilience and the ability to overcome any situation and circumstance I face. I hope to be remembered for my love of helping others and to help others succeed in life. I hope to be remembered for helping others to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to give them Hope when they feel they have none. I hope to be remembered for giving compassion to those who some think do not deserve it, I always go for the under dog. I hope to be remembered as a woman of integrity.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started my career in real estate in document retrieval for title companies before working full time at a Title Company. After almost a decade in the business, I became a professional photographer and then decided to take my passion further and become a real estate agent. My photography clients, who knew my dedication and meticulous nature, soon became the base of my new business as a Realtor. Ten years later, I have a thriving business serving several counties in North Texas, including Denton, Grayson, Collin, Cooke, Wise, Tarrant and Dallas counties. An impressive 80% of my business comes from repeat and referral business. My clients know that I am down-to-earth, relatable, always honest, and I never sugarcoat anything. They know they can trust me and my expertise. I’ve talked a lot of clients out of buying houses because I put their interests before my own. I develop relationships with them that last a lifetime. They become my friends. They are like family. I thoroughly explain each step of the process to my first-time homebuyers and I am available to all my clients 24/7. They appreciate not only my dedication but also my sense of humor. To stay in touch with past clients, use social media and send personalized birthday, anniversary, and home-purchase anniversary cards. I’m constantly in contact with them. When clients first reach out to me about selling a property, I provide them with a detailed packet that walks them through every step of the process. I advise them on staging and decluttering. I’ve had clients who physically can’t do it themselves, and in those cases, I go help them. I’ve even helped clients move before. My willingness to dig in and do what needs to be done to ensure my clients reach their goals sets me apart from other agents in the area. My favorite part of the job is helping others! I have a servant’s heart and I love to serve other people!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Here is a link to my full “Back Story” http://tayandbri.blogspot.com/2013/12/grace.html Here is the “condensed” version: I was born to a mentally challenged mother who physically abused me and allowed different men to physically and sexually abuse me as well. Back in 1984, it was one of the worst cases the Fort Worth Police Department had ever seen… As the CPS Investigator told my current mom… It was the worst in Tarrant County at the time. It was so bad it made the news. I was adopted at five years old by my biological mother’s cousin.

At 17, I met a guy and fell madly “in love,” and since I thought I knew everything, I quit school and decided to run away and go live with him. We moved into a drug infested neighborhood, which in turn led me to become addicted to drugs… Methamphetamines, to be exact.

The beatings started the second night of us living together. He would beat me so bad I thought he would kill me. He would punch, slap, kick, bite me etc. etc… All because he loved me… I thought this was what love really was… I mean, after all… My biological mom and dad loved me and they did all those things. This is what love is, so I might as well get used to it.

I was knocked out, hung off a bridge, beat with anything he could find, had knives to my throat and stomach, my throat slammed in a car door… All because he “loved” me… He loved to beat me with electrical cords and metal coat hangers.

He would drive me out to the country… Beat me until I was almost unconscious, then rape me repeatedly. On the way back into town, he would tell me how much he loved me and that he only did these things because he was so scared of losing me.

In the end, he was beating me almost 24 /7. He installed a dead bolt on our door that could only be locked and unlocked with a key, and he had that key. He screwed all of our windows shut and put black trash bags over them so no one could see in. During one beating, he forgot to lock the dead bolt and I escaped. I got across the gravel parking lot and up the stairs to my neighbor’s apartment when I felt my hair being ripped out of my head. He drugs me back down the stairs, back across the parking lot and inside to finish what he started.

I left him numerous times, called the cops and had him arrested, put restraining orders on him and even moved back home… but I still took him back each and every time he said he was sorry. I believed him.. I finally found the courage to leave and I left him after seven long years.

He and I both went to therapy, he to drug rehab and we are both in a much better place and have both forgiven each other. We were both able to change our lives which allowed us to become whom we are today.

I am now happily remarried, for 21 years, to a wonderful man whom adores me. I have run a very successful Real Estate Business since 2012 and closed over 10 million in sales last year as an Independent Real Estate Agent. I make it my passion to serve others. I have been the Keynote speaker for Denton County Friends Of The Family’s annual fundraising event to bring awareness to domestic violence and abuse. I was featured by Emmitt and Pat Smith for Pat Smith’s Second Chances Book Tour, I have spoken to police departments about Domestic Violence and Abuse, spoken at Churches and many other events. I also meet with women facing the same issues I have in hopes of showing them there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There is a way out. I try to help them change their thought pattern and their destiny by seeing their worth. If I, a high school drop out with a horrible past, can overcome and create a successful life for myself, anyone can.

I hope by sharing my success story, someone will see/read it and find the strength within themselves to pull themselves out of the situation they are in and do the same thing I did.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Growing up, I dealt with the stigma of being “adopted” and labeled the “adopted child” or “adopted girl.” I thought of myself as unwanted or unlovable. I fought so hard to prove I was more than that but ended up turning to the same type of situation as a teenager that I was in as a child. It was like I found “comfort” in the abusive situations because I knew it all too well. I had to fight myself, my thinking and the circumstances I created for myself to create a new life and destiny for myself. I had to “re teach” myself to be loved and to love myself. I use my past as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block and I allow it to help me realize how strong I am to overcome so much.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.SouthernLifeLiving.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauragbradley