Ashley Schaefer took a real estate job right out of college without knowing much about the business, and then she saw what it could do for people. Fifteen years later she is the broker-owner of Hello Homes GR, a brokerage she built around the things she believes in: passion, honesty, transparency, attention to detail, and a real sense of fun.

Ask her what a good day looks like and she lights up about first-time buyers, the ones who walk in bright-eyed because they should be. To Ashley, a closing is never the finish line. It is the start of someone's next chapter, and she treats it that way. Beyond her own clients, she mentors new agents and women finding their footing in a demanding industry, and serves on committees at the local, state, and national level to stay a frontline voice for the people this work is meant to serve.