Cathy Geary

Written By Ruth Gnirk • Photography by Brianna Cortez Photography

Cathy Geary is living proof that it’s never too late for a person to find their purpose. She discovered that the hardest decision a person ever makes can be the best decision they’ll ever make. Cathy is also a living example that success doesn’t always come through a formal degree. Success is about knowing our own strengths and weaknesses, and using both to help ourselves succeed.

By her first summer in high school, Cathy started working. Blessed with an active, inquisitive, and creative mind, Cathy was very driven and always needed to be reaching for a goal. She wanted to prove to herself that she could excel in anything she put her mind to. She recalled, “If I was going to do anything, I would have to be the best at it, or I would not do it at all.”

The traditional classroom felt restrictive and lifeless. Cathy discovered that she learned best by interacting with mentors and then doing, rather than learning in structured classrooms. Recognizing her own strengths and weaknesses, and knowing that time is money, Cathy chose to invest her “college years” in getting hands-on experience and avoid starting life burdened with college debt.

In her first independent venture out of school, she started a successful nail salon. She built it from the ground up, mixing her own creativity and heart with what she had learned from other successful entrepreneurs. The opportunity to sell the enterprise for a healthy profit allowed her to move on to her next adventure!

Cathy started, grew, and sold three thriving businesses before she was 40 years old. She employed, trained, and developed countless members of her community. She invested in others by mentoring them as they advanced their way up through various organizations.

At that time in her life, Cathy did not fully value her contribution. When she compared herself to others, she felt she was inferior because she was not as educated, and her businesses might have been viewed as not being as sophisticated as others. Then a true friend challenged her to recognize the impact she was making by growing the community’s economy, empowering the people she had employed, and selling thriving businesses to women who were learning from her servant-leadership.

Shortly after she sold her third business, Cathy had a life-changing event that forced her to take a look

at her personal and financial future. She was newly divorced, and an empty-nester. For the first time in her life, Cathy did not have a business to run, or even an idea of what she would do next. She recalls it was like a light bulb went off one day. Cathy made the decision to follow in her mom’s footsteps!

Before Cathy’s mother began her 30-year real estate career, she had owned an art gallery, worked for a bank, and started a medical supply company.

She had done all this while raising Cathy and her four siblings. Wanting a change, her mother had become a real estate agent at the age of 40.

Cathy’s mom had been good at business, but she was great at real estate. And her success gave Cathy inspiration.

Cheers To Strong Women May We Know Them May We Be Them May we Raise Them – Author Unknown (quoted by Michelle Obama)

Cathy’s mother became one of her treasured mentors. Cathy soaked in everything that her mother and others taught her, and applied it faithfully, day by day. Her career took off, and

Cathy was awarded the coveted Rookie of the Year award her first year at Keller Williams Coastal Bend. Cathy set great goals for herself, and each year she accomplished far more than she had the year before.

Cathy Geary attributes her success to her mentors. They inspired her to succeed and to become a mentor herself. Cathy is a team leader for eight amazing agents and is trusted by her team, KW All Star’s Team. Her sister, and many of her dearest friends, are actively involved in real estate. It brings Cathy great joy to be surrounded by people she loves.

She also advocates in, and for, her local community. Cathy has had countless opportunities to give encouraging and informative speeches to aspiring young people and business professionals. She has had multiple students shadow her on career day, while she speaks to them about alternative careers that do not require college degrees.

You can achieve your goals by using resources around you, when needed, to get there.

Then in return, share your knowledge with others that just may need it too!

Help others excel while you are on your journey of selfdiscovery and self-worth.

Whatever you put out into the Universe will come back to you.

“We all are influencers,” Geary said. “You may not be like the influencers today on social media, but you have likely been influencing someone your whole life, even before it became such a trendy word. Mentorship is influencing!”

Cathy said she is thankful for the situation that forced her to make a life-changing decision. She shares her story to encourage others.

“You can achieve your goals by using resources around you, when needed, to get there.

Then in return, share your knowledge with others that just may need it too!”

Although she knows she cannot make a difference for everyone, Cathy seeks to be a blessing to all who cross her path, even if it is in a small way. “Help others excel while you are on your journey of self-discovery and self-worth,” encourages Cathy. “Whatever you put out into the Universe will come back to you.”