Real Estate Parents Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Their Families and Their Careers

Real Estate Parents Shouldn’t Have to Choose Between Their Families and Their Careers

One Needed Help Postpartum. The Other Needed Help Caring for Her Daughter. Together, They Built NEST

Kymbrye Mooney was kicked off a real estate team for involving her children in her business.

She had already heard the warnings. If she focused too much on her family, other brokerages told her, she would never become successful in real estate.

Several states away, Maddison Berrios spent nearly 18 months postpartum trying to build her career while recovering from a difficult pregnancy and significant physical and mental health challenges.

Their circumstances were different, but both women had encountered the same unwritten expectation: serious real estate agents should always be available, regardless of what is happening at home.

Kymbrye and Maddison rejected that idea. When they met at eXpcon in Miami, they realized they had both been searching for a place where parents could talk honestly about raising children while building a business.

Together, they created eXp NEST.

Kymbrye Was Told Her Kids Would Hold Her Back

When Kymbrye received her real estate license, she did not want to build a career that required her children to remain invisible.

That approach was not welcomed everywhere. When she was eventually removed from a team for including her kids in her business, Kymbrye decided that the team's definition of commitment would not become her definition of success.

“I respect and appreciate the hustle culture pros, but success for me looks more like making a business around my kids instead of separate from them,” she says.

That decision did not hold her career back. Since entering real estate in 2021, Kymbrye has twice ranked among eXp Realty’s Top 15 agents in New Mexico. She now serves clients throughout Greater Albuquerque, runs two businesses and works as a certified eXp Mentor.

Her family is still part of how she operates.

That became especially important when her youngest daughter, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age two and has additional medical needs, had a wheelchair fitting scheduled on the same day as one of Kymbrye’s buyer inspections.

The listing broker would not allow the inspector inside without a licensed broker present.

“I remember being completely overwhelmed and feeling like, either way, I would be letting someone down,” Kymbrye says.

She called several local eXp colleagues, and another agent agreed to attend the inspection. Her buyer remained represented, and Kymbrye could focus on her daughter’s medical care.

“Leaning into asking for help has gifted me so much of my time and energy back,” she says. “It reminded me how, even as a solo agent, I can still do both.”

Maddison Had Mentors. She Needed Another Mom.

Maddison had strong professional mentors from the beginning of her career, including her sponsor, Jeremy Kane.

But the period when she needed support most came after she became a mother.

“My pregnancy with my daughter was incredibly difficult,” she says. “After developing preeclampsia and experiencing significant physical and mental health challenges, I spent nearly 18 months postpartum trying to navigate motherhood while building a real estate business.”

Maddison did not know many agents openly discussing birth trauma, postpartum recovery, or the reality of raising a baby while serving clients.

“The time I needed support the most wasn’t as a new agent,” she says. “It was when I became a new mom.”

She continued building her career throughout that period. During her first five years in real estate, Maddison served clients across Central Pennsylvania, became a certified eXp Mentor and served as Pennsylvania State Leader for eXp Young Professionals. She later joined eXp’s National Agent Advisory Council and is now stepping back into a team leader role in Pennsylvania.

But her professional success did not make postpartum life easier. She still wanted someone who understood how it felt to care deeply about her career and feel completely overwhelmed at home.

She found that person in Kymbrye.

One Conversation at eXpcon Connected the Dots

Kymbrye had already noticed a gap through her work as vice chair of eXp Young Professionals.

Many members were moving into new stages involving marriage, children, and caregiving. Kymbrye wanted to give parents a place to connect with agents who understood how much life changes when a family is added to the business equation.

She began hosting monthly “Parents in YP” calls.

Those calls caught Maddison’s attention while she was serving as the Young Professionals Pennsylvania State Leader. When the two women met in person at eXpcon in Miami, they quickly recognized how much their experiences overlapped.

“From our very first conversation, I felt understood,” Maddison says. “We quickly realized we had experienced many of the same struggles and recognized a gap in our industry.”

They decided to create the support system they had each needed.

Kymbrye and Maddison presented the idea to ONE eXp the following January. Several months later, they received approval to establish NEST, which stands for Nurturing Every Successful Transition.

The group supports parents, guardians and caregivers across eXp Realty. It creates room for conversations about the parts of building a real estate career that rarely appear in a business plan, including pregnancy, postpartum recovery, childcare, medical needs and changing family responsibilities.

“We wanted to build the support system we both wished we’d had,” Maddison says.

Postpartum Felt Different the Second Time

Maddison has since welcomed her second child, Theo.

His birth brought many of the emotions connected to her previous pregnancy and postpartum experience back to the surface. This time, she had people around her who understood.

“The difference this time was that I wasn’t carrying them alone,” she says. “The friends, encouragement and community I’ve found through NEST have been life-changing.”

Those relationships helped Maddison through postpartum recovery, supported her healing from birth trauma and reminded her that asking for help did not make her less capable.

For Kymbrye, that lesson appeared when another agent stepped into her buyer’s inspection.

Sometimes parents need advice. Sometimes they need someone to cover an appointment. Sometimes they need to hear that struggling during a demanding season does not mean they are failing.

NEST was created to make those conversations easier to have.

The 5 A.M. Formula Does Not Fit Every Family

Maddison remembers hearing the same version of success repeated at real estate masterminds and keynote speeches: Wake up at 5 a.m., go to the gym, grind all day and repeat.

That routine did not fit the business or family life she wanted.

“What worked for me was creating a business that fit my values, priorities and season of life,” she says. “I learned to set boundaries early, to work with clients who aligned with my approach and to stop feeling guilty that I wasn’t trying to be everything to everyone.”

Kymbrye thinks about balance in terms of plates.

Some are glass and will shatter if dropped. Others are rubber and can bounce until there is time to pick them up. Some are paper and can be set aside when they no longer deserve the energy required to keep them spinning.

“The key isn’t keeping every plate spinning,” Kymbrye says. “It’s knowing which ones deserve your energy today.”

For the parent looking at a school calendar at 10 p.m. on Sunday while thinking about the business waiting on Monday, her advice is simple: Hang up and hang out.

There will always be another email, appointment or follow-up call. Some moments with family cannot be rescheduled.

Kymbrye and Maddison created NEST because both had experienced seasons when they needed support and could not find it. Now, they are making sure other parents, guardians and caregivers know there is room for their families in the careers they are building.