We recently had the chance to connect with Christine Stilley and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Christine, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
That it’s about houses.
It’s not. Not really. Real estate is the surface-level product—but the heart of what I do is transformation. For most of my clients, buying or selling a home isn’t just a transaction—it’s the turning of a chapter. A divorce. A new baby. An aging parent. A fresh start. A final goodbye. People think real estate is spreadsheets and square footage—but in reality, it’s grief, hope, money, fear, dreams, and survival… all showing up in the same conversation.
What’s misunderstood is how emotional this business is—and how skilled you have to be, not just in marketing and negotiation, but in empathy, timing, and intuition. I’m not just here to close deals—I’m here to help people move forward with power, clarity, and peace. And that requires more than a lockbox and a smile. It requires leadership.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Christine Stilley, and I’m a real estate agent, community builder, and the founder of The Legacy Project—a mission-driven movement helping women reclaim their power, peace, and generational wealth through real estate. I proudly serve the Triangle area with a brand I built on hustle, heart, and radical honesty.
After 31 years of marriage, I walked away from a life that looked “fine” on paper—but left me emotionally starving. I’ve spent the last year rebuilding everything from scratch: my identity, my boundaries, my business, my joy. What makes my brand different is that it’s rooted in lived experience. I’ve navigated the chaos. I’ve held it all together when everything was falling apart. And now I help other women do the same—whether they’re buying their first home after a divorce, selling the family house they never felt safe in, or starting fresh at 52 with nothing but grit and a vision.
This isn’t just real estate. This is personal. This is legacy. And I’m here to make sure my clients don’t just survive their next chapter—they own it.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Leaving my marriage after 31 years changed everything.
Not because of the divorce itself, but because of what it forced me to finally confront: I had spent decades over-functioning, peacekeeping, and performing happiness while quietly starving for emotional reciprocity. I was the fixer, the cheerleader, the therapist, the planner. I kept the ship afloat through sheer willpower—but I was drowning underneath.
Walking away meant facing the terrifying truth that no one was coming to save me. That if I wanted peace, I had to create it. If I wanted joy, I had to choose it. And if I wanted a different life, I had to be willing to burn down the one I built for everyone else.
Since then, I’ve stopped waiting for permission. I see the world through the lens of truth now—messy, beautiful, brutal, liberating truth. And I’ve made it my mission to help other women step into that same clarity, whether they’re buying a home, rebuilding after loss, or simply ready to stop living small.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me what success tried to distract me from: that being loved and being useful are not the same thing.
For years, I thought if I just did more—served more, smiled more, performed harder—I’d be safe, valued, loved. And on the surface, it worked. I was successful. Respected. Admired. But I was also emotionally exhausted, chronically self-abandoning, and slowly disappearing under the weight of everyone else’s needs.
Suffering stripped all that away. It brought me face-to-face with silence, shame, loneliness—and eventually, clarity. I learned that love isn’t earned through sacrifice. That peace isn’t a performance. And that my worth isn’t tied to my productivity or pain tolerance.
Success gave me confidence. Suffering gave me truth. And now I don’t chase validation—I build alignment. I don’t beg for connection—I choose reciprocity. I don’t fix what isn’t mine—I let it fall.
And that? That’s freedom.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That we’re just here to “help people find homes.”
Let’s be real—real estate is a sales industry. It’s driven by metrics, marketing, and money. And yet, we slap a warm-and-fuzzy “we’re just helping people!” label on it to cover up the burnout, the ego, and the sometimes cutthroat culture. The lie is that if you just smile big enough, post enough, and hustle 24/7, you’ll thrive. But here’s the truth:
You can’t out-market misalignment.
The industry glorifies busy-ness, idolizes volume, and rarely talks about the human cost—mental health, emotional exhaustion, the pressure to be “on” all the time. It rewards grind over boundaries, image over integrity, and often leaves agents (especially women) questioning their value unless they’re crushing numbers and curating a highlight reel.
Another lie? That it’s not personal. Real estate is deeply personal—every transaction is a life event wrapped in emotion. Births, deaths, divorces, fresh starts. If you don’t know how to hold space for that, you’re not serving clients—you’re just chasing closings.
I built my brand on truth, heart, and fierce clarity—and I’m not interested in selling the dream if it means living a lie. The new wave of real estate is human-first—and I’m here for that.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
Right now? Yes. And also—not every day.
But I’m the most aligned, fulfilled, and lit-up I’ve ever been in my career. Not because everything’s perfect, but because I’m finally building something that reflects who I actually am. Real estate used to be a means to an end—a way to be useful, to help people, to prove I could do hard things. And I did. I’ve closed the tough deals, juggled the chaos, worn the heels and hustled until my soul needed a nap.
But now? I’m not just chasing closings—I’m building The Legacy Project, a movement that helps women step into financial freedom, emotional clarity, and new beginnings through real estate. I get to mentor women who are reclaiming their lives. I get to show up as myself, not a brand persona. And yes, some mornings I’m literally dancing while I brush my teeth because the vision is finally mine, not someone else’s dream I’m performing inside.
That level of joy doesn’t come from numbers. It comes from meaning. And after years of over-functioning, I’m finally in a season of right-sized effort, right-fit purpose, and no more tap dancing for validation.
So yes—I’m dancing. But now, it’s to my own music.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.isellthetriangle.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christine_stilley/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinestilley/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheStilleyTeam
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheStilleyTeam
