Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Wallner.
Amy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After graduating from Texas A&M, I started off as a television reporter and moved around a bit. My family and I have always been extremely close, so when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, I decided to give up broadcasting and move back to Houston. She made a full recovery, and I began working in various industries, including commercial real estate, medical, and steel. My mother has been in residential real estate for over thirty years, and when my sister got her license, I saw how much fun they were having and got my license, as well. My mother is my sales manager, and I cannot tell you how wonderful it has been being able to work this closely with my family.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I don’t think life was meant to be easy. We all encounter struggles along the way. At the age of 15, I began passing out, and they diagnosed me with migraines with a loss of consciousness. I was on multiple medications and saw all kinds of specialists and continued to pass out at least once every quarter. I got married in November 2015, and two months after we were married, I suffered my tenth recorded concussion. After that, I began passing out up to ten times a day. My father would pick me up in the morning, take me to my parents’ house so that I could be watched during the day, and my husband Jeremy would pick me up after work. I was finally diagnosed with severe Dysautonomia after six months and was prescribed aqua therapy. I have not passed out since December 2016. I have always thought of myself as an independent woman, but during that time I was forced to rely on my husband and other loved ones. It was humbling, and we still look back on that first year of marriage as a blessing.
My family and I experienced a great loss in 2018. We lost my father, my aunt, my husband’s grandfather, and my precious poodle Olivia all within six months. In January 2018, my father suddenly passed away from a heart attack. Losing my father was the hardest thing I have ever been through, and I am so thankful for the time that he and I had together while I was sick. He would watch TV shows with me and make me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He would literally catch me when I passed out and hold my head until I “came to” so that I wouldn’t hurt myself further. We became best friends, and I wouldn’t trade my getting sick for anything in the world. I realize now more than ever that God truly has a plan, and it is always so much greater than what I could have imagined.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I love what I do – helping others find their homes. It is an honor being a part of one of the biggest decisions in my clients’ lives. I think my career in TV reporting has helped me in real estate with learning how to communicate with people, asking the right questions and learning to listen to their answers.
When I am not working in real estate, I volunteer with the American Cancer Society and am honored to be nominated as a candidate for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Woman of the Year 2019. My life has been forever changed through this campaign; I have been able to spend time with the Girl of the Year Bailee who is six years old, has Down Syndrome, an AV heart defect and is in remission from Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. There are so many charities and wonderful causes out there, but when you can see the faces of the families that are affected, it makes a difference.
Who do you look up to? How have they inspired you?
My mother is the strongest woman I know, and I am proud every day that I am her daughter. She went back to work and started real estate when I was in the first grade. She wanted my sister and me to see that she, too, could have a career and be successful. She and my father were very much in love and together for 52 years. I most admire her unwavering faith in God. My mother embodies the Proverbs 31 woman, and I am blessed to be able to work with her every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: amywallner.heritagetexas.com
- Phone: (713) 806-3893
- Email: awallner@heritagetexas.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amymwallner
Image Credit:
Miabella Photography
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