Meet Kelly Turk

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kelly Turk. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kelly below.

Kelly, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Life. I think that is the easiest answer. I can think of so many obstacles I have encountered in life, through sports and my career, that has forced me to be resilient. From a young age I was a competitive gymnast through the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Being a gymnast during that time was highly competitive and the sport was definitely at a “high point”. I was best characterized by my consistency. I was always consistent. Sometimes I had a break through, stellar performance-but often, I was a baseline. As with anyone who participates in sports at a highly competitive level, sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, but through the down periods, you have to find the will power to keep going. Before I knew it, I was 17. Struggling with injuries and the pain of continuing to train after almost 15 years of gymnastics, I retired from competing in the sport in 2005. At that point, the trajectory of my life was completely different than I had envisioned for my entire life proceeding that moment. I always thought I would go to college for gymnastics, out of state, and here I was, a Junior in high school, looking for options in state at the last minuet.
I ended up going to the University of Northern Colorado, and by happenstance, trying out for the cheerleading squad. I had never cheered a day in my life, and here I was trying out for a Division 1, competitive co-ed squad. Low and behold, I made the team and here I am at 18 years old, trying to learn a sport I had never done with the determination to be the best. By the end of my Junior year, I was one of two girls on the squad doing partner stunting and flying in the major stunts in addition to being one of the most skilled tumblers on the squad.
Fast forward to 22- I was in graduate school at the University of Northern Colorado in the first installment of a Criminal Justice Master’s program that the University had ever offered. I had completed a qualitative research project that I thought I was prepared to publish. The committee that approved the papers for publication did not like the methodology of my paper’s organization and in two weeks- I needed to re-format the entire thesis for acceptance- and of course, I did.
Also at 22, I had been working for Rite of Passage for a year. I had finished graduate school and I had applied for a Case Management position, three times, without being hired. Finally, on the fourth try, I was hired. I am still with that company today.
Fast forward to 30-I was divorcing my husband who I had been with for over 12 years. I had to strategize and figure out how to survive with a son on a single income when I had been living on two. That year, I bought my own home-that I built, I was promoted at my current job, I started practicing real estate, and today, I am thriving!
Needless to say, resilience has definitely been a hallmark of my journey because I believe you don’t just sit and wallow in needing to adapt and overcome difficult situations; you do it because there is no other choice. You do it to learn, you do it to grow, and you do it to move forward in a positive way.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am a realtor in the Denver metro area with a focus on service delivery related to sports, entertainment, investment, and corporate relocation. As I have continued to grow and develop as an agent, I have broadened my skill set to be certified in luxury and to educate myself in working with investors as well as property management. As I continue to navigate in various business spaces, I continue to reaffirm my commitment every day to delivering luxury service at every price point. As a consumer, in a number of spaces, I feel like there is a lack of integrity, professionalism, and quite frankly, care in the consumer space. I endeavor to provide services to all of my clients to meet those needs in an exceptional way. I am the COO of team Elevate DNVR and I believe that we are doing real estate in a different way than anyone else in the business. We are truly about elevating Denver. Right now, we are 10 days away from an event we are hosting to benefit the Denver Dream Center in Denver Colorado. This organization focuses on youth violence prevention initiatives and we are proud to partner with Jonas Griffith of the Denver Broncos to support this organization. We volunteer with the Denver Dream Center, we are an active part of the community, and we believe in tangible methods of elevating Denver.
From a service provision perspective, we have worked to anticipate the needs of our clients and we offer an array of services which assists in the relocation process from start to finish. We have begun offering property management services for investors and we can coordinate the entire relocation of a client from start to finish. Clients can select from a variety of packages that allow them to select and scale services based on need (i.e. moving teams, professional organizers, packers, etc.). Overtime, we have evolved from simply being a real estate brand (and myself as a personal brand) to a lifestyle brand. That is what makes us unique and that is what makes us powerful.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I would say the qualities and skills that have been essential to my success include:

-Resilience and being relentless
-Organization and being detail oriented
-Hard work and will power

You only refine some of the aforementioned skills by taking calculated risks, not accepting no for an answer and seeing “no” as an opportunity for creativity rather than a denial, and pushing through even when it is difficult.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
I think the most impactful thing my parents did for me was not letting me quit. They taught me to stick it out even when it is tough. They taught me to strive for perfection and to be the best at whatever you decide to invest your time, effort and energy in. They taught me to have discipline and to manage my time and resources effectively, Above all, they taught me to have care, compassion, and professionalism when dealing with others because being solution-oriented is a better lens to see the world through rather than a lens of pessimism because your attitude largely impacts how you show up in the world.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Girl Squad Media Erin Cassidy

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