From Dual Career Agent to Operating Principal, Gabby Maddox Davis Is Making Real Estate History
When Atlanta native Gabby Maddox Davis got her real estate license at the age of 23, she held a lucrative management position at T-Mobile and was recognized as one of the company’s top salespeople. Gabby’s goal was to earn supplemental income as a dual career agent, but in her first six months, she didn’t sell a single home. Gabby questioned if real estate was the right fit, but she’d seen the success of other agents in her market center and she was determined to make progress. Gabby leaned in, and the following six months brought with them the sale of 15 homes.
The sudden uptick in sales prompted Gabby to weigh her options. Instead of treating real estate as a secondary source of income, she realized she could achieve more as an entrepreneur, building her own business as a KW® agent. When she left her corporate position to turn to real estate full time, Gabby’s sales quadrupled. She says the early training she received through KW made it possible.
“I remember my first week of training, I went to a class called ‘Run Your Business Like a Business,’” Gabby said. Through the course, she worked with a tech strategist and an accountant, and was given the tools to ensure her LLC was properly organized. With her systems firmly in place, Gabby had a strong foundation for scaling her business. Within three years, she rocketed from rookie agent status to the number one spot at Keller Williams® First Atlanta. “I definitely wouldn’t have been able to start this without KW,” Gabby said.
She didn’t know it at the time, but there was so much more in store.
Breaking Records in the Southeast
Eight years later, in 2023, Gabby opened the doors of Keller Williams® Realty West ATL as the operating principal of the first majority-Black-owned KW® franchise in the Southeast. In taking on the leadership role, she also became the first and youngest woman OP in the region.
From the beginning, Gabby had big plans for the market center. For their first year in business, she set a goal to reach 250 net agents – but she met with skepticism and well-meaning advice from her peers. In addition to launching the business, Gabby was pregnant with her second child.
“Everybody was like, Gabby, that’s not a realistic goal. You’re pregnant. You’re launching. You have to slow down,” she remembered. But Gabby was determined to make the market center profitable immediately – and she had the full support of her husband, Jayson. Gabby recalled Jayson saying, “If there’s anybody who can do this, you can do this.” Looking back on their progress, Gabby said, “Right when I had the baby, we reached 200 agents.” Within that first year, they achieved their goal of 250 net agents.
That momentum made Keller Williams® Realty West ATL the fastest growing Keller Williams® market center in the world.
“I think the city of Atlanta has been hungry for this type of opportunity,” Keller Williams® Realty West ATL Team Leader Ray DuVall said. “It’s no secret that it’s a majority African-American brokerage. It’s something new, and with newness always comes a lot of energy.”
Ray attributes their rapid growth to Gabby’s drive and to their collective decision to make their market center a magnet for talent. He says Gabby’s command of social media plays a big part in that effort. From the growth of her family to the growth of their market center, Gabby shares her personal and professional journey online, while also showcasing the wins of other agents. Her authentic content drives interest in the market center, organically attracting clients and associates alike.
Cultivating a Culture of Learning
Gabby’s vision for Keller Williams® Realty West ATL centers around cultivating a culture of learning and inclusion. As an OP, Gabby works with both new and established agents, and she knows that when it comes to the business of real estate, education never stops.
Five years before joining Keller Williams® Realty West ATL, veteran agent Latroshia Bostic had been at the top of her game, but she’d been struggling since. Latroshia had a heart-to-heart with Gabby, revealing she was going through a tough financial period.
Gabby took the opportunity to provide Latroshia with training on KW’s systems and models. She gave Latroshia a copy of The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and worked with her one on one to step through the book’s economic model. The model is designed to help agents better assess their revenue, expenses, and net income, along with the actions necessary to reach their income goals.
A year later, Gabby said, Latroshia had transformed her business and was earning $400,000 in GCI. Gabby recalled, “She went from not being able to pay her office bill to [becoming] one of the top agents in the office. For me, that’s a true testament of culture.”
When it comes to providing unmatched value as a market center, Merrill Johnson, Keller Williams® Realty West ATL’s controlling investor partner, said they do that by offering training that’s second to none.
“We care about helping the agents be successful in what is right now a challenging real estate market,” Merrill said, and agents are responding. While only a handful of attendees took part in their first training sessions, weekday trainings now regularly attract 70 to 100 agents, including recruits. “They really are drinking up everything that we’re giving them as fast as we can put it out,” Merrill said.
The leadership team also created small working cohorts within the market center, which helps foster a sense of inclusion. “I remember having that feeling of maybe I don’t belong here,” Gabby said. “I wanted everybody to come here and say, I have a place here, I belong here, I feel good here.“
Merrill said he sees the positive effect their approach has on the agents. “People really will share anything that they know how to do to help somebody else be able to succeed,” he said.
Creating Opportunity and Wealth
Gabby grew up in a part of Atlanta where the average income is $14,000 a year. Raised by a single mom, she credits her mother with expanding her horizons. “One thing my mother always did was [make] sure I saw people who look like me who were in successful positions,” Gabby said.
As an agent and as an OP, she loves her work because of the impact she has on building wealth through homeownership and career opportunities. “I am an Atlanta girl through and through,” Gabby said. “I graduated from Atlanta Public Schools. I went to Georgia State University for college. I love Atlanta. Atlanta is a place where I see people who look like me thrive, and that’s not common in other places … It gives me incentive to stay here and build something so big for my agents, because they’re like, oh my gosh, if she can do it, we can too.“
When it comes to the success of the market center, Gabby sees its growth as a collective effort among friends, family, and agents, and she’s most proud of the effect it’s having within the community. “I have seen so many people afforded opportunity just by us creating this market center,” Gabby said. “I’m grateful for the opportunities for wealth building I’ve been able to provide, and for the careers that I’ve been able to provide.”
True to form, Gabby has big plans for Keller Williams® Realty West ATL, with the goal of reaching a thousand agents in the next five years. “I plan on it being the largest real estate organization in Georgia,” Gabby said.
Jayson has it right. If anybody can do it, Gabby can.
> Watch the full KW Real Estate Role Models profile on Gabby Maddox Davis @kellerwilliams on YouTube.
