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Keys to the Emerald Coast
Unlocking success, one conversation at a time
Welcome to Keys to the Emerald Coast, the official podcast of Emerald Coast Association of Realtors®. Each episode, we’ll unlock the latest news, market insights, advocacy updates, and upcoming events that matter to you, our members. Whether you’re a seasoned Realtor or new to the industry, we share tips, conversations, and success stories to help you thrive in this ever-changing market. From the sugar-white beaches to the quiet countryside, we’re bringing the entire Emerald Coast real estate community together, one key at a time.
Keys to the Emerald Coast
The Heart Behind the Bailey Brigade
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Sometimes the greatest acts of service are born from life's hardest moments.
In this episode of Keys to the Emerald Coast, we sit down with Michelle Bailey—REALTOR®, past ECAR President, longtime volunteer leader, and founder of Bailey Brigade.
Michelle shares her journey from discovering the value of leadership and volunteerism to creating a nonprofit that is bringing hope, comfort, and support to local cancer patients and their families. Along the way, she reminds us that one person really can make a difference—and that giving back often starts with simply saying "yes."
Whether you're looking for inspiration, a reason to get more involved, or a story that will stay with you long after the episode ends, this is one conversation you won't want to miss.
🎙️ Tune in and discover how a REALTOR®, a community, and one incredible legacy are changing lives across the Emerald Coast.
Welcome to Keys to the Emerald Coast, the official podcast of the Emerald Coast Association of World Tourist. Each episode we unlock market insights, advocacy updates, and member stories to help you thrive one key at a time. Hello, listeners. This is Maria Howell, your 2025 past president, and I am joined here in the studio by our association executive with eCar, my co-host, Melissa Skineki.
SPEAKER_01Hi, Maria. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks. I just got back real late last night from an FR workshop for association execs, and it was very interesting.
SPEAKER_02Oh, what's going on in the association world?
SPEAKER_01Well, they have a lot of good ideas throughout the state of Florida. So I brought back a couple of nuggets, and um, I'll work on implementing those throughout the year, and you guys will hear about it. But it was overall a successful trip. It was interesting because I've always attended those types of workshops as a realtor member. Uh, and now they say that I have come over to the dark side, is how they describe it. So I I'm I'm trying to put an optimistic twist on this because I'm still um uh very much in love with my job. And um, but uh it it was interesting. It was a lot of fun being on that side of the table this time around.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I can't wait to hear all of the nuggets. Good stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Hey, can I cut in here real quick?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. I'm always interrupting. Um, we have uh applications out for board positions at ECAR. So this year we have three uh positions available. It is our area director of Niceville, uh, our assistant treasurer, and our vice president. So application season is among us, and it concludes uh this coming up Friday on the 24th. So if anyone listening is interested in uh giving back to their association, being part of our strategy and our planning in the future, uh this is the time uh to apply and have your voice heard. We have Niceville vice president and assistant treasurer. So every year those seats stagger. Uh this year uh is is only three seats. Next year we'll have more that open up. But um I really ask everyone to get into um get into our website and our Facebook page and and check that out and take a look at the application if you're interested. Uh see if you qualify to apply.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I've been seeing all the posts on social media and it came out on the wave this morning. So definitely go in and apply. Very good. And on that note, our guest today is Miss Michelle Bailey, who is heading up the elections committee. Yes, ma'am. She's also a past president of ECAR and WCR. And we're gonna talk about Bailey Brigade.
SPEAKER_01She is a past district. Michelle District Vice President. District Vice President also. She has a resume a mile long in volunteerism.
SPEAKER_02And her name is mentioned a lot among our members of who got them involved. When you listen to our podcast, you will hear your name mentioned. Yes. So welcome. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00I want to follow up on something you just said because thinking about elections reminded me when I threw my name in the hat for the first time on the exec board and I was on a mission to get engagement from the members, and I instituted my made-up marketing thing, which was the thousand-member challenge. I remember we just might have to bring it back. We can do that because we've got over 5,000 members of this association. And just like in national politics, the way you get your voice heard is to take a minute and cast your vote. And at ECAR, we can't make it any easier on you. You literally log into Flex every single day. It's like two-click, three-click, maybe process to be able to have your vote count. So I think we might need to meet and exceed that thousand member challenge this year. I'm down. We can do that. That'd be a good time. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02That was a great campaign.
SPEAKER_00It was super fun. I basically think everybody voted to make me stop doing social media, which I was okay with. Like, hey, whatever. I think at one point I literally said, if you want me to stop, then you're gonna have to go vote. We had a vote sticker too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Well, it has been a real pleasure working with you on that committee this year.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate that. You made it amazingly simple this year. It has not always been that way. So kudos to our AE. So we're grateful for the opportunity to serve again this year and love being part of the association.
SPEAKER_01Good. Good. So can you give us a little background? It runs deep, girls. Yes, we want to know about Michelle. Yeah. So tell us, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in this amazing world.
SPEAKER_00You know, real estate in general or the leadership journey? Both. Both. And how they tie together. Oh my. Well, I think it's pretty funny because unlike a lot of people that got into real estate, I needed a J-O-B. I was not, I was not the bored housewife. I was not uh any of the things other than I needed to help support my family. So we have been through a rough patch after, you know, the economic downturn of 2008, and I needed to get back to work so we could be a two-income family. So I started out as an assistant with our beloved Mary Fletcher at Topsel back in the resort quest days. Yeah. But pretty quickly realized I was on the wrong side of the desk and that I wanted to be with people because that was where my my joy was coming from. So I got my license and then my husband moved us to Louisiana. So I had a brief pause where I didn't understand parishes and French law and all kinds of things. So I did not do real estate over there. But as soon as I got back, I joined the Mary Stevens team. And uh that was my launch into real estate. Best mentor on the planet to get started in real estate was Mary's School of Hard Knocks, as she called it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she's a powerhouse and all her.
SPEAKER_00She did, yeah. So it was great. I loved it. And um it I really lived because Mary did have a school of hard knocks. I lived at the association in the education room. And that's where Paula Cook found me on the back row and did that shoulder tap thing of, hey, I think you might want to consider applying for our leadership program here at ECAR. And I was like, wait, what, why? Why would I do that? And I mean, that's the thing I love about my story is because I was so anti. I'm like, if you can convert me, you can convert anybody because I did not see any value in any of the things that I ultimately wound up doing that wound up being, you know, so rewarding and so fulfilling and made my career what it has been because I had to get out of my own way and have my mind opened to what volunteering actually does do for your career. So I did. I joined and did our our e-car leadership class first, which led to serving on the board because that made me eligible to serve on the board as the Southwallet director. Did that for many years and then jumped around a little bit more, which is where we wound up getting connected through the Women's Council of Realtors in Roll Coast. You tabbed me on the shoulder.
SPEAKER_02I did joined the year you were president, so yeah, see. I love that.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. And we grew that organization. So it's just really fun to get involved and see how things can grow and how it does matter when you've got the right mindset of collaboration amongst agents and helping them understand, you know, what I didn't back then either, that it really does make a difference if you have a relationship with the agent that you are working with. We love our clients, and many of them come some of our dearest friends. Yeah. But we are going to see them a lot less than we see the agents that we work with on a daily basis. And when you do have a relationship, you've broken bread and hung out with and had many laughs with an agent, you have a building block to be able to get through what are the inevitable obstacles sometimes to get a property to closing.
SPEAKER_01Right. I couldn't agree more. It's very serendipitous too, I think, um, with the way that Michelle and I met, and probably the way that you and Michelle met. Well, we got to work together at the same brokerage, so that was good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, the best thing ever was when I called Melissa because she was in the leadership program at eCar as well. And like I said, I'd seen her and she impressed me. And I was in this position at Women's Council where I needed an events person kind of last minute. And I'm like, what am I gonna do? Oh my gosh, I wasn't expecting to have to fill this position. And I just called her out of the blue, and she, you were somewhere. I don't know if you're I was showing a property, she and her call. She takes my call, steps to the side, listens to my spiel, and says yes. And she's like, Oh, and by the way, how do I join? I wasn't even a member of the council, and I'm like, God, I love this woman.
SPEAKER_01The answer is yes. The question is how. I sure do. I maintain to this day that the events director of the Women's Council of Realtors, Emerald Coast, is the hardest volunteer position that we have inside of our industry. And every time there is a new events director at Women's Council, I take them aside and I say, it's like planning a small wedding every month, but it is so rewarding. And uh you'll grow and you'll meet all kinds of incredible people through this process. And and really, truly, that is the reason why I am here today. Uh, because Michelle showed me behind the curtain of what happens on that volunteer side, and that's what really allowed me to have the confidence to move forward through the e-car association volunteer volunteer side too. So thank you. And we became wonderful friends after that. I I really value that part too.
SPEAKER_00Our blooper reel is still one of my most favorite videos when it comes up in our Facebook memories every year because we would do videos every week promoting whatever craziness we were trying to do to get people to come to the meetings and the blooper reel at the end of the year and going over curves. And I mean, it just it was so good. It's so much fun.
SPEAKER_01It was before videos were uh cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. We were ahead of our time. We were ahead of our time.
SPEAKER_02Your time, yes. There's still a lot of people that don't want to do the videos, and you guys were doing it. So that's awesome. All right. So now what are you doing? So you you yeah. Um are you on a committee with uh Florida Realtors, NAR, nothing's a good idea.
SPEAKER_00I took a little break actually. I have served on a plethora of committees both at the uh local state and a few at the national level, and um did take a little bit of a break finally. I I kind of finished out um everything that I had committed to previously, and because I didn't want to get volunteer burnout, having done it for nearly a decade, I did press pause. And I'm grateful to serve on the board this year for Florida Realtors as an e-car representative, but I did not sign up for any committees. Uh I have to sign back up for some more next year. But I think it's important when this is your world, too, to remember you have to step back and reset and then move forward a little stronger, kind of like forcing yourself to take that vacation. It's hard because you get FOMO. Once you get involved, right you you know, you want to know what's going on and you want help and you want to do this and you want to do that, and you have to just pull yourself back and say, No, it's okay. And you have to let others, you know what I mean. Your best yes, that book, your best yes, is one of the best things. Just because I can doesn't mean I should. And so that allows other people to step into those roles and have the opportunity to shine and grow and do all the things that they need to do as well.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, you say you have pressed pause. Uh my version of pause. Oh, yeah, yeah, we're forward movement on something else. Let it let's my girlfriend said that to me recently. She said, I'm gonna quit worrying about you because what I bring her down is our versions of rest are defined very differently. Mine means don't do anything, yours means do something else.
SPEAKER_01Do something else. Or create a lot of something else. Create a whole new amazing, wonderful charity. So I'd like to move into that direction a little bit and talk about the Bailey Brigade and how special this is for you, your family, and our community. Can you tell us about that?
SPEAKER_00I can tell you about that. Um, it was unfortunately started because I had gone through a very uh tragic loss of my incredible husband, Scott Bailey, who I was married to for 27 years. Uh, he died of a rare salivary gland cancer back at the end of 2021. And we did a GoFundMe at his service thinking that we might raise a few thousand dollars and that we could pay some of the kindness board because our realtor family and our community in South Walton really embraced our family as we went through that really difficult time. And we wanted to make sure that, you know, in whatever way possible we could give back. And so we thought we would raise just a little bit. We raised $27,000 in a matter of days. And then it but that became a oh, oh, now what do we do with that? And so um my dear friend and title attorney, Allison Azarowski with Bright Line said, Well, we're gonna start a nonprofit and I'm gonna set that up for you. And next thing you know, I'm on logo tournament. We have a logo, and I'm doing a t-shirt fundraiser for Father's Day, and we were off to the races as we then tried to figure out what to do, you know, where was the need. I I know my realtor family when Scott was first diagnosed were awesome, and they did a little, you know, money thing, and they came to us and said, we've hired a housekeeper and a landscaper, and this, you know, we don't want you to do anything but worry about treatment. So the initial reiteration was that we were gonna house this like huge database of volunteers. And then when somebody needed something, they could sign up and we could send a carpenter over, we could get a wheelchair ramp built and all this kind of stuff. But the logistics were a little bit more than what I could handle in the middle of being a newly single parent with three boys, um, and it was just a lot. So we reset and went to the doctor's office and said, What is the need? And discovered that if you were a breast cancer patient, then you got a bag when you started your treatment. It had a few little things in it. And but if you were any other kind of cancer, you literally did not get anything. Wow. And we said, That's easy. We're every other kind of cancer. So, and Scott had to do that as well because he went through his treatment during COVID. So we had packed him a bag. So it was kind of a another version of that, of everything we had given him to keep himself occupied, because we used to have to drop him off for treatment and then pick him up because we weren't allowed inside the building because of the pandemic. And so our bags now have over 35 different items in them that patients need for comfort care during their treatment, things for nausea, uh, meditation journals, anything. Just it's very comprehensive, and the nurse helped curate what all would go in the bag to meet the patient need. So that's one uh thing that we do. The second thing we do is copay and transportation assistance. They reached out to us last year and said, you know, we have nurses actually using their own Uber accounts to be able to send patients home who are getting dropped off for chemotherapy and don't have anyone available to pick them up to take them home, which uh it's just mind-blowing to me. They're like, Can you help? I'm like, Absolutely, we can help. So we started doing some of the transportation costs in addition to the co-pays. They qualify through Ascension Sacred Hearts, and that's how it kind of funnels through. And they disseminate funds on based on that. We can't do it. We'd have already run out of money. We would write everybody a big check and be like, here. Um, and then the third thing we do is one of the things I'm most proud of, and y'all will laugh because y'all know me so well because I'm such an education junkie. So my inner nerd instituted a scholarship program. And so we have given away over $7,000 to local high school seniors who are looking to go into the health sciences field because we want to keep good people going into medicine to take care of good people. So those are our three pillars. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_00Well, it lets me talk about Scott all the time. Yeah, he's the guy that if you didn't get to know him or get to meet, you know, y'all all did, which is great. But for everyone that didn't, this is my way for you get to get to know Scott Bailey, who is the guy who deserves it. He does, absolutely. And so we've been very fortunate because we've had so many partnerships locally, and uh, don't I know we have a new foundation at the association, so I'll be uh finding out more about that application process soon. But we've partnered with a lot of people locally too. We just wrapped up Dirty Bingo at Red's Bar. We did all came and supported us for that, which is so much fun. Always a good time at Dirty Bingo. Yeah, next time we're gonna be able to do it. Yeah, I dubbed it our completely inappropriate fundraiser just to try to warn people it is exactly what you think it is. What happened at Dirty Bingo? Oh my gosh. But yes, we also have some upcoming collaborations which are very exciting. That um Nicole Paloma, the our resident fashion house out in South Walton, who has a shop in Seacrest, she is doing the first ever collab with um us, and it's going to be a one-of-a-kind t-shirt that she's releasing in her fall collection. Cool. So that's very cool. So she's donating a significant portion of every shirt sold back. Uh oh, and we also just wrapped up with Pescado. So if anybody's been out and had uh Pescado in Rosemary recently, you might have noticed a Bailey Brigade smash on the menu. They donated a dollar back for every um every drink sold in the month of June in honor of Scott for Father's Day, which was very cool. And then we have the CAI, which is the like the community associations, all the cams. They have their own association, and they have selected us to be their charitable partner for a golf tournament in September being held at Indian Bayou. So you can go to their site and check it out. They had a few spots left for teams. And then lastly, we're so excited to have been accepted once again for the 3810K, which is held on Thanksgiving Day, and very different way to spend your Thanksgiving, not how I've ever done it before. To get a exercise right and early. Yeah, yeah. I volunteered for a lot of things, but you know, five o'clock came early on Thanksgiving. Yes. But I will say it was incredible to see all the runners out there, to hear the national anthem sung by a fellow realtor and uh see the race get started and then have all our volunteers there. And that was a significant donation to the brigade. So we're we're year two of being one of their four charitable partners, and we'll be looking for race volunteers uh coming up in the next few months as well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Melissa.
SPEAKER_00Let's do it.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_00I think I can get Joe Cappolti to be the turkey. I think I'm gonna know to dress up as well.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that would be great. He's come on, Joe.
SPEAKER_01He fits that role pretty well.
SPEAKER_00He's gonna be like, what are you talking about? Like, wait myself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, we we all are very used to being volunteer, you know. So so the answer is yes. The question is how? There you go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's right. That's three alarms. Right. Three alarms to get up on Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. Yeah, definitely. So anything else that do you guys have any plans for next year? Or that's kind of um or the brigade? Yeah, brigade three years.
SPEAKER_00Not for next year. We obviously want to try to reconnect with South Walton charities to do Dirty Bingo again. That was super fun. You know, as we have grown, we've been around for about three years now. We have tried to figure out are we gonna have like a signature event or are we just gonna keep doing whatever pops up? And we've had so many opportunities to do so many cool things. We year before last partnered with 38 Distilling and we did a bourbon in Scott's Honor. And we bought several bottles for our pack auctions and stuff. And so there's a possibility we might do another partnership for some kind of spirit. I've been campaigning for a caregiver vodka. You know, we did bourbon for Scott. So I think we might need to do a caregiver vodka or Jen, maybe. Who knows?
SPEAKER_02That made a huge impression because we still um have people requesting your bourbon all the time. Like, reach out to Michelle. I was like, I think she sold out.
SPEAKER_00We sold 195 bottles at that barrel and raised $16,000 for the organization. So it was very cool. So again, these random things pop up and then people go execute, and we've just been blown away. And that gives us we want to expand and we have bigger goals, and that we're excited about where it's gonna go. We've done three over 300 backpacks for local chemotherapy patients, and there's other things we'd like to do, and like to be able to get those backpacks in the hands of people that aren't local, like it's like kind of like a Tom Shoes thing, maybe we're working on that as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a great idea. Lots of lots of ideas spinning.
SPEAKER_01Is there anything that our friends listening today can do to help? If they're inspired by your story, what can they do to get involved and to help the Bailey Brigade cause?
SPEAKER_00I would suggest going to Baileybrigade.org, checking out our story. There is a button to donate. Like all small nonprofits, we we need donations to be able to keep us going, of course, and that's where you'll be able to see our events and our volunteer opportunities and just keep us in your prayers. We just always want to be able to help those in need. And unfortunately, cancer is you know what it is, and everybody on some level knows somebody who's been affected by it in one way or another. And so we just want people to know they are seen, heard, and cared for by their community. Our tagline is an army of hope and love. And so getting the word out because we're so small still is one of our biggest challenges. And um doing like a monthly donation subscription, even if it's 10 bucks or 19 bucks, we're set up like St. Judas, so you cannot subscribe. That's good to know. Very good. That would actually help us build out a budget. Oh, okay. Because we get these events, you know, and so you get the one-time one-off thing, which is awesome, but then you don't know where the next dollar's coming from, which I'm learning is part of nonprofit world. But it would be really amazing if we could get some traction on having the subscription model take place, or even realtors. I do have one realtor that does a monthly one-time donation every single month. And of course, the Bailey Advisory Group, my real estate team at Compass, we also do the same thing. We do a quarterly contribution to that. So I think for realtors, it's a great way to say you're supporting things locally. Anything that they're willing to do, we are grateful for.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02All right.
SPEAKER_01So subscribe.
SPEAKER_02Subscribe, donate, and volunteer.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_02BaileyBrigade.org.
SPEAKER_01Michelle, I'm so proud of you.
SPEAKER_02I know.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for that. You turned a a a really difficult scenario in your life to something very beautiful. So I'm really proud of you and I'm inspired by you. I think it's amazing. So thank you for doing that.
SPEAKER_00You're trying to make me cry. No, I'm just talking from my heart here, y'all. Support you all the way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we we want to support you all the way.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know what's interesting? Because I was what five no, I'd already become president when things got really bad with Scott, but we had talked about whether or not I should walk away. Um, it was a conversation, it was worth having. I'd been on the board for seven or eight years at that point, and I was in the president's role, and it takes a lot to do those things. It does. But Scott was great because he said, This is your realtor family, and you're gonna need them. And I don't want you to walk away from something you've worked so hard to be uh, you know, able to do in this side of your real estate world. And he was right, and so you guys surrounded me and my boys, and I'm just so grateful to be part of that realtor family. But yeah, but we're here for you. Yep, we're here for you.
SPEAKER_02But thank you so much for sharing your story and telling us all about Bailey Brigade. So, yeah, so thank you, listeners. If you have anyone that we should have on as a guest, please let us know or anything that you would like to hear about. We'd be happy to uh bring them on. And until next time.
SPEAKER_01Until next time, we'll see y'all later.
