Local realtor Donnita Hill offers real life advice at Leaders for Life event

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – From milking the family cows when she was a young girl, to helping families settle into their dream homes during her professional career as one of the region’s most successful realtors, Donnita Hill offered real life advice and experiences to Tennessee Tech’s female student-athletes at a presentation Monday night.

Hill, a Tennessee Tech graduate, was speaking in Johnson Hall as part of the Dr. M. Dianne Murphy Leaders for Lifer series.

Hill told the group that finding a job you love is sometimes a process of trial and error. And, finding a job you love is important.

“If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” she said. “You’ll find that going to work is a joy every day.”

Hill’s own career has offered her that enjoyment.

“Every day is different, and I never know what is going to walk through that door,” she said.

She also encouraged the women to find their talent and use it.

“It doesn’t matter what your talent is, if you don’t use it,” she said.

She also said that failing is part of the process.

“There’s nothing wrong with failing, as long as you just keep on trying,” she said.

Hill has enjoyed a 38-year career in real estate in the Upper Cumberland. She graduated from nearby Upperman High School in Baxter in 1966, and received a bachelor’s degree in business from Tennessee Tech in 1970.

She created the first Real Estate Team Concept in Middle Tennessee in 1988, a system that has produced more than $400 million in real estate values sold in Putnam County. The “Hill Team” runs a state-of-the-art real estate office with the latest technology currently needed to effectively match buyers and sellers.

She has been ranked No. 1 out of 365 real estate agents by the Upper Cumberland Real Estate Board for 34 consecutive years, and has ranked among the top one percent of all real estate agents across North America.

The Dr. M. Dianne Murphy Female Student-Athlete Leaders for Life Program at Tennessee Tech was established in 2006. The program provides mentoring and networking opportunities for female student-athletes at Tennessee Tech with successful female role models. The Leaders for Life Program features keynote addresses by women in the sports industry and women in leadership positions, as well as social networking opportunities.

RECENT SPEAKERS in the Dr. M. Dianne Murphy
Leaders for Life Program at Tennessee Tech

Spring 2011 / Dr. M. Dianne Murphy
Spring 2011 / Dr. Lanise Rosemond
Fall 2011 / Beth DeBauche
Spring 2012 / Natalie Ivey and Kristen Schabert
Fall 2012 / Pam Kilday
Spring 2013 / Donna Lopiano
Fall 2013 / Joetta Clark Diggs
Spring 2014 / Kathleen DoBoer
Spring 2015/ Donnita Hill