For Angelia Young, connection can happen anywhere. It can happen at an open house, over dinner with a longtime client, while volunteering, or simply holding the door open for a stranger. “I love really easily and deeply, and connection is one of my passions,” Young says. “I don’t crave attention. I crave that connection.”
It’s an idea that explains much of Young’s life: from the 28 years she has spent in real estate to her involvement in the Bellevue community and her volunteer work throughout Nashville.
Young came to Nashville from her home state of Louisiana in 1990 after her husband accepted a job in the area. With a seven- and nine-year-old in tow, she knew almost nothing about Middle Tennessee. Rather than settling into a neighborhood right away, she spent 22 months exploring—driving through neighborhoods, attending open houses, and watching her children play sports—before deciding where her family would put down roots.
Eventually, Bellevue became part of the family’s story. Over the years, Young and her husband have lived in Horseshoe Bend, Fairview, and three different homes in Bellevue, never straying more than about 20 miles from where they began. Today, she’s happy to call Bellevue home.
That instinct to research and explore her surroundings naturally translated into her career. Young has been a licensed real estate agent since 1998, after deciding that commercial property management wasn’t for her. At Compass Real Estate, she’s built a career around what she genuinely enjoys. “I love the people that I meet and the relationships that I build while I’m doing it,” she
says.
Early in her career, Young admits she approached real estate differently. She focused on the next transaction rather than nurturing the relationships that came with it. Over time, however, she realized that staying connected to clients was the part of the business she found most rewarding. Today, that can mean birthday cards, gifts, texts, dinners, and gifts for clients each year. It can also mean simply remembering the details of someone’s life.
They remember her, too. In fact, one recent new client called Young nine years after purchasing a home she had listed. He had an agent at the time but kept her card all these years and reached out when he and his wife were preparing to move out of state, saying that he’d been impressed with how honest and communicative she’d been. “I love it when people trust you, when they listen to you, and they value you,” Young says.
Her clients often become friends, and she finds herself celebrating their milestones right alongside them. She recalls one client who had been navigating infertility and eventually called to share the news that she and her husband had adopted a nine-year-old boy. Young cried with her, then brought building sets for the new father (an architect) and son to enjoy together.
“I had been praying for them to be able to have a child, and then they get this little boy,” she says. “A lot of that stuff maybe some [realtors] don’t pay attention to, but I like really knowing what people’s struggles are and also what their triumphs are.”
That same philosophy extends beyond her clients. Young is a member of the Bellevue Chamber, where she enjoys opportunities to connect with other people who live and work in the community. She also makes a point of supporting local businesses and residents, whether that means sponsoring community events or seeking out Bellevue-area Girl Scouts when cookie season rolls around. “I want to invest where I live,” she says.
Giving her time is just as important. Young has volunteered with organizations including Thistle Farms and the Nashville Rescue Mission, but The Store holds a particularly special place in her heart. The Store, a Nashville nonprofit founded by Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, is a food pantry that operates like a grocery store, allowing customers to choose the
food that best meets their nutritional needs and personal preferences, which, in turn, reduces waste and upholds the dignity of those who shop there. Young first heard about the initiative through her son, who serves on the Belmont alumni board. She signed up to volunteer and fell in love with the mission and the people it serves.
“The Store knocked me off my feet,” she says of the experience. “You remember the people [every week]. There was a man there [recently], and I was like, ‘Where's your Titans hat today?’ There's one little lady who is always dressed to the nines when she comes in. Helping these people and making them feel valued and seen and important is so gratifying. Just to hug them, to walk them to their car, and put their groceries in the car. Talk to them.”
For Young, that is the heart of community: recognizing the common ground between people who might otherwise never cross paths. It’s a perspective that seems especially fitting for someone who loves where she lives
and the people who make it home. Young is quick to talk about her family, her
grandchildren, her beloved Titans, her Louisiana roots, her love of Club Pilates, and her devotion to The Eagles (especially Don Henley). But when asked what she most wants people to know about her, she comes back to the same idea. connection.
Whether she’s meeting a client for the first time, catching up with an old friend over dinner at Sperry’s, volunteering, or striking up a conversation with a complete stranger, Young believes there is almost always an opportunity to connect. “We’re all so similar at our core,” she says. “Our aches and pains are the same. Our triumphs, our joys are the same.”