News
GVSU student uses education to improve work as broker for Real Estate One
February 23, 2026
Lisa Bradford, real estate broker of Real Estate One for the Traverse City Randolph and Beulah branches, has returned to school to complete her degree at Grand Valley State University as an Integrative Studies major.
It has been a bucket list item for Bradford to graduate from college, and after completing high school, she immediately began working towards this goal. However, finances and raising a family slowed her progress. She was once a double major in philosophy and religion at Oakland University.
“I grew up, like many Americans, very poor and was unable to complete college because of the cost,” Bradford said. “Then I got married, had children, took a few classes here or there. And then began to work full-time and raise a family. Time kind of got away from me.”
Bradford has been a licensed realtor for over 20 years and a managing broker for the past four years. Now at 57, she has made it her goal to graduate before she reaches 60.
“I consider myself a person who completes goals, even if that means taking a 30-year break,” Bradford said. “It’s never too late to complete a goal or check off a ‘bucket list’ item!”
Entering GVSU with enough credits to be a senior, Bradford didn’t just return to college to cross an item off her bucket list and said she didn’t return to change careers, either. As a lifelong learner, Bradford returned to school to become a better leader and a better boss to her realtors.
“I think the support at Grand Valley is phenomenal,” Bradford said. “All the professors have been responsive. My academic advisor is phenomenal, and she understands that I’m not doing this to change careers.”
Bradford currently takes accelerated, six-week courses. To balance work/school life, she takes all her classes online, working on one class at a time. “I have a very busy professional life, so GVSU allowed me to kind of go at my own pace,” Bradford said.
During the fall semester, Bradford took an Integrative Studies class, “Collaborative Communication.” Bradford led a two-hour World Café facilitation, which involved people sharing and collaborating on a question or topic. Her chosen topic, “grace,” focused on what grace meant to the participants and how showing themselves more of it affects their professional and personal selves.
Bradford continues to use her experiences at GVSU, like the World Café, in her work to improve herself and her team. She facilitated her own World Café activity at Real Estate One, starting off the conversation with the statement, “We can be different than any brokerage has ever been.”
Each of Bradford’s World Café facilitations was successful. Reflecting on the experience, she said, “It allows people to be heard, in that, it allows people to work in a space where they feel like they have something to contribute to the institution, to the goal.
By Cass Wainwright