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Maria Mason’s experience in sales stretches so far back in her life that she can’t recall a time when she wasn’t involved in it.
Literally.
Living in the Texas Panhandle, her immigrant parents were migrant farm workers. Young Maria Mason, born in Mexico and having learned English in kindergarten, became the family’s go-to spokesperson and de facto salesperson.
“At 5 years old when I learned English, I would knock on the farm owners’ doors and translate for my parents and find them work every day,” Mason said. “That entrepreneurial spirit grew. I just always had it. I've always been a salesperson and worked really hard.”
It probably didn't hurt that a cute, precocious 5-year-old was making the pitch.
She spent much of her upbringing after elementary school in Fort Worth, in the Las Vegas Trail corridor, after her father moved the family here for a job in construction. She embraced all the promise the land of opportunity held, diving headfirst from Western Hills High School into Tarrant County College, and then the Neeley School of Business at TCU, becoming the first college student in her family.
She was able to do it through an “amazing scholarship" at TCU.
Today, Mason, a first-generation college graduate, is the co-owner and CEO of Camino Real Estate. Over the course of a decade in real estate, Mason has distinguished herself as a top producing realtor in the Fort Worth-Dallas market, including as a regular as a Fort Worth Magazine Top Realtor.
“I really love serving the community, and I serve a very diverse community and most of my listings are in Fort Worth,” she said. “I get to be out and around Fort Worth every day.”
She is the archetype of a self-made entrepreneur and with a message: You can achieve, and a great starting point is TCU.
More recently, Mason was appointed as president of TCU’s National Alumni Board, with her term beginning in June.
She will be the first Hispanic woman to serve in the position.
“TCU is growing with their Latino base of students and their alums,” she said. “Fort Worth is 35% or even more Latino. It’s a great time to represent our community locally, but also to serve TCU on a national and international level. We have students and alums all over the world. Exciting times!”
With her two-year appointment also comes a position on the university’s Board of Trustees. The commitment to the alumni board is four years. She is serving a one-year term as president-elect and will then serve a year as immediate past president.
“So, they get you for four years,” she joked.
Real estate is a family business. Her husband Sam, a Texas A&M grad, is a partner in her firm, but her brother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law are all brokers.
Her degree at TCU was in marketing. Her entrepreneurial zeal led her to real estate about eight years ago, the draw of doing “my own thing” too strong a pull to shake.
Those experiences as a little girl left an impression on Mason.
“As I got older, I just realized that I could be a lot more successful if I did it myself and was able to lead it myself,” she said. “So, after getting my real estate license, I just decided I wanted to start my own company.”