From ICU nurse to real estate boss: How REB top buyer’s agent is changing the property game

For over a decade, Fouhy worked as an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse in Australia and Ireland, caring for the most vulnerable people, learning to be compassionate, empathetic, and sharpening her emotional intelligence, skills that would later become essential to her real estate career.

Aware of how fleeting life could be, Fouhy and her partner, Melissa, began investing in property while both working pay-as-you-go (PAYG) jobs, driven by a desire for financial freedom and more time to spend as a family.

“We wanted to get ahead, to have freedom of time, but didn’t know where to start. And then we saw that anyone with any sort of wealth had properties,” Fouhy told REB.

Following the realisation that most wealthy people had built a portfolio, Fouhy and her partner self-educated through YouTube and books, working tirelessly to acquire four properties in just a year.

Once the women hit the borrowing capacity plateau, they began looking for new ways to increase their income and decided to pass their licence to help a small number of people invest in properties.

Dawn’s early business days were intense, putting in 16–18-hour days, all while managing personal challenges, including her mother’s cancer.

“I still remember running the agency from a kitchen table, whiteboards stuck on the wall with Blu Tack in a townhouse. Our son was a little toddler running around the place, and we just worked.”

“It was only ever supposed to be help a couple of people a year. It was never supposed to turn into what it has. We didn’t wake up one day and think we’re going to build a buyer’s agency.”

While Fouhy had planned to continue working as a nurse, her mother’s passing profoundly shifted her priorities, and she became determined to help people gain freedom of time and financial independence, rather than just chasing material wealth or validation.

“It just turned my whole world upside down. She was only 57, had her whole life planned out for her retirement. It never came for her.”

“I think in some ways, subconsciously I shifted into another gear, and I just threw myself into the business, and we just went all in.”

What started on a kitchen bench gradually evolved into a full buyer’s agency, built through persistence, hard work and a strong sense of responsibility to clients.

From humble beginnings to Buyer’s Agent of the Year

Aware that she was entering a male-dominated industry, Fouhy chose to lean into strengths often associated with women, such as empathy, emotional intelligence, and relational skills.

“At the start, I felt like pressure as a woman to try to fit that mould and look the same as everybody else in the real estate industry.

“But then the more I was trying to do that, the more I was like, well, this isn’t who I am. And my messaging wasn’t cutting through.”

“So then once I became or started to just be my authentic self, our business exploded, and people were attracted to that energy.”

Fouhy said that, as a woman, she remembered being dismissed by agents who asked for her husband’s opinion, questioned her knowledge of property, and even told her to “get back in the kitchen”.

She said that the experiences ultimately taught her to turn being underestimated into a strategic advantage.

“Being underestimated as a woman is a strategy if you know how to use it, because while everybody’s out there kind of busy misjudging you, you get a greater advantage at negotiating and client services.”

Instead of competing with men on ego, Fouhy leveraged her preparation, strategic thinking, and emotional intelligence, always putting the client’s goals first.

“Our point of difference was always that our client was the hero. It was never about us. We don’t feel the need to be out there beating our chest; it isn’t about us and how many houses we purchase.”

“We prepare well and let our results speak for themselves.”

Despite more women having joined the buyer’s agent scene, Fouhy said persistent myths could paint women as bad with money or too emotional to invest.

“In reality, when financially educated, women often plan better, assess risk carefully, and protect investments more effectively.”

She advised newcomers to recognise their own strengths, while maintaining high standards and never compromising their values.

“Women need to try and build up their confidence by doing things that they say they’re going to do and not try to seek validation from other people.”

She also urged women entering the industry to embrace ambition without shrinking themselves to make others comfortable, stressing that confidence and self-belief were critical to success.

“You don’t need to apologise for being ambitious because others feel threatened by it, and you don’t need to shrink to make others comfortable as a woman.”

“I’m 40 now, and I spent most of my life trying to downplay everything because I didn’t want other people to feel uncomfortable, or I didn’t want people to feel like I was showing off.

For Fouhy, the key to growth has been to focus on personal achievement rather than external validation, and to constantly learn and improve rather than compare to others.

“I compete against myself. I’m very internally driven.”

As her experience as a buyer’s agent increases, Fouhy believes that representation in the industry will be crucial to inspire the next generation of women.

“I would’ve loved it when I started in the industry to see a female buyer’s agent in the investment space. There’s a lot of owner-occupier female buyer’s agents, but in the investment space, I really always just wanted somebody to look up to.”

By seeing other women succeed, she believed newcomers could realise what is achievable.

“Regardless of any industry, whether you are a nurse or you want to make a transition to real estate, a man or a woman, if you are somebody who has empathy and a genuine care for people, start a business, you will succeed.”

“Don’t start a business to get Ferraris or be whatever. Start a business with a genuine intention of helping people, and your business will grow organically, and you’ll grow a business for life,” she concluded.