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From an early age, Maria Kazakos saw why her parents valued hard work, family and community. She felt supported whether playing a sport like soccer or volleyball, taking on challenging academic classes or participating in church activities that enriched her faith. 

Because of her hard work, Kazakos was able to carefully consider academic scholarships at various universities. After stepping on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, she immediately knew that was where she was meant to spend her undergraduate years.

“I was excited to study political science and immerse myself in the football culture which was huge,” said Kazakos.

While attending Virginia Tech, Kazakos had other impactful experiences which included meeting her future husband, Ted.

“We met through a church youth group program and began long distance dating because he was going to Appalachian State University,” said Kazakos. “It gave us plenty of time to really get to know each other and look forward to when we were able to see each other.” 

With a shared sense of love of family, community and wanting to further their educational experiences, Ted proposed to Maria on the Blue Ridge Parkway towards the end of their undergraduate programs.

“We both knew that we wanted to be together, but also our next steps academically would still keep us at different schools,” said Kazakos.

Ted headed off to law school at Wake Forest University and Maria went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to receive a master’s in education.

After Kazakos graduated from UNC-CH, she was offered a teaching position at Reagan High School.

“I loved teaching history at Reagan. Working with the kids, building relationships and the faculty there had a great camaraderie. It was a wonderful place to work after graduating,” said Kazakos. 

While Kazakos appreciated the relationships and impact she made as a teacher, she was also realizing that now having young children of her own made it more challenging.

“I realized that I wanted to be home more, but still maintain a professional career. I went back to school to get my real estate license at nighttime. I wanted to continue the interpersonal relationships in the community that had embraced my family and I,” said Kazakos.

Maria credits her husband Ted with helping make that dream possible.

“I always tell him that he is the better mother of the two of us,” said Maria. “Through this new career track, I was able to have even more flexibility with my kids while they were babies. I enjoyed selling real estate. I loved helping people through a big and exciting time. I wanted to make the process as stress-free as possible when they made such a big investment and personal decision.”

After six years of learning the ins and outs of real estate at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Maria got a different opportunity.

“I moved out of sales and onto the leadership team,” said Kazakos. A critical player of the marketing team, Kazakos grew into an operations role and was promoted to vice president of sales. Seeing Kazakos’ dedication and ability to build relationships and support her colleagues, she was promoted to president of Berkshire Hathaway when Berkshire Hathaway’s CEO retired in October of 2024. 

“I love working with such dedicated people that get out of bed eager to help positively impact their clients each and every morning. We cover every major market here in North Carolina so we are able to help in all capacities. Real estate is a relationship and people business which has always been a passion of mine. It’s rewarding to share that with like-minded professionals who feel just as strongly as I do about it,” said Kazakos.

Whether Kazakos is working with a veteran broker, or someone just starting out, she makes sure they have the tools they need to be successful.

“I think we are able to attract exceptional agents because Berkshire Hathaway is a full-service brokerage firm. Every conceivable service an agent would need to operate their business successfully we offer to them. That allows agents to have more free time to work with their clients. From day one with our training and education, our marketing team, offering a convenient office space to hold your meetings, you name, we have it, and are there to support them,” said Kazakos.

The former teacher also relishes in mentoring at the Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte once a week. Seeing the need to educate students on life skills and professionalism in the workplace, the university began the mentorship program four years ago.

“We have anywhere from 3-5 students in a group where we focus on critical skills in the workplace, honing your leadership opportunities, and developing life skills that will make these students and future professionals successful. I teach lessons that have helped me along the way and give real world examples of how they can apply it once they graduate,” said Kazakos of the six-week program offered several times throughout the year. “The program doesn’t require an interest in real estate, just a willingness to learn about leadership and life skills that will help them apply it to the real world once they graduate.”

Developing the future of the community is important to Kazakos because she has three children that will be impacted as well.

“We try to make it to as many of our children’s activities as possible, which definitely requires planning and relying on grandparents and friends for help when we can’t be three places at once,” said Kazakos. “We intentionally chose a community like ours to raise our kids. Ted and I realize that this time with our children is fleeting, and we try and relish all the moments and milestones that make it so special. We have found that it really does take a village to make it all possible, and we couldn’t be more grateful for ours.”