Dawn Bowman
Broker Associate, Ocala REALTOR®, GRI
• University of Maryland – Business Administration and Marketing
• Ocala/Silver Springs Rotary – Member
• Florida Thoroughbred Fillies Club – Member
• FTBOA – Member
• Ocala Metro Chamber & Economic Partnership (CEP) – Director of Ocala Downtown Market
• BESTrucking – Owner/Operator
• Aflac, 2012 – Best New Agent
“There was this gorgeous mist as we were driving through these farms, and the horses were out in the fields running around. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life,” she remembers. “So I turned to my husband and said, ‘I want to live here.”
Her husband gave her a Look. “He said, ‘I don’t even know where ‘here’ is!” She laughs uproariously. “He thought I’d lost my mind, but I knew this was home.”
Sure enough, six months later they and their three kids moved to a new home in Ocala in June 2007, and none of them have regretted the decision! It might have been a scary move for someone else to make, but this former Air Force brat and long-haul truck driver is used to sudden changes and embracing opportunities where she makes them. She went to work for the Ocala Chamber and Economic Partnership as Director of the Downtown Market and quickly began developing it into a destination venue for the local community.
“When I took over two years ago, there were 26 vendors, and now we have over a hundred,” she beams. “I’m really proud of that. I’ve met a lot of great people and made some great connections, and my work keeps me current on what’s going on in the area. Ocala is incredibly vibrant, and I could see it was growing. For me it just made sense to go into real estate.”
Dawn met Valerie through a thoroughbred group they were both involved in and knew about Showcase by reputation. “I had heard just wonderful things about her, and her management style appealed to me. I knew other people who worked there, too, and they loved it. That said a lot to me. So I told Valerie that as soon as I got my license, I was coming to talk to her.”
She grins. “And that’s exactly what I did.”
With her skills at marketing and development and her connections from the CEP, Dawn brings an extensive network of relationships she has built to work on behalf of the company and her clients. Her thorough, contemporary knowledge of the community and what’s happening around Marion county makes her an excellent resource for people to ask questions and get straight answers, and she’s the kind of agent who isn’t afraid to take on the challenge of the unknown.
“For me, that’s a bonus,” she says. “Instead of worrying whether something can’t be done, I’m the girl who goes, ‘Well, let’s try and find out’. You have to open the door and walk through it to get there.”