Katie Claxton on Motherhood, Grit, and the Power of Real Estate with Claxton Capital Group

Some people follow the path laid out before them, while some become a force of nature, paving their own. Katie Claxton has always been the latter.

She is the woman who made her own trail in fresh snow, refusing to wait for permission, validation, or a perfect moment. Her journey is not one of the neat timelines or conventional choices; it's one of grit, bold leaps, and a refusal to let circumstance define her.

Claxton's story could have been like so many others. She could've played it safe, waited for the right person, or followed the career tracks that looked comfortable enough. But when life presented her with difficult choices, she refused to stand still.

After a marriage ended, she made a decision that would shape the rest of her life. "I didn't want to wait for another man and miss the chance to have a family," she recalls. With the encouragement of her closest friends and her ever-supportive family, she pursued IVF. After two rounds of IUI, three rounds of IVF, and countless moments of hope and disappointment, she welcomed her son, and her driving force for it all, Charlie.

That choice, to create her own family on her own terms, ignited everything that followed. "Holding him, I realized I couldn't just talk about my dreams anymore. I had to take action," Claxton says.

For years, she had invested in real estate quietly, dabbling in fix-and-flips and small rentals while building a successful career in teaching, then educational sales, and later medical device sales. But Charlie gave her the clarity she needed: "I couldn't be the mom who told him to chase his dreams while I stayed stuck in a life that didn't reflect mine."

So, she walked away. With a few thousand dollars left in the bank and one rental sold, she bought herself 14 months to go all-in on real estate.

And out of that leap of faith came Claxton Capital Group, a firm rooted in the power of real estate investing, but moreover, in Claxton's beliefs that education and support change lives. That foundation, built on education, grit, and resilience, runs deep in her story.

Growing up, she was surrounded by teachers, which led her to start her career in the classroom. Though she quickly realized bureaucracy made the profession unsustainable for her, she never lost her love of teaching. Today, she still calls herself an educator, just in a different arena. "I'm not teaching kids anymore, but I'm teaching people how to change their financial futures. And the impact of that is vast," she explains.

Teaching wasn't her only early influence. Sports shaped her competitive edge, but also her struggles. As a professional field hockey player, she pushed through injuries and exhaustion. That determination to persevere through hardships became a cornerstone of her character, and now of her business.

"When things get hard, nothing compares to fighting to get through things deemed impossible," she reflects. "I've looked down the barrel of a gun and lived to tell the story. Business challenges, market shifts, tough decisions, they don't scare me."

This mix of grit and humanity shapes how Claxton runs Claxton Capital Group. She is methodical, willing to walk away from deals that don't align with her values. "Protecting investor capital always comes first," she says.

Her strategy is to surround herself with experts who have already achieved the scale she's striving toward. "No one is self-made," she insists. "You're shaped by the people you surround yourself with." For her, that means building teams with deep experience, hiring strong property management, and refusing to cut corners.

Claxton's philosophy on real estate is rooted in the belief that it is a vehicle for freedom. The power of multifamily investments, she believes, is not just about wealth but about choice, the ability to retire early, to spend time with family, to build a life not dictated by paychecks. That conviction is personal. For her, real estate was the key to betting on herself and building the future she wanted for Charlie.

But the business is bigger than her story. Claxton Capital Group is designed as a support system, a way to help others achieve stability and possibility. She knows what it's like to face uncertainty, and she knows how critical it is to have someone in your corner. She had her family and friends; now, she wants to be that support for people seeking to get the most out of their financial assets.

Looking ahead, Claxton continues to scale her client portfolio and is preparing to grow her family, yet her motivation remains unchanged: to be the role model her son deserves. "If Charlie grows up and wants to work in the business, great. If not, that's okay. My goal is for him to be able to say his mom went after everything she ever wanted, including having him," Claxton shares.

From athlete to teacher, from trauma survivor to business founder, Claxton has built a life on courage, conviction, and follow-through. She doesn't just talk about grit, she lives it. She doesn't just plan, she executes. And with Claxton Capital Group, she is proving that betting on yourself is more than an act of bravery. It's transformational.