Candace “Candy” Cooke has been a real estate professional since 1983. She’s a Texas-licensed real estate broker who lists and sells properties in Central Texas and a certified general appraiser with experience valuing residential and commercial properties. Candy has managed and developed residential and commercial real estate and arbitrated tax protest cases. She contracted for several years with the State of Texas in assessing appraisal districts to determine school district funding.

Candy was in the first class of NAR’s Masters of Real Estate (MRE) program and is a strong believer in professional education. She’s now a prolific and enthusiastic educator who shares her knowledge and passion with both agents and appraisers in many forums, including at conferences, live-virtual classrooms, and her wildly popular Cooke’d Real Estate Facebook community group.

Meagan Morgan Campion grew up in the Shiner and Gonzales area. Her family has lived in Gonzales for over 60 years. She attended Shiner Catholic School in Shiner and then went on to obtain her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University.

Meagan has been in the real estate field since 2007. She joined RE/MAX in 2008, and truly enjoys working with buyers and sellers in and around the Gonzales County area. She holds multiple designations and certifications, and she achieved the Executive Club at RE/MAX in 2013 – 2018, 100% Club at RE/MAX in 2019-2020, and was named one of the top 250 agent in RE/MAX of Texas in 2020.

She is involved in the Gonzales County A&M Club, Shiner Heritage Quilters, Texas Tea Stitchers, Gonzales Noon Lions Club, and other community organizations. She is married to Justin Campion, and they have two wonderful little boys. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, quilting, and photography.

China Schmitz is a Texas Real Estate Broker with over 25 years of experience and the founder of Grow Realty, PLLC. She has spent her career working across the DFW market, leading brokerages, supporting agents, and navigating thousands of real-world transactions.

Her background includes managing a multi-million dollar boutique brokerage, where she oversaw more than 5,000 home sales and led a team of over 85 agents. This hands-on experience shapes her teaching, bringing a practical, behind-the-scenes perspective that goes beyond theory.

China holds multiple industry designations, including NAR Green, CIPS, RSPS, and ABR, and has a specialized focus on solar and energy-related real estate. She is passionate about helping agents understand how sustainability and energy features impact transactions, value, and client conversations in today’s market.

In addition to her brokerage work, China serves on the Texas REALTORS® Professional Standards Committee (2025-2026), Texas REALTORS® Global Committee (2026) and is a certified instructor with the Texas Association of REALTORS®.

Her teaching style is straightforward, conversational, and rooted in real experience—designed to give agents knowledge they can immediately apply in their business.

Sterling D. Fryar, MAI, is a real estate broker and appraiser based in San Angelo, TX, with over 15 years of experience navigating complex commercial, farm/ranch, and residential transactions.

Sterling holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Texas A&M University, and also holds an MAI designation, which is one of the most recognized and respected designations in appraisal.

Sterling specializes in commercial appraisals for special purpose properties, including multi-family, retail, office and industrial. He also focuses on providing land and farm and ranch valuations throughout Texas and the Southwest.

Kiersten, a Broker-Owner and Sr. Instructor, has a myriad of experiences in the real estate industry over the last 20 years which helps to equip you for today’s ever-changing real estate market!  Her multifarious achievements include creating one of the first teams in East Texas, successful property management, and completion of many land development and residential construction projects.  As an owner of a land surveying company, her corporate experience in the software industry, along with her practical and classroom real estate experience, the scope of Kiersten’s adventures offers something for anyone who attends her class!

Author of “How to Measure a House” based on the ANSI® Guideline; the American Measurement Standard, Death of an Industry-Real Estate Appraisal; Professional’s Dictionary of Real Estate Terms; Size Matters books and online courses; ANSI, Home Measurement, & the Power of Price-Per-Square-Foot appraisal CE course; and the Appraisal Process for Real Estate Professionals CE course. Since 2003, Hamp has promoted the establishment of a “Mandatory” national measurement standard. All real estate professionals must use the same language to create and communicate residential square footage. Until there is a universal agreement on this issue, and all Realtors® are required to be responsible for reporting an accurate square footage total in MLS, all property valuations are at risk (CMA’s appraisals, AVM’s, etc.), leaving home buyers and sellers at the mercy of who determines the size (and value) of their home. In a price-per-square-foot world, one-half of this all powerful formula is created by a hodge-podge of methods across the country. The real estate industry must find a way to join the rest of the standardized world.