Marki Lemons-Ryhal

Marki Lemons-Ryhal’s career is a masterclass in the “no-excuse” philosophy, rooted in a five-generation entrepreneurial legacy. Growing up in her family’s legendary Chicago business, Lem’s BBQ—a James Beard Award winner and Barbecue Hall of Fame inductee—she was working by age 10. 

“My mother wanted to teach me how to earn my own money,” she recalls. “She wanted me to understand that the first thing I needed to do was take care of my needs before my wants. It taught me the ethics behind business and how to figure things out.” 

This foundation instilled in Lemons-Ryhal a lifelong commitment to work ethic and a deep sense of service to the community. That grit paved the way for her entry into real estate in 1999, where she quickly became a top-producing broker before pivoting to her true passion: education. Lemons-Ryhal’s career has since been defined by an uncanny ability to interpret data and stay ahead of the curve. In 2006, while others still relied on bench ads, billboards and direct mail, she noticed a massive shift. 

“I saw that 80% of consumers were using the internet as a source of information,” she says. “I knew then I wanted to be in the palm of the hand of the consumer.” This foresight led her to earn her Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource (SFR®) certification in a 2007 blizzard while nine months pregnant. “My mindset was: I’m going to take time off to have this baby, so I need to get the education now to leverage it as soon as the child is born.”

Today, as one of the industry’s foremost experts in Artificial Intelligence, Lemons-Ryhal warns that the era of traditional search is evolving from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). “Instead of us living in a world of search engine optimization, we’re now looking at people who want to come up in an AEO search,” she explains. 

She emphasizes that the long game of content creation is now the only way to remain visible. “If the real estate agent hasn’t created content over the past 20 years, they’re not going to come up in a ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude search.” 

For Lemons-Ryhal, the technical shift is only half the story; the true reward is the human breakthrough. Having taught over one million students, she thrives on the immediate impact of live education. 

“Because I’m going to do 100 audiences every single year, it’s when I look in their face and I can see that the light bulb has come on,” she says. “When I’m standing there looking into their face…knowing then that they get it now, that just turns me on every single time.”

As she reflects on her journey, Lemons-Ryhal emphasizes that her greatest legacy is the example she sets for the next generation. Coming into the business as an unwed mother, she often had her sons in tow at showings and closings. That experience, which once caused her guilt, eventually inspired her son, Skyler, to become a Howard University graduate and fellow REALTOR® named to the “30 Under 30” class by the National Association of Realtors®.

“I do this intentionally because you cannot be what you cannot see,” she shares. “I want to be for the next generation what I have been to my own child: an example, without any guilt. I want them to see someone who isn’t perfect, who shares life’s journey, to know that they too can do all of these amazing things.”