5 Conversations With Leaders I Admire That Stuck: Kayleigh Johnson

Five years into building PUBLiSH, I wanted to mark the milestone by sharing a collection of five honest conversations with people I admire.

A conversation with Kayleigh Johnson, Senior Director of Marketing at Peterson Real Estate

Kayleigh is a builder. A systems thinker. Someone who believes impact matters more than impressions. She’s spent her career shaping brands at pivotal moments and has a rare take on what “real impact” actually looks like in real estate.

Max: When you look back in 10 years, what do you hope you helped build, beyond campaigns and launches?

Kayleigh: I want to be known as a good leader, beyond just bottom-line accomplishments.

Success is the people I’ve worked with saying: working with her made my day-to-day better.

Max: What do you want your work to be remembered for?

Kayleigh: Being kind. Easy to work with. Elevating both the work and the people around me.

Max: What matters more to you now than it did five years ago?

Kayleigh: My self-worth. Work is important, I’m ambitious but I don’t buy into the ‘second home/work family’ trope anymore. I advocate for myself, do my job the best that I can and ensure I have work life balance.

Max: What does “impact” mean in real estate marketing beyond performance metrics?

Kayleigh: Word of mouth.
Leads and traffic are short-term. The real impact is the experience of the person living in the home.
One unhappy buyer’s disappointment can outweigh the biggest advertising budget.

Max: What are you proud of that you helped shift?

Kayleigh: I’ve intentionally joined companies at moments of change - building teams, bringing marketing in-house, entering new markets.


I also love creating systems that improve productivity + cross-department collaboration.


Marketing isn’t “fluffy.” It’s strategic, from product input at the start to turning customers into advocates at the end.

Max: What will the next decade demand from developers, and how should marketing evolve?

Kayleigh: Transparency.
The old model, holding info close and making people work too hard for answers, is outdated.


Marketing needs to cut the fluff, be direct, build trust early… and use storytelling to support clarity, not replace it.

Max: That’s the future. Honesty first. Storytelling with substance. I like it.