Latonia Parks Turns Army Discipline Into a Life of Service in Business

On one side of Latonia Parks’ work is a front door and a set of house keys. On the other is the discipline she carried out of the Army after 20 years in uniform.

Parks, a retired soldier and Fayetteville-area business owner, now leads Top Bragg Realty and Property Management and says her work in real estate grew out of a desire to keep serving people after military life. In a region shaped by Fort Bragg, her story stands out because it shows how military experience can carry over into civilian business, especially in work centered on housing, trust and service.

Parks said the decision to build something of her own came after she left the Army and started thinking seriously about the next chapter of her life.

“I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Parks said. “I wanted to do something for family and have freedom of my own once I left the military.”

According to the Top Bragg Realty and Property Management website, the company serves buyers, sellers, renters and property owners in the Fayetteville market. Parks said her motivation goes beyond transactions. She said she wanted to help younger soldiers and families find good places to live at reasonable prices and make sure they were treated fairly.

That sense of purpose shaped her transition out of the military, which she said was exciting and uncertain at the same time.

“I was a little frightened, a little excited, and it was a little stressful,” Parks said. “The scary part is what comes next? You don’t know. You’re just putting your foot in the water just to see where you fit in and what you’re going to do.”

The U.S. Small Business Administration says it offers training, counseling and support programs for veterans who want to start or grow businesses, highlighting the role veteran-owned businesses continue to play in local economies.

Parks said the values she brought from the Army helped her keep moving when business became difficult. She identified resourcefulness, persistence, hard work and dedication as the traits that carried over most clearly from military life into entrepreneurship. She also said her work in real estate is personal.

“My real estate is not only just to sell homes,” Parks said. “It’s a ministry to me.”

Yolanda Braham, who knows Parks as a fellow church member, said that service-centered approach is visible in the way Parks handles people and business.

“She always serves people in excellence and professionalism,” Braham said. “No wavering from that standard.”

Braham said Parks also brings a level of consistency into civilian business that is often associated with military training.

“She takes the veteran mentality, attention to detail and work ethic into the civilian space where a consistent high standard is not the norm,” Braham said.

Parks said that standard influences how she thinks about the future as well. She said she wants her legacy to be measured less by titles and more by how she treated people, both in business and in life.

“I want my legacy to be remembered that I cared,” Parks said. “I want to be remembered not just what I did for them, but how did I make them feel?”

For Parks, the uniforms are gone, but the mission remains familiar: serve people well, build something lasting and leave others better than they were before.

Latonia Parks photo taken by Eric Stevenson