No Voice, No Recognition: How Betsy Brady Built Hers from Scratch

In commercial real estate, experience speaks loudest. But Betsy Brady built her credibility before the job title caught up.

Betsy Brady - Knight Frank, Vice Chair of BPF Futures

As a chartered development surveyor at Knight Frank and Vice Chair of BPF Futures, she didn’t wait for visibility. She created it. One post, one podcast, and one panel at a time.

Her story isn’t about arriving fully formed. It’s about showing up early, staying consistent, and letting her ideas speak louder than her CV.

It Started with a LinkedIn Post

Betsy wasn’t building a personal brand. She was sharing her perspective.

While studying for her real estate master’s, she posted a hand-drawn master plan sketch on LinkedIn. There was no strategy, just something she found worth putting out there.

“I never expected my personal brand to be part of my career strategy,” she shared. “But once I started sharing what I was learning, people paid attention.”

That post marked a shift. A carefully managed PR machine didn’t fuel that momentum. It came from a simple decision: to contribute, publicly.

It wasn’t the drawing that stood out. It was that she had something to say. People weren’t reacting to her seniority. They were responding to her perspective. From there, LinkedIn became a tool. Not to perform, but to participate. She posted what she was learning, seeing, and thinking. The result wasn’t just visibility. It was recognition.

From Background to Spotlight

While at Knight Frank, Betsy joined the BPF Futures board, supporting its mentoring programme. It was a behind-the-scenes role, but she showed up consistently. And the industry started to notice.

“Only until a year ago did it start picking up that people were taking me a bit more seriously,” she said. “And that was at the same point as when I became Vice Chair for BPF Futures and had MIPIM Challengers come through and a few other podcasts.”

BPF Futures

It wasn’t her position that opened doors. It was her presence in the industry.

By the time opportunities like MIPIM Challengers and the RICS podcast arrived, Betsy had already built the credibility to back them. Visibility wasn’t the reward. It was the reason.

You Don’t Need Permission to Be Seen

A recurring theme in Betsy’s journey is the tension between visibility and impostor syndrome.

Speaking at high-profile events felt daunting, but those moments, stepping outside of her comfort zone, led to the greatest growth.

“There’s this idea that you have to be an expert before you contribute,” she says. “But I think showing up with questions can be just as powerful as showing up with answers.”

That message is critical, especially for early-to-mid-career professionals: you don’t need to be the loudest, smartest, or most experienced person in the room to add value. 

In fact, the simple act of sharing your perspective on a project, a policy, or even your learning can shape how others view your capability and potential.

Confidence Comes After the Mic

Public speaking didn’t come naturally to Betsy. But visibility wasn’t just about showing up online. It meant speaking up in the room.

When invited to speak on a sustainability panel, she almost turned it down. It wasn’t her technical focus, and she questioned whether she had anything valuable to add.

“It kept me up at night. What if I didn’t have the technical answer? What if someone challenged me?”

But she said yes. And when she did, she realised people weren’t expecting perfection. They were there for perspective, and Betsy had plenty to offer.

“There was this welcoming aura. They didn’t expect you to have all the answers. They just wanted to hear your ideas.”

That experience reframed everything. The fear didn’t go. But confidence came after action, not before.

Leadership Without a Title

Betsy’s journey didn’t follow a linear path, but it built something more valuable than progression. It built influence.

As part of her work with BPF Futures, she’s focused on empowering the next generation of professionals. It’s a reminder that leadership doesn’t require a title — it requires initiative. In an industry often slow to modernise, her approach feels not only fresh but necessary.

“You can’t expect people to know what you’re good at if you never talk about it,” she notes. “LinkedIn became a way to document the things I care about, and now, people associate me with those things.”

Visibility Drives Opportunity

The case for building a personal brand isn’t about vanity. It’s about authority.

The industry is relationship-driven, and in a digital-first world, your online presence is often your first introduction.

Whether you're building trust with clients, attracting opportunities, or influencing decision-making, visibility makes it possible. And for professionals like Betsy, who are shaping their careers in real time, visibility has become a way to own the narrative before someone else does.