#327 Surviving cancer and real estate investing

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What if the biggest challenges in your life were actually the keys to unlocking your greatest potential? In this episode, Gabby Demac, a former biomedical engineer turned thriving real estate investor, shares her extraordinary journey of resilience, self-discovery, and reinvention after facing life-changing moments. Join us as Gabby dives into the pivotal decisions and personal transformations that shaped her path, inspiring listeners to rethink what’s possible in their own lives.

Ina Coveney: Welcome to the podcast. Today, we're going to be talking to Gabby Demac, cancer survivor, real estate investor, and educator. And my friend. Hi, Gabby. It's so good.

Gabby Demac: Good to see you. Thanks for having me. I’m pumped to be here.

Ina Coveney: Okay, so before we start, I just gave like a really quick overview of what you do, but how would you describe what you do? Who do you help right now? What are you focused on?

Gabby Demac: Yeah, so right now, the way I like to describe it is I help first-timers—whether they’re buyers, sellers, or investors—move with confidence. And we do that through education and strategy. We really just take a unique approach to everyone’s situation, everyone’s goals, and we figure out what’s going to work best for them. We make a plan, and we get started.

Ina Coveney: Okay, that sounds really official. I’ve never done real estate investing before, and I’m really interested—before we dive into your whole story—how did you even get into this? Because you came from biomedical engineering, of all things. And I’m just here remembering being back in college with engineers, and I can’t imagine they would do anything else. So how did you end up here?

Gabby Demac: I like to joke and say that I grew up around it. My dad was in residential real estate sales his entire life—my whole life. He started when I was born. He built his own company, grew it locally in central Massachusetts. I grew up helping him out—doing marketing materials, hosting open houses, things like that. So I was always aware of the sales side of real estate.
But then I went into engineering. I loved that for a while, but eventually, something pulled me in a different direction. Lifestyle-wise and longevity-wise, I’d look at these big CEOs of the companies I worked with, and all they had was work. That was their life. And I thought, there’s got to be something different. So I got into residential sales first, made the jump, and started learning more about investing. Over time, I dipped my toe into that side of things, and now it’s been five years, and I haven’t looked back.

Ina Coveney: For everybody listening who’s not super familiar with real estate investing, it sounds like you put money in and get money out. But I want to paint a picture of what that actually means.

Gabby Demac: That’s a great point because it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For us, we’ve taken a very practical approach. I know people who, in a short time, purchase 30, 40, 50 units—what we call "doors"—to rent out.
What we’ve done is house hacking. It’s buying real estate with the goal that it either cash flows monthly—you get a check every month—or serves as a long-term investment. Once you pay down the mortgage, you’ve got an asset you can leverage to buy more, pay for kids’ college, or retire. It’s flexible, and that’s what makes it so exciting for me.

Ina Coveney: I love that. So, where did this passion come from? I remember living in Kentucky and seeing a house for sale near the train tracks. I told my husband, after watching a ton of house-flipping shows, “I could totally flip that.”

Gabby Demac: Total HGTV moment?

Ina Coveney: Exactly! But my husband looked at it with a rational mind, like, “This house is next to train tracks, and we don’t know how long we’ll be here.” Still, I had that bug to do it. Why did this resonate with you?

Gabby Demac: For me, it’s the possibilities it opens up long-term. I view what I’m doing today as setting myself up for 20, 30, 40 years down the line. Plus, I love that you can put your own spin on it. My partner and I bought a small duplex, renovated it together, and had so much fun making it ours. It’s practical but also allows for creativity.

Ina Coveney: Did you actually get into the whole construction part, like going to Home Depot every day?

Gabby Demac: Oh, absolutely. My Pinterest board was full, and my partner’s Home Depot points balance skyrocketed. We’re not loaded, so we learned how to do things efficiently—balancing affordability with quality.

Ina Coveney: I want to go back to something you mentioned earlier about leaving corporate life. Nobody wakes up one day and says, “I think I’ll switch industries.” Usually, something happens that breaks that stability. What was that for you?

Gabby Demac: For me, it was a gradual realization. I traveled a lot for work, and I used to be very active—rowing, running, softball, horseback riding. But traveling for work took a toll. I stopped feeling like myself. One day, I found a fitness program through someone online, which led to personal development, reading audiobooks, listening to podcasts, and working out again. Slowly, I realized I wasn’t aligned with what I wanted out of life. That led me to make the leap into real estate.

Ina Coveney: That’s such a powerful story. You started focusing on yourself, and then all these little steps led you to something bigger. But then, just a few years after leaving corporate, you were diagnosed with cancer. That must have been such a shock. What was that like for you? Do you remember getting that diagnosis?

Gabby Demac: Oh, like it happened yesterday. But the weirdest part for me is I actually had a harder time after I was deemed to be in remission. The mental shift of moving forward after focusing so much on survival was tough. The day I got diagnosed, though, I wasn’t shocked or scared. It felt like a challenge I had to face head-on. I had two choices: retreat and let it overwhelm me or tackle it. And honestly, the reason I could tackle it was because I’d already started taking care of myself, physically and mentally, years earlier.

Ina Coveney: That’s incredible. It sounds like all those little moments of self-care and personal growth prepared you for this huge challenge. Do you remember what led up to the diagnosis? Were there signs?

Gabby Demac: Yes. To give you the timeline, I was 26 years old, and it was 2018. My best friend and I were training for the Chicago Marathon. I’d been feeling off—small colds, exhaustion, even walking pneumonia in the summer—but I chalked it up to marathon training.
In October, I ran the marathon and felt great. But three weeks later, I woke up and noticed a lump in my groin the size of a golf ball. Being a biomedical major, I thought it was just swollen lymph nodes from being sick. But more lumps appeared, and by Christmas, I knew something was wrong. I went to the doctor, who sent me to the hospital for tests. A week later, I got the diagnosis: stage 3 blood cancer.

Ina Coveney: I can’t even imagine what it’s like to hear that. But you faced it so calmly. Where does that mindset come from?

Gabby Demac: It comes from all the personal work I’d been doing. Journaling, gratitude practices, taking care of my body—it built this resilience. But don’t get me wrong, I had my days where I broke down and felt like I couldn’t do it. My boyfriend would come home to me in tears after treatment. But overarching it all was this focus on what I had to fight for—my health, my relationships, my future. It all came down to training my brain to focus on gratitude and taking it one day at a time.

Ina Coveney: That’s so inspiring. How long were you in treatment?

Gabby Demac: The whole process—diagnosis, freezing my eggs, chemo, and scans—took about 10 months. I had weekly treatment for six months. Freezing my eggs was actually my mom’s idea. At the time, I thought, “Is this really necessary?” But now, at 32, I’m so grateful I have that option.

Ina Coveney: And this month marks five years in remission. Congratulations!

Gabby Demac: Thank you. Sometimes it doesn’t feel real. But then I’ll catch a moment—like brushing my hair, which has grown back—and think, “I did that. I got through it.” I’m also so grateful for my support system—my family, friends, colleagues. Having even one or two people in your corner makes all the difference.

Ina Coveney: It’s amazing what caretakers do, isn’t it? They’re the unsung heroes. But you mentioned your hair, and I saw one of your social media posts about it. You said, “It’s always the hair.” What was that like for you?

Gabby Demac: Losing my hair was one of the hardest parts. After my second chemo session, I woke up and it was coming out in clumps. That’s when it hit me: this is real. My boyfriend was incredible. I told him we needed to shave it, and he did it with me. Then we went to show my dad, who had coincidentally shaved his head that day too. There’s a picture of the three of us—me, my boyfriend, and my dad—all bald. It’s one of my favorite memories from that time.

Ina Coveney: That’s such a touching story. And I love how you found ways to make it fun, like naming your wigs. It’s those little things that can make a big difference.

Gabby Demac: Absolutely. And when my hair grew back, it was completely different—curly and darker. Your body goes through so much. But it’s those little moments, like seeing my hair grow back, that remind me how far I’ve come.

Ina Coveney: Speaking of resilience, you started your personal development journey before your diagnosis. Were there specific books or podcasts that helped you through it?

Gabby Demac: Yes. Gratitude journaling was the common thread in everything I read and listened to. I started with five minutes a day, writing down five things I was grateful for. It set the tone for my day and helped me focus on the good, even during tough times. One podcast I loved was “Empower Her” by Keisha Getmeried. She shared her journey from corporate to entrepreneurship and was so raw and relatable.

Ina Coveney: That’s amazing. And while going through all of this, you were also building a real estate career. What was happening on that front?

Gabby Demac: At the time, I was focused on sales—helping buyers and sellers as an agent. Going through cancer solidified my desire to get into investing. I didn’t have health insurance, a 401(k), or a steady paycheck. I started thinking about how to create stability for myself and my future. So after finishing treatment, my boyfriend and I decided to buy our first property. That decision was the catalyst for everything that came next.

Ina Coveney: And that led to house hacking, right? Tell us about buying that first property.

Gabby Demac: Yes! We used a first-time homebuyer program and bought a duplex with just 3.5% down. We lived in one unit and rented out the other, which helped pay the mortgage. It was a great way to dip our toes into investing without overcommitting. We learned a lot about homeownership, repairs, and being landlords. A year and a half later, we bought our second property, and it snowballed from there.

Ina Coveney: That’s so inspiring. For someone listening who wants to start investing, what’s the one thing they should do in the next 24 hours?

Gabby Demac: Find someone who’s a few steps ahead of you—whether it’s in investing, fitness, or personal growth—and reach out. Ask them how they did it. You’ll learn so much and start building your own path forward.

Ina Coveney: Perfect advice. Gabby, thank you so much for sharing your story and inspiring us today. How can people find you?

Gabby Demac: Instagram is my playground. You can find me at @GabbyDemac.re. I’m an open book, so feel free to reach out with any questions!

Ina Coveney: Thank you so much, Gabby. You’re truly an inspiration. And thank you to everyone for joining us. See you on the next episode of the Superhumans Podcast.

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