There's a moment on the drive home to Murwillumbah when Mt Warning comes into view above the caldera, and for Sonya Taylor, that moment never gets old. After more than twenty years back in the Tweed Valley, it still feels like the mountain is saying welcome home. She wouldn't have it any other way.

Sonya's path to real estate was, by her own admission, anything but direct. Armed with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Biochemistry and a Graduate Diploma in Clinical Biochemistry, her first career was in laboratory research in Brisbane. A spontaneous weekend visit to Sydney changed everything. Colleagues told her she should be in sales, she decided they were probably right, and two weeks later she'd moved cities on a hunch. Not long after that she'd won a competitive diagnostic sales role that nobody expected someone her age to land. She spent years covering a vast territory from Western Sydney to Dubbo and up to the Queensland border, selling microbiological and diagnostic equipment to hospitals, pathology labs, manufacturing facilities and some rather unusual clients along the way.

A move into technology recruitment followed, then a return to diagnostic sales in Brisbane, and it was there that she met Craig. Their story caused something of a stir at the time. They'd originally connected online, which in those days was genuinely rare enough to be front page news. Their relationship made the national papers, they got married, and the rest is history.

When Sonya's father was injured and needed support with the family's real estate business back in Murwillumbah, the timing was just too good to pass up. She was expecting their first child, the pull of home was strong, and Craig stepped in as Commercial Property Manager while Sonya embraced life as a stay-at-home parent. The valley wrapped itself around them both and that was that.

A decade and another child later, Sonya was ready to return to work. Real estate didn't feel like the obvious fit at the time, so she completed a Diploma of Education and began teaching instead. On weekends she'd help Craig at open homes, greeting people and talking about the region she loves. Somewhere along the way she got hooked. The conversations, the community, the chance to help people through one of the biggest decisions of their lives. It turned out her father had been right all along. She just needed a few detours to get there.

When the opportunity came to take over the Ray White Rural Murwillumbah franchise, Sonya and Craig took the plunge together. Craig stepped into the role of Licensee in Charge and Sonya took on the business and compliance side of things. She has since obtained her sales licence and is now exactly where she always should have been, working alongside locals in the community she grew up in, helping people achieve something that genuinely matters to them.

With a background spanning science, sales, recruitment and education, Sonya brings something most agents simply don't have: the ability to really listen, explain things clearly, and make a complex process feel manageable. She will always give you an honest answer, even when it's not what you want to hear, and if she doesn't know something, she'll find out. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest moments in most people's lives. Sonya's goal is to make sure it feels that way, well supported, properly informed, and maybe even a little fun.

Integrity isn't just a value. It's non-negotiable.