One reason Brittany Macon, C’14, likes her job in real estate law at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings is that when the outcome is good, everyone involved is happy. “When I went to law school [at Vanderbilt], I thought I was going to be a defense attorney,” she says. “But I realized that life was not for me. For one thing, when you go to court, even though there is an outcome that favors one party over another, in reality no one ever wins. Real estate is different. There is a tangible good outcome; you can drive past a building and think, ‘I helped make that deal.’ Everyone makes new personal connections; and often those new connections are ready to make the next deal.”
Sitting for an interview in a gleaming conference room overlooking Nashville’s Music Row and the “Musica” statue in the roundabout where Division and 16th Avenue meet, Macon is a bright and positive presence. A recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Medallion as a graduating senior, her Sewanee resume is glittering. Assistant proctor, proctor, and then head proctor for the “Finding Your Place” first-year program, she was deeply embedded in student life. She developed and implemented a healthy life program called Choices 101, and was the African American Alliance’s community service chair.
But for Macon, Sewanee is not part of her past—it’s part of her ongoing reality as a regular donor to the Sewanee Fund. “I’ve never separated myself from Sewanee; I have an ongoing connection. I go back to talk with Sewanee students at Beyond the Gates, and, because I was homecoming queen, I went back to crown the new queen the year after I graduated and try to go back as often as I can.”
In part, that ongoing connection may be related to her brother Brandon’s presence on campus as a member of the Class of 2020.
“I would not be where I am without Sewanee,” she says. “Hagi Bradley [a former associate dean of students] was able to make some connections for me that led to my internship at the firm.” Yet, for Macon, the connection is more intense than that practical matter of a job. “I’m a Sewanee junkie,” she says. “There are four of us here at the firm, and we have a common bond, and I am often aware when a client also has a Sewanee connection. Lots of people love their alma mater, but with Sewanee, the connection is different. We love the school, but we also love the people.”
While a major focus of the Sewanee Fund is raising unrestricted gifts, donors may also make gifts that focus on enhancing current operations. To learn more, contact sewaneefund@sewanee.edu.
