A
star
is born
When Glennda Baker was a child growing up
in Druid Hills, her mother, Betty Baker,
used to them drive through the Atlanta
Country Club in East Cobb. Together, they would
wind down Collins Drive to Betty’s favorite home, a
California Contemporary perched atop a hill where
it overlooked the neighborhood and the skyline of
Atlanta to the south. A mother and a daughter,
dreaming of the future.
“My mom would point up at this house and she
would say, ‘Pumpkin, look at that house on the hill.
Look at the house on the hill,’” Baker recalled, her
eyes bright and a smile spread across her face at
the thought of the memory. “’One day pumpkin,
just one day.’”
Today, Baker, 55, is one of the top real estate
agents in the county and a viral sensation on
TikTok, a video-focused social media network. In
2021, she sold two of the most expensive homes in
the county (check out the list on page 14 for the
top 10 most expensive homes sold in Cobb last
year) and her videos on TikTok have garnered
more than 606,000 followers and 9.2 million
likes. This is her story.
From humble beginnings
When asked to describe three things about herself,
Baker said, “I was the last person picked on the
playground, I barely got out of high school and I
raised two children by myself.” Her mother, who
Baker recalled as “direct” and “strong as battery
FROM SELLING HOUSES TO
INSPIRING WOMEN, GLENNDA
BAKER IS TAKING ON
TikTok
Wr i t t e n b y MADISON HOGAN
Photos b y HADLEY(S) PHOTOGRAPHY
acid,” was a savvy business woman who worked for
a builder/developer in Atlanta. She was also the
person Baker wanted to be like more than anyone
else when she grew up. The two were extremely
close, which is why Baker said she took to heart a
piece of advice her mother gave her when she
wanted to make a career change.
“My mom told me to go be a real estate agent,”
she said. “I designed and manufactured ladies
clothing here in Atlanta and I wanted to get out of
that business and my mom suggested I be a real
estate agent.”
With her vision set, Baker hit the ground
running. At the start of her career, she read a book
“How to Develop a Six-Figure Income in Real
Estate,” by Mike Ferry and followed the instructions
to a T.
“I started (working in real estate) in September
of 1992 and by December, I was agent of the month,”
she said. “I watched the most successful agents in
my office, buddied up with them and did whatever
32 COBB LIFE | APRIL 2022