Marnie Oursler on Today Show July 25

Marnie Custom Homes recently announced that its president and CEO Marnie Oursler will appear on the third hour of NBC’s Today Show Thursday, July 25, between 9 and 10 a.m.

Today Show host Jill Martin interviewed Oursler July 9 at the Marnie Custom Homes office in Bethany Beach, and also at a home she is currently building on Silver Lake in Rehoboth Beach, for a series called “She Made It.” The series delves into the path to success for women business owners, including how they overcame obstacles to make it to the top.

On the show, Oursler discusses her lineage as a fifth-generation home builder and how she achieved success in a male-dominated industry. “It comes down to taking the right risks and ignoring the no’s,” says Oursler.

After graduating from East Carolina University in 2001, Oursler moved to Bethany Beach and worked in a realtor’s office where she studied real estate trends in the area. With an ultimate goal of owning a waterfront home, Oursler saved every penny, ate peanut butter sandwiches, worked odd jobs, and purchased her first home – a fixer-upper not on the water, this time. She renovated it and sold it in less than a year for a profit. 

Then Oursler bought two lots, designed and built custom homes, and sold them before the recession hit in 2007. That downturn didn’t deter her from starting a construction company after bidding on and landing the opportunity to build a custom home for a couple who had been following her work.

“The market was crashing, everyone was losing their money and their homes, and the timing was completely wrong for starting a new business, especially one in the home industry,” says Oursler. “I did it anyway.”

During the Today Show segment “She Made It,” Oursler describes her continued tenacity and dedication to her craft, clients and the home industry, including building the first LEED-Certified Home in Delaware and winning the Gold Stevie Award as Entrepreneur of the Year, among many additional awards, and getting her MBA from Duke University. Oursler went on to host two seasons of DIY Network’s “Big Beach Builds,” as well as HGTV’s 2018 Dream Home, and continues to grow Marnie Custom Homes, building more than 100 homes to date.

“Laying the foundation for who I wanted to become wasn’t always easy, and it’s far from complete,” Oursler adds. “But brick by brick I’ve built something I can be proud of, and most importantly, I did it my way.”

For more information about Marnie Oursler and Marnie Custom Homes, go to www.marnieoursler.com and www.marniecustomhomes.com. More info about the series is at www.today.com.