At just 12 years old I started learning the ins and outs of real estate. It was more than just houses; It was a distraction from the hard stuff happening around me.

My parents were going through a divorce, which meant looking for a new house. Climbing into the back of my Realtor’s fancy Cadillac, I was excited about a fresh start with less chaos.

I learned that picking a house is about more than just square footage. Such as, a house in Park Ridge with 5 floors might seem cool, but it also sounds tiring. Power lines and high levels of radiation are a hard no. I appreciated a wide-open floor plan I  saw in Elk Grove (especially when it had a cute Corgi that met     us at the door!). And of course, a house in Hoffman Estates  taught me location, location, location!

Looking at those houses brought me joy, even though my world was crumbling.

Time passed and it was quite bumpy. At just 17 I became a mom. Later on, I experienced my own divorce and even foreclosed on my home. I chose different careers, like being a dental assistant and an in-home personal trainer, but real estate still had a special place in my heart. Thanks to the support of my friends and family, I took the real estate exam in 2017 and passed on the first try (a tough thing to do!).

As wild as it might seem, without my parents’ divorce, I wouldn't have gone for rides in that fancy Cadillac and discovered my love for real estate. Now, there’s no place I’d rather be.