Though she originally began her career in advertising and marketing, working with homes has been in Sarah Elder Lyons’ blood from an early age. Growing up, Lyons watched her father and grandfathers build most of the homes in her town, as her family owned the Mason City Lumber Company in Iowa.

Before moving into real estate, Lyons excelled in the advertising, marketing and sales world. This included time spent working for BBDO, Fallon Worldwide, and Dun & Bradstreet. “This knowledge has helped significantly in my real estate career,” she says. “Creating a marketing plan for my clients is one of my favorite aspects of the job.” Today, Lyons is a real estate broker for Compass, working with clients on the North Side of Chicago and Chicagoland’s North Shore. She has expertise in a variety of areas, specializing in relocation, buying, selling and finance for luxury buyers, first-time buyers and sellers.

Lyons knows each client is unique, and she works tirelessly to make sure they get the time and attention they deserve. She embraces the opportunity to educate them on competitive market analysis, as well as the buying and selling process as a whole. In fact, her clients say she goes above and beyond, and they praise her for her positive attitude and the VIP treatment she provides each person with whom she works.

In addition to being named among Coldwell Banker’s top 3% of agents worldwide while working with the company, Lyons received @properties’ Outstanding Achievement Award after 10 years of service at the firm. She is a member of the International Association of Real Estate Professionals, the Women’s Council of Realtors and the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors. Her favorite professional accomplishment came this year when Compass nominated her for its Entrepreneurial Principles award. The award recognizes agents’ entrepreneurial qualities and the principles they are most proud of — for Lyons, that’s the idea of being solution-driven. “I live by one motto: I can fix it,” she says.