After only five years in real estate, Heather Ditlevsen is among the top 10% of agents in Chicago. Earlier this year, she decided to break away from her team and work independently. “I was so scared to take that leap of faith and go solo because this industry is very cutthroat and doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room for failure,” she recounts. “But it was something I felt needed to be done, and I’m very proud of myself.”

Ditlevsen left a career as a full-time nanny to enter real estate, a change she feels she was destined to make. “I have always been intrigued by real estate,” she shares. “I spent hours on real estate websites as a kid. I became obsessed with looking at the different types of homes, how much they cost and how different neighborhoods affected prices. I was basically doing comps at 10.”

Now a broker for Baird & Warner, Ditlevsen assists developers in finding land and navigating the design process, setting her apart from others in the industry. She enjoys helping first-time buyers maneuver what can be a very stressful and complicated process. She currently specializes in the Lincoln Park, Old Town, Wicker Park, Bucktown and Logan Square neighborhoods, as well as Old Irving Park — her home neighborhood.

Considering how stressful the buying or selling process can be, Ditlevsen’s clients value her empathy, her ability to keep the process transparent and her capacity to regulate expectations. “I hope my clients can look back in 20 years and remember that I was rooting for and supporting them from day one,” she says. “Because, at the end of the day, we remember the way people treat us during these life milestones.”