Carmen began her professional career as a legal document translator with a corporate immigration law firm in Chicago. She left the firm after twelve years, last serving as a Senior Paralegal and Process Improvement Coordinator in the Client Technology department. After receiving her real estate license in 2003 she first worked with her husband and partner, Tony, to build their own boutique residential real estate office, before joining Coldwell Banker together in 2007. She has been a frequent guest speaker and trainer within the Coldwell Banker organization, and has served as an internal consultant for management on office administration and business process improvement.

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Her professional commitments have included membership in the National Association of Realtors, as well as serving as a member of the Government Relations Committee, and Chair of the Chicago Association of Realtors’ Fair Housing Forum. She has enjoyed serving as a State Legislative Committee Liaison since 2017 for the Illinois Association of Realtors.

Carmen is also a passionate civic leader and advocate, serving as a founding Member of the Chicago Civic Collaboratory, a joint effort by the Chicago Community Trust and Citizens University. She has served as a member of the 39th Ward Participatory Budget Committee, Chair of the Hollywood-North Park Community Association, Founding Sponsor of Chicago’s North Park Community Market, and is a Founder and Public Spokesperson for the Hate Has No Home Here organization. Because of her broad commitments to public education and civic leadership, she has also proudly served as Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board at Catalyst Chicago, a member of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee for the Board of Trustees at Northeastern Illinois University, and an elected Local School Council Member for both Mary Gage Peterson Elementary School and Von Steuben Metropolitan High School. 

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Carmen is the daughter of a Cuban refugee father and a 1st generation Sicilian mother, she is fluent in written and oral Spanish, and was raised in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. She is one of six children, a proud product of both the public and private school systems in the city, and studied law and history at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. She and Tony have three adult children, they live in the North Park neighborhood with their cat and several happy hens. In 2016 the Chicago Cubs became baseball’s World Champions, something that has no relevance to her professional profile, but it bears repeating as often as possible anyway.