A passion to help people, the ability to collaborate and the ability to provide the personal touch to her customers has propelled Elk Grove Village-area REALTOR® Sabrina Conti to a finalist for REALTOR® Mag’s 30 Under 30 competition.

“How does it feel to be a finalist? It is simultaneously humbling and inspiring,” says the 28-year-old associate broker for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services American Heritage Real Estate in Elk Grove Village. “I feel so honored to be recognized with such a diverse and hardworking group of millennials. As millennials, we don’t always get the best rap, so being recognized with this group of individuals is truly an honor.” Find out more about the finalists.

Although 50 REALTORS® are finalists, one of those finalists can get a guaranteed spot by gaining the most votes in the Web Choice Award competition that ended at 11:59 a.m. Friday (March 23). The finalist with the most “likes” will win. Judges will select the other 29 honorees.

Family made real estate reality

Conti started her real estate career in August 2014, following in the footsteps of two grandmothers, Ginger Busato and Barbara Schatzman, who are now retired. As a young girl, she would accompany them when they ran errands, visited their offices or prepared for open houses. But it wasn’t until she earned her bachelor’s degree in theater – acting at Illinois State University that she felt ready to become a REALTOR®.

“My acting background completely set the stage for my real estate career, pun intended! From extensive collaboration training to the full study of human interaction and relationships, theater is truly the study of ‘humanism’ at its core,” she says. “Every client who has a home to buy or sell has a story. Theater is the art of storytelling and collaboration. I treat each client interaction and transaction as a separate production. From curtain-to-curtain, I want each step of my transactions to be specific and intentional for the personal story we are creating.”

According to her 30 Under 30 application, Conti accounted for 50 individual transactions in 2017 worth a total of $14.4 million.

‘I love people’

What has driven her to reach these numbers in her third year of real estate?

“I believe it is my unmatchable passion for people! I love people. All people. My clients really do drive my success. I have an unquenchable thirst for helping others,” Conti says. “When I was little, and people asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I casually responded, ‘a professional friend.’ If a REALTOR® isn’t the closest darn thing to a professional friend, I don’t know what is!”

Conti, who grew up in Itasca and attended Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison, is working very close to where she grew up, just west of O’Hare International Airport. She loves her career and says her success is closely tied to her support network.

“Although I have several mentors and trainers throughout my company who have helped me tremendously, I have to say the most instrumental person in my success is my husband, Anthony. Not only does he support and encourage me as a REALTOR®, he pushes me to be the absolute best version of myself I can be in all aspects of my life! Anthony is my constant rock. Without his full-on support, there is no way I would be able to work the hours and days I work, to fully take on this tremendous career.”