Page 7 - Casa Italia Gala 2024 Ad Book

Teresa grew up with her siblings, Adele and Lori, near Harlem Avenue and Addison Street in Chicago, graduating from St. Priscilla Grammar School, Mother Guerin High School and Rosary College, now Dominican University. Having earned her degree in international business, she went in search of a job in the banking industry, then pivoted to mortgage banking.
“Getting into the mortgage business changed my life,” she says. “I started out with a fantastic group of people who trained me from the very bottom and within a year I was in sales and became a top producer after that.”
Teresa has been in the business for 36 years and has been a top performer since 1991. She served as a mortgage broker for Great Lakes Home Mortgage before joining Guaranteed Rate Affinity as Vice President of Mortgage Lending 3 1/2 years ago.
“I love helping people in achieving their dream of homeownership, especially those with more difficult situations who think there’s no hope,” she says. “I love making their dreams come true.”
Teresa also owns four businesses with her fiancé, Michael Fazio: Draft Bar Chicago, Livewire Lounge in Chicago, Goat Village Live Music & Slots in Norridge and Marie’s Café in Hillside.
“We’re big music lovers and we love meeting new people and watching them enjoy memorable events at our venues,” she says.
Her son, Marco, manages Goat Village and is a commercial/ industrial real estate broker.
A person of deep faith, Teresa was a catechist at Our Lady Mother of the Church in Chicago from 1999 until the program ended in 2019.
“I worked with third graders and I loved teaching and interacting with them,” she says. “I felt that I could make a positive impact on them. Helping them strengthen their faith was very gratifying to me.”