Many of you who have worked with me have also worked with Amy VanElsacker. She’s the glue that holds my office together. Amy is a broker associate and acts in many other roles on my team: event planner, personal assistant, graphic designer, customer service, sales, marketing, trainer, interior designer, and then some. She is the perfect illustration of why job titles often cannot encapsulate everything someone does to make a business run smoothly.
Amy brings creativity and a strong work ethic to the job every day. She also has a great sense of humor—after all, she was voted class clown in high school.
The Past
Amy was born in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, in Escanaba, a Lake Michigan port town that’s almost due north of Chicago. She is part of a large family.
A young Amy VanElsacker with her extended family on her mom’s side.
Amy was an artist from a young age. She was always interested in architecture, drawing floor plans and creating paintings of homes real and imaginary.
Amy gives great gifts, including paintings she does of her friends’ homes. Here are two examples.
After studying urban planning at Michigan State University, Amy began her career in Grand Rapids. She worked in city planning and ran The Mustache Gallery, a live-work space that hosted local and national artists.
Window displays at The Mustache Gallery, a live-work space Amy used to run in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Before landing in Chicago, Amy spent a year in Vietnam, where she traveled the region and worked as a freelance artist and designer.
Amy on her travels throughout Southeast Asia, when she was based in Vietnam.
The Present
Today, Amy is active in the Chicago art scene and enjoys exploring the city for live music, good eats, and secondhand gems. She just married her long-time friend this past summer at a great celebration in the city. I commented that of course Amy threw an incredible party and that, even in Hollywood, nobody could have cast a better bride than her.
Amy VanElsacker and her husband Jason McChristian at their wedding in August 2018.
Also good to know: Amy takes Halloween seriously. She always celebrates the holiday with creative costumes.
Amy dressed as a creepy clown for Halloween 2018. The party theme was “childhood fears.” Her husband Jason is the other clown, and our own Hannah Clark is pictured as an undead Cleopatra.
Amy uses hard work and her naturally great eye to ensure that each listing stands out. She’s equally comfortable cleaning floors before open houses and holding a glass of wine at a gala.
If you haven’t met Amy yet, I hope you get the opportunity to do so. She’s a special person. We’re all lucky to have her around.
