“Like snowflakes, no two transactions are the same,” says REALTORⓇ Katie Mihelich of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group in Glen Ellyn. From healthcare to real estate, Katie has dedicated her career to building connections and making an impact in people’s lives. “Service and relationships are key to understanding how to create the best strategies and outcomes based on a client's unique needs and goals. I love leveraging my business expertise to create custom solutions that work best for my clients.”

Katie was the youngest of four in a large, extended Irish Catholic family. Money was tight, so she took it upon herself to finance her education, earning scholarships, grants, and assistantships to put herself through school. At Drake University, she earned her bachelor’s degree in communications and marketing, and designed and obtained her master’s degree in integrated marketing communications. She received her MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. 

Katie led a digital relationship-marketing agency that focused on rare and chronic diseases for thirteen years. They created solutions for pharmaceutical companies to find, connect, and empower patients and caregivers with right diagnoses, treatment, and support that included more than therapy. 

“It was about so much more than the business. We made a difference,” she explains. “These were life-changing diagnoses, treatments, and connections that improved people’s day-to-day lives.”

In 2013, everything changed. Katie’s then four-year-old daughter, Ava, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Suddenly, the high-powered corporate career she’d worked so hard to build was no longer her top priority.

“I was at a peak in my career: a key executive with an MBA and all the amazing corporate successes on paper that I’d worked hard to achieve,” Katie says. “I was traveling weekly across the country to clients and landing new business. The agency was growing. We were about to be bought out with strategic plans for me to be the president and lead the company. I loved my job and the people we worked with.”

“Then my personal and business worlds collided,” she continues. “I knew I needed to be home with my family.” 

Katie made the difficult decision to step away from her career and focus on caring for her two daughters. After a time, she began searching for a new career path—one that would balance her passion for making an impact in business with her commitment to her family. Real estate had always intrigued her, and with her background in marketing, design, client relationships, and negotiation, she knew she had the skills to succeed.

In 2015, she earned her real estate license and joined d’aprile properties in Glen Ellyn, which merged with Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group in 2023.

“I’ve loved being part of people's lives and making a difference during a key part of their journeys—I’ve been part of marriage proposals, birth announcements, divorces, and loved ones’ deaths,” she shares.

Katie’s deep connections and established network allowed her to grow her real estate business quickly. The culture at her brokerage, the Ninja Selling program, and her own optimistic approach also saw to her success. Today she enjoys a 99 percent referral-based business that has continued to grow year after year, as well as the achievement of $60M in sales. Among her accolades, this top producer received her company’s highest honors: the Pinnacle Club and Million Dollar Club awards in 2023 and 2024.

“Mindset is everything in this business,” she says. “Positivity and staying true to yourself will set you apart.”

Beyond real estate, Katie is deeply involved in her community and supports many local organizations. In particular, she and her family actively support organizations like Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF) and the American Diabetes Association, driven by their personal connection to the cause. Katie also enjoys biking along the Illinois Prairie Path and dining at favorite restaurants in Lombard and Glen Ellyn.

Her family—her husband, Randy, and their daughters, Ava (16) and Molly (14)—remains at the heart of everything she does, and she’s sure to attend her daughters' club volleyball games and other life events. 

“It’s important to find your ‘why’ [per work] and stick with it,” says Katie. “Mine is and will always be family.”

Looking ahead, in addition to focusing on growing her business while continuing to provide exceptional service to her clients, Mihelich will seek more opportunities to mentor other women in business, to pay forward the support and mentorship she received in both careers.

“Success isn’t about the numbers; it’s about waking up every day excited to do what I love,” Katie says. “It’s about working with people who know, like, and trust me and delivering results that exceed their expectations.”

“What we do is personal and so emotional,” she adds. “A home is not only one of the largest investments a client may make, but it’s also part of their journey and story. The happiness or sense of relief or closure I get to share with my clients brings me so much joy.”