“One of my agent friends calls me ‘the Boundary Queen,’” says REALTOR® Bridget Carroll with Keller Williams Premiere Properties in Glen Ellyn. “This business can run you over. Figuring out how to stay sane while balancing life and family is a huge passion of mine.”

As a working mom who had all four of her kids while juggling her successful real estate career, Bridget has mastered the art of multitasking. It’s a skill she must have inherited: as the Naperville native was growing up, she watched her parents maintain complicated schedules to provide for their family.

“My mom was a flight attendant for almost forty years with American Airlines. My dad worked for the Illinois Department of Transportation, and as a stagehand for local concerts and events,” says Bridget. “Both often worked long hours and overtime, but they never complained and always fit in time for fun.”

In her youth, Bridget followed suit, holding several part-time jobs that allowed her to help herself and her family financially and tap into her own entrepreneurial drive. While in college, she worked as a restaurant server and babysitter to help pay for her tuition. After graduation, she faced a tough job market, so she took a role in outside sales for a women’s accessories company that prepared her in many ways to get over the fear of rejection in situations like cold calling. She moved on to a marketing assistant position at VOA Associates Incorporated, a large architecture firm, and while there, the real estate bug bit her.

“A REALTOR® was on our team when we were designing a residential condo project in the West Loop,” recalls Bridget. “I was intrigued by his role and his overall job. I signed up for real estate classes and earned my license. I only did a few deals while I was still focusing on my job at VOA.”

Then in 2006, at age twenty-five, she jumped into real estate full-time. As we now know, a market downturn was on the horizon. Though it was not an ideal time to begin her journey, Bridget faced the challenge with flexibility.

“The recession hit just as my business was getting off the ground,” she says. “Because I was buyer-heavy at the time, I was able to navigate through. I also had four kids between 2009 and 2015. Learning how to balance business, kids, newborns, pregnancy, childcare, and other life activities was a huge thing I had to work through. Thankfully, I have always had my ‘village’ to help me.” Bridget says her husband, Tom, has always been super supportive, willingly “having newborns tossed at him whenever I ran out for showings and inspections,” she says. And the couple’s parents were always there to lend a hand. “Asking for help—finding and leaning on your ‘village’ of family, friends, or others—is important,” she affirms.

Now that she has found that balance, Bridget relishes the opportunity to help others do the same. She regularly mentors new and soon-to-be-a-parent real estate agents on how to prioritize family while also serving their clients well.

“I love supporting other people while they figure out their path, especially women with kids,” says Bridget. “I got to be on a panel a few months ago for moms in real estate, and it was great to talk about how I have, mostly, successfully navigated [the] work-life balance.” 

Outside of real estate, Bridget is active with 6000Moms. This local organization helps immigrant and refugee families connect to care, advocacy, support, and community resources and opportunities. Bridget assists with finding housing and procuring furniture and household donations. “Everyone should feel comfortable at home,” she says.

For the past several years, Bridget has focused much of her coaching on her own team, the Bridget Carroll Team. Kelly Hyde—director of operations, jill-of-all-trades, and Bridget’s “right-hand woman”—runs the back-end of the business, including transaction coordination, marketing, events, and special projects. Becky Illingworth, a former art teacher, is the team’s home stager. Her sense of design transforms the team’s listings and maximizes the listing prices for their clients.

“Our team is the best at providing a really high-level real estate experience,” claims Bridget. “We want our clients to feel taken care of, and to always know what is coming next. When they get those keys, or we hang up that sold sign, we want them to feel like we did our absolute best for them.”

Looking forward, the team is open to expanding. But this tight-knit group is in no rush to grow just for growing’s sake. Their primary goal is to expand their own expertise, improve their processes, and uncover value for their clients. Some of the ways they do this include procuring off-market or “coming soon” opportunities and capitalizing on their strong broker relationships. 

“For me, real estate has morphed from churning and burning from deal to deal to a relationship-based business that I am running at a high level with my team,” says Bridget. “I am always learning and growing, and I am ever-curious. I also know that I am good at what I do, that I am an expert in my field. It feels good.”

And while Bridget knows her life today is a little crazy, she doesn’t feel the urgency to leave the craziness behind. She understands she should lean into the chaos while she still can.

“I am in a season of extreme busyness with my four kids—Beckett (15), Finn (14), Janie (11), and Oliver (9)—in various activities. It's insane but so fun,” she says. “As they grow older and leave the nest (cue the tears!), I look forward to being a REALTOR® for life. For now, though, my ‘why’ is to live an experience-filled life and spend as much time as I can with my family.” No doubt Bridget’s “Boundary Queen” mastery will allow her to do just that.