By every safe, logical metric, Amal should’ve stayed put. She had a steady salary as a real estate paralegal, a young son to raise, and a clear path inside law firms and a developer’s office. Leaving that safety net for full-time commission work felt risky, even reckless.

Her strategy now looks simple from the outside. She mixed a finance and marketing degree with nearly a decade of real estate law, added a blended family of four boys, and layered on raw, unpolished social media. The result is a client-first business that runs on referrals, trust, and a growing online audience that feels like it already knows her.

Amal grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, raised in a tight Palestinian family that planted deep roots in places like Orland Park and Bridgeview. Arabic was her first language. She went to Islamic school in a Muslim Arab community that has grown over the years, and she loves watching new businesses and families take shape there. Today she still lives in the area, now fluent in both English and Arabic, and serves buyers, sellers, investors, and commercial clients in the southwestern and western suburbs.

Before she ever held an open house, Amal spent almost 10 years as a real estate paralegal. She worked at small firms, big downtown firms, and later for a developer. She learned contracts, procedures, short sales, foreclosures, and how deals fall apart. The role paid well and felt safe, especially when she was a single mom. She studied for her license anyway, telling herself that one day she’d make the leap to being a full-time broker.

That leap came in 2018, pushed in part by her husband. By then they were married, and he kept repeating the same line: you’re good at this, you know more than most agents, you should just do it. He promised to cover the gap while she got off the salary treadmill. Amal admits she was scared. Her first full year in real estate, she closed only four or five deals. But she stayed in, leaned on her paralegal skill set, and let time and relationships do their work.

From the start, Amal refused to pretend she was for everyone. Some clients don’t match her style or values, and she’s learned not to chase them. She reminds herself that real estate is a service business, and that her client’s goals have to sit above her commission. That’s why she has told buyers to walk away from deals after bad inspections or red flags with associations. “They’re going to remember that you looked out for them,” she says, and they’ll tell their friends and family who actually did the protecting.

This client-first stance shapes how she grows. Instead of cold scripts and hard closes, Amal built around people who already trusted her: family, friends, her local community, and the network she gained from years inside law offices. Her legal background lets her explain the process at a different level, and her calm during the messy parts of a deal turns into five-star Google reviews and quiet referrals. Over time, that turned her business into a mostly referral-based practice and helped her earn top producer status and a Rising Star Award from the Chicago Association of Realtors in 2020.

Social media came later and did not come easy. Amal didn’t like being on camera. She hated the sound of her own voice and spent hours recording and deleting videos. Her husband pushed again, calling social media a free tool and “the new wave” where people search for everything. At first she did the standard “just closed” posts. They showed that she was busy, but felt boring even to her. The shift happened when she stopped chasing perfect lighting and started sharing real life.

One early reel tells the story. Her teenage son insisted she was a boomer. Amal, born in 1985, tried to explain that she’s an elder millennial, not part of her parents’ generation. He didn’t buy it. She ranted on Instagram about it, laughing at herself. The next morning, the video had exploded with comments from parents arguing over generations and sharing their own kids’ one-liners. Amal realized people didn’t just want polished real estate tips. They wanted a real person. “I was the one making it hard,” she admits. Once she dropped the pressure to be perfect, social media became fun.

Now her feed blends deals and day-to-day life: the backstory behind a tough closing, the stress of rejected offers, the way her son teases her, the bittersweet shift as he moves through high school and into young adulthood. She talks about blended family life, a three-year-old granddaughter who runs the house, and the mental reset she gets from early-morning gym sessions. Even her followers have favorites: clips where she and her son roast each other tend to get the most love. The throughline is simple: she shows up as herself, and weaves real estate into that, not the other way around.

You can borrow more from Amal than just content ideas. First, accept that not everyone is your client. You save time and stress when you serve the people who already match your values. Second, build a social presence that mirrors your actual life, not a staged version of it. Share the hard parts of your work, not only the highlight reel. Third, prove your value in an age when people question every fee. That means time, knowledge, and honesty, including the courage to say, “walk away.”

The payoff for Amal is not only awards and production. It’s the DMs from people who say her stories made homeownership feel possible. It’s the buyers who come in already trusting her because they’ve watched her explain deals and stand up for clients. It’s the freedom to be a top producer with a tech-savvy, human brand that still feels grounded in the same southwest suburbs where she grew up.

“As successful as you get, as big as you get, always be humble,” Amal says. “Always remember where you came from, and put your clients first.” If you build your business on that, the next deal, the next referral, and the next chance to grow won’t depend on an algorithm. They’ll come from people who know you, who trust you, and who talk about you when you’re not in the room—for all the right reasons.