Traci O\’Brien likes being busy. Between working as individual health insurance sales representative for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, volunteering for numerous organizations, and being a mom, her calendar is always full.

Linda Houston is no stranger to the benefits of hard work and commitment. In the early 1980s, she left a successful career as a professional dancer to go into financial advising. Over the next 25 years, she rose to become a managing director and New England market executive for Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

As client liaison/project manager for the Mystic River Building Co. LLC, creating the ideal home for her clients isn\’t something that Leslie Karen Hammond takes lightly. With a deep respect for family and nature, she makes sure each project upholds her belief that where people live affects how they feel.

Victoria Clark has bucked the dual trends of shrinking real estate brokerages and privately-owned real estate firms giving way to nationally-franchised companies.

Cheryl Calderado, the only female senior vice president at Dime Bank, oversees the retail, sales, service and marketing departments at the Norwich-based bank.

Everyone told Stacy Blake she was doomed to fail. But she did it anyway.

Linda Baumgarten co-founded the Connecticut chapter of the Real Estate Investors Association nine years ago and has built it to be the largest chapter in the Northeast. She now serves as one of its directors.