Work hard; play hard. That's is Gina's philosophy. Outside of her business there are four areas that Gina spends her time in. The first one being family. Gina was raised by a single mom along with three other siblings and she has learned that while life may seem hard at times, it is always worth it. Her mom was uneducated when she became a single mom and has put herself through school to earn two master's degrees. Besides being the strength of the family, her mom was an excellent role model -- all four kids have a college education; from nursing to sign-language interpretation. Between her brother and two sisters, Gina is the very proud aunt of nine nieces and nephews with at least one more on the way. Beside hosting the annual kid Grinch Party every Christmas, she enjoys knocking around with the kids and is starting to pique their interest in outdoor activities, which is Gina's second passion.

Adventure and fun consume nearly all of Gina's spare time when she's not in the business or with her family. What started as casual running has turned into a full-blown passion of anything and everything outside. After completing a few 5k and 10k races, she ran her first half-marathon in 2006. Bored with one-foot-in-front-of-the-other, she took an interest in triathlons. With swimming not being a strong suit, she has persevered and completed various local sprint and olympic distance local triathlons in addition to an Iron Girl in Las Vegas and one in Baltimore. She hopes to do an IronMan some day but with the run distance being in a full marathon she is still trying to talk herself into it. Her latest and greatest addiction is full mountain biking which can prove to be difficult when one resides in Chicago. In 2010 she hopes to sneak-in travel to Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico to bike some real mountains. She also desires to add in some kayaking along the way. To balance all the physical demands of her sports, she also lightly practices yoga.

Oh, for the love of food! It has been said that Gina could simply travel the world and eat her way through it. Not interested in the tourist sites as much as the food, she loves to eat and is constantly refining her cooking. After visiting Europe in the summer of 2009, she has a new passion for healthy cooking with a Mediterranean flair. Although she is no expert in this area, when she is home you will normally find her in the kitchen.

And, what would we all be if we didn't give back? Although she does not have the time she desires to be more involved with various charities, she has taken-on two rather large, small-sized rescues. Both her dogs, Maggie Moo Moo and Lainey Rainey (no, she did not name them), came with severe conditions from puppy-mills. Maggie Moo Moo came with a horrible skin condition and while it has been managed, she will never get a full coat of hair which leads to ridiculous sweaters in the middle of Chicago winters. She is also missing several teeth and believe it or not, a nipple. Gina has been told that Maggie has a face that only a mother could love. Lainey came with all of her hair but without a malfunctioning pancreas. With her dogs she hopes to raise awareness of the effects of buying dogs through pet stores/puppy mills and hopes to educate more people about the millions of dogs that need homes.

To keep up with Gina and all of her adventures, connect with her on Facebook, Twitter or her blog (all of them can be found to the left).