Mortgage Professionals

The Chicago native began her career in 1995 as a financial aid counselor at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, before landing a succession of leading roles in the mortgage industry. After joining American Home Mortgage in 1999 (then CNI National Mortgage), Richardson was promoted to Assistant Vice President in 2003 and consistently ranked among the top one percent of more than 4,000 loan officers nationally. Richardson’s unrelenting desire to help the direst credit-qualifying cases resulted in her closing more than $100 million in mortgages during her first few years in the industry. Her approach to wealth creation helped a woman with four bankruptcies and two foreclosures become a successful homeowner and real estate investor in just nine months.

Richardson packaged her winning approach to helping consumers close on mortgage loans into the Mortgage Approval Plan, which is now a signature industry tool used by top mortgage practitioners to assist consumers who need a roadmap to home ownership. In 2003, she created and hosted “Wealth ‘n Real Estate,” a flagship call-in talk show, for the nationally recognized Chicago station, WVON 1690 AM and in 2005, she published her first book, Living Check to Monday: The Real Deal About Money, Credit and Financial Security. In 2006, Richardson joined JP Morgan Chase as Vice President of Business Development for select regions and quickly advanced to Vice President of National Strategic Partnerships, a coveted role responsible for creating and managing mutually beneficial alliances with a multitude of entities and trade organizations. Later that year, Richardson was handpicked to serve as the coordinator of The Delta Challenge Home Ownership initiative, a signature economic development program of the international women's public service organization, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Richardson's leadership resulted in more than 100,000 consumer touch points worldwide and 35 million in closings for Chase, a 389 percent increase over the previous three-year period. In 2007,Richardson was responsible for implementing the Chase/AKA Keys to Homeownership initiative, which leveraged the influence of the oldest black sorority to further establish home ownership as the foundation for building wealth within the African American community.