Rosanna Berardi has been helping clients navigate the legalities of immigrating to and working in the United States since 2005, when she left a large Buffalo, N.Y., law firm to launch her own practice, Berardi Immigration Law. “I went from having a secretary and paralegal to becoming the CEO, secretary and paralegal,” she says of the leap. “I wanted to do it my way, and I certainly did.”
Her way has worked out. Her firm has expanded steadily, even since we wrote about her last February. Berardi now has 13 employees and offices in London, Toronto and Newport Beach, Calif., in addition to her upstate New York base of operations.
And she has plans for more growth. In the short-term, she hopes to expand the firm’s work in the healthcare industry assisting foreign doctors and medical staff obtain work permits and green cards. Further own the road, she aspires “to become an immigration legal analyst” who is tapped by national news media for her expertise.
Berardi is proud of what she has accomplished professionally, but says she is happiest about the opportunity entrepreneurship has given her to be a present mom for her 11-year-old son, Salvatore. Thanks to the flexibility of her schedule, she has been able to attend his band concerts, drive him to music lessons and more. “My son views me as his mom first and as an immigration lawyer second. There is no price tag that I could place on that,” she says. “Entrepreneurship has truly provided me the best of both worlds for a working mom.”