Profiles

There are very few shops in the Chicago area where you can buy a live, three-foot shark. Then again, there are very few shops where the owner can definitively say, “This stuff is like a drug. Once customers are hooked, they are in my store every day.” The drug Mario Rubino is talking about is saltwater fish, and the store he’s referring to is Aquatica in Tinley Park. Ten years ago, Rubino took a leap of faith and pursued his passion. “My family has a grocery store, Rubino’s Italian Imports in Tinley Park, and I used to work there with …

Chicago has been very good to an entrepreneur from New York. Or maybe you could say a guy from New York has been very good to Chicago. Vince Aversano was born and raised in New York but credits Chicago with giving him the good life he has now both as an entrepreneur and as a philanthropist. Aversano started to enjoy the Midwest by attending Marquette University. After obtaining a journalism degree, he started his professional publishing career in Chicago. “I worked with Inside Sports magazine,” recalls Aversano. “I just applied as an entry level position in the editorial department, switched …

Did you ever consider going to an eye doctor to get into shape? That’s the latest trend in fitness, and it’s happening now in Lake Forest. Joyce Muni began her professional journey as an ophthalmologist, and she has been proudly serving Libertyville and neighboring areas in Lake County for 30 years. She is on staff at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville and Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan. With her busy schedule, Dr. Muni sees many patients with a wide variety of ailments. “I’m a physician and very interested in the total well-being of my patients,” Muni says. “Patients …

It’s a big deal to have your new work premiere at the Steppenwolf Theater. Then again, Walkabout Theater Company’s Thom Pasculli has ambition and talent that set the stage for big things. As director of “The Wild,” he’s fashioned an experimental production you must see to appreciate. Inspired by the work of playwright Charles Mee and Walkabout’s physical training practices, “The Wild” is the world premiere of a devised laboratory theater performance that confronts distant realities and their infringement on our daily lives. But it moves, too, incorporates erotic dance and the dealings of seductive demi-gods as they encroach on …

The John Marshall Law School Alumni Association Board recently announced the 2010 recipients of its prestigious Distinguished Service Award. Three of the recipients are people from our community: retired Circuit Court Judge Nicholas Pomaro, Salvatore “Sam” Tornatore and Mary Ann (Iantorno) Hynes. The announcement was made by the president of the Alumni Association Board of this 120-year-old law school, Katherine Amari, who also serves as president-elect of the Justinian Society of Lawyers. The Distinguished Service Award was created to recognize graduates and their contributions to the school, the profession and to the community. These recipients are hard-working members of the …

Joanne Bratta’s work defines “calling” in a way that’s both inspirational and admirable. As the executive director of St. Mary’s Services in Arlington Heights, Bratta helps women deal with one of life’s most daunting challenges: unplanned pregnancies. “We do option counseling to help them make a choice on what they want to do,” says Bratta, who started officially with St. Mary’s in 2012, but has a professional relationship with the adoption agency stretching back more than two decades. “Option counseling focuses on what the woman wants, not what we want. We educate them about adoption and explain that it’s relationship …

His mother played piano, his father the bass — yet Joseph Genualdi always knew he’d blaze his own trail as a violinist. The incendiary moment dates to age 5, when his parents took him to one of his first concerts. The artists, repertoire and location escape him. Yet Genualdi (who paternal family hails from Altavilla Milicia, Sicily) remembers how the violinist left an imprint that, half a century later, still hasn’t faded. “After the concert I said to my parents, ‘I want to play violin, I want to play violin,'” recalls Genualdi, now 59 and a professor at the University …

Italians cannot live without their wine. It doesn’t matter if it’s red, white or prosecco, vino holds a place of honor at our table, whether we’re eating at home or dining out. According to the Wine Institute, more than 26 million bottles of wine are produced annually throughout the world. There’s nothing better than sitting down to dinner at a restaurant and being able to order your favorite bottle of wine. But how do restaurant owners and their wine buyers find that special bottle for their customers? Now, they can turn to Wine2Find.com. Launched earlier this year, Wine2Find.com has accomplished …

After spending 22 successful years in the restaurant business, why would anyone want to go into the “wings” business? “I wanted to do something different, and besides, everyone likes wings,” states Michael Pace. Pace has turned a popular snack into a delicacy, mastering the process along the way. In the process, he has created Wingboss, a fast food restaurant in Berwyn specializing in chicken wings. Each of his nine flavored sauces are original recipes Pace created based on his years of experience in food service. In 1990, Pace left the hectic and unstable world of the Board of Trade to …

We’ve all heard it said that, to succeed in business, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” For marketing maverick and public relations pro Bernie DiMeo, it’s a combination of the two. DiMeo has the pleasure of running not one, but three, businesses right now. Bernie DiMeo Communications is a public relations firm, Rocco Shirts sells novelty custom-made apparel on-line while Hot Sports Grills sells football and baseball shaped charcoal grills. Why three different businesses? It stems from an entrepreneurial gene shared by his forebears. DiMeo grew up in a Rogers Park two-flat in an Italian household that …