Embrace Employee Spotlight: Sean Delaney and Sheila Nourimoghaddam

There’s a lot to love about Embrace Home Loans, but one of our strongest assets has always been our employees. We have teammates who have been with us for 10, 20, even 30+ years. And we’ve also been hiring new employees at a furious pace this year — new employees that many of us haven’t met yet as we continue to work remotely during the pandemic.

In this Employee Spotlight, we’ll be featuring two Embrace teammates each week — one new employee, and one employee who has already been with us for a while. Each will give different perspectives on the Embrace experience and a little more personal info so you’ll be able to get to know them better.

Want to nominate someone to feature in a future spotlight? Email Mary Mack at [email protected]

SHEILA NOURIMOGHADDAM, Appraisal Review Manager

What is your official title and what do you do at Embrace?

I had the pleasure of joining the Embrace family back in August of 2020 as Appraisal Review Manager and have since been working towards successfully building our Appraisal Review department.

What made you want to work at Embrace?

Life is about taking chances and I am a strong believer that progress is impossible without change. After speaking with Patrick Mullen and Claudia Mobilia about their vision of building an Appraisal Review team and furthering their expansion of the Appraisal process, I knew instantly that it was a project I wanted to be a part of.

In the past couple of months, we have been working diligently to build our Appraisal Review department, which has been a success and I am looking forward to helping improve other aspects of our Appraisal process.

How has it been starting a new job during COVID? And just working for Embrace in general?

Working at Embrace has been AMAZING!! It’s empowering to work for a company whose core values are demonstrated daily through the personality and work ethics of its employees. Every employee I’ve had the opportunity of meeting so far has been extremely welcoming and helpful and that’s always appreciated as a “newbie.” The most difficult part of starting a new position during COVID is the inability to visit the office but I look forward to making a trip to the office hopefully in the near future!

What did you do for a living before you came to Embrace?

For the past 10 years, I have specialized in building successful Appraisal departments for other lenders and I am excited to be here today to help bring Embrace’s vision to life!

We’d love to get to know you better! Tell us about yourself.

I was born in Bursa, Turkey when my parents initially began their journey of migrating to the United States from Tehran, Iran. My years in both Turkey and Iran were short-lived as we successfully joined my family here in Northern, VA back in 1990.

I grew up in Stafford, VA, and graduated from George Mason University in 2009, where I studied event planning. That same summer, I immediately went to cosmetology school at Graham Webb Academy. I spent nearly a year working as a stylist at PR at Partners and then somehow got into the mortgage industry shortly after. Like many of us, I’m not entirely sure how I got into this industry, I just did — haha! Fast forward many years and here I am today.

I have many hobbies, beginning with crafts and building things from scratch (hence my passion for building appraisal departments!) I am a huge fan of Halloween and every year I go all out in full make-up and costume (made by yours truly). My last look took approximately two weeks to complete where I re-created my own version of Maleficent.

I have a fear of bugs and they’re the biggest reason why I hate the outdoors — but I love being outdoors; so take me to the beach and give me a nice book and I’ll stay there all day long with pure joy in my heart! My goals for 2020 were to get married and travel the world with my husband but COVID had different plans for us, so no wedding and no travels this year, but there’s always next year to look forward to.

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SEAN DELANEY, MLA Team Leader

What is your official title and what do you do at Embrace?

I am the Mortgage Loan Associate (MLA) Team Leader. The MLA team is a loan officer development training program and is a new venture for our Direct platform.

The MLA training program is a comprehensive six-month course where we hire individuals interested in becoming loan officers. In this program, the new MLAs take training courses and work with other Embrace employees to help them become familiar with our systems and the loan process. During this time, they also are given studying material to help them prepare for and pass the national exam.

In short, we take someone new to the mortgage industry, teaching them all in the “ins and outs” of the mortgage business, and Embrace Home Loans until they graduate to the licensed Loan Officer position.

How long have you worked for Embrace?

October is my anniversary month, and this October marked my 20th year with Embrace Home Loans!

What made you want to work at Embrace?

100 years ago, when I was young and handsome — well, when I was young — a friend of mine worked at Embrace (Advanced Financial Services, way back then) and told me they were hiring for the Loan Officer position. At the time, I was selling TV commercial spots and really liked the idea of learning about the mortgage industry. I jumped at the opportunity and luckily, I got the job. The rest is history, as they say.

What’s one of your favorite Embrace memories?

That is hard to say! I don’t think there is one memory that overshadows any other. I think my favorite part about working here is all the great people I have been fortunate enough to work with. As you know, I have been here for a 1000 years, so there are way too many great memories to boil down to a single answer. You don’t stay at a company for 20 years if you don’t enjoy the people you work with!

How has it been working from home for most of this year?

Funny you should ask this, because I was just telling someone the other day that I have probably been to the office more than anyone else this year, say other than maybe Melanie Sage, or Abigail Drennon. I was one of the “Essential Workers” that came to the office every day during the heart of the pandemic, and now with the MLA team, I am still here every day! Come to think of it, I need a vacation!

We’d love to get to know you better! Tell us about yourself.

I live in Narragansett, RI. I have lived there most of my life, and I absolutely love where I live! I went to the University of Rhode Island, where I received a B.A in Political Science, which goes hand-in-hand with the mortgage industry; knowing about the Electoral College has served me well in my job.

When I am not in the office, I enjoy being outdoors. I love biking, hiking, and if I ever have free time when there are waves, I like to surf. I also have a cat named Smokey, who hates me and has been plotting my death for the last 16 years. I am happy to say she has been unsuccessful to this point!