Romney O’Connell earned her real estate license and joined Berkeley Hills Realty as a natural outgrowth from her career in the arts and her long interest in architecture. Romney has a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University, where she studied painting, sculpture and architecture. She received a Fulbright fellowship to study painting in Assisi in 1990.

Romney’s lifelong interest in architecture has led her into the renovation of older homes, with special attention to period detail. She is a member of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, where she often researches the histories of particular homes and neighborhoods, fascinated by the richness of character and sense of place that a home acquires over time.

Romney lives in Berkeley with her husband and three children. The O’Connells received the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association's Preservation Award (2007) for the remodel of their home, both inside and out.