How do you balance your career, personal life, and passions? Is there such a thing as balance? Lucky for me, my career is my passion. I play tomy strengths and don’t try to be all things to all people. If I need help, I ask for it and I call on those who are better in some areas than I am. For example, I am NOT good at cleaning bathrooms, so I have someone come in and do that for me. I outsource what I can to not only balance my life but to be a better wife and mother. When I am at work, I give 100% of myself to work. When I am at home and purposeful about quality time, I give 100% to my family. Anything less than that is just ripping off work or home. I am not perfect at it and it takes effort, but I do believe you can balance life. Where will we find you on a Saturday at 10:00 am? Making breakfast with the kiddos, answering 101 questions about everything from sports to why dogs have wet noses. Boy oh boy, 9 and 7-year-olds have a lot of questions. How important is it to have amentor to grow as a leader?What are some steps to build that type of relationship? For me, it’s been vital to have someone as a sounding board who does/did what I do to walk through issues or try them on, and something just doesn’t feel right. Maybe they are not telling you how it is or maybe they are too direct. I think it’s important for me to keep evolving and sometimes that means your mentor needs to change. The biggest step to forming that kind of relationship is trust. Both parties need to be able to trust the other person.
How important is it to have a mentor to grow as a leader?What are some steps to build that type of relationship? Having a mentor is critical to cultivating growth in your career. I was lucky to be able to have a multi-year mentorship with the Chief Operating Officer of my first property management company post-college which lasted during my first few years as a Property Manager. That relationship taught me more in a handful of meetings than the majority of my time in college – seriously! He continues to be a resource to this day for me even though I left the company, and I will be forever grateful for the support and guidance. The first step in building this type of relationship is communication. Think of people in your life (personally and professionally) that you look up to or admire. Reach out to those people and ask for a time to connect with them to ask some questions about progressing in your career and growing as an individual. There seems to be a fear around mentoring in the workplace and that you need to have done “x” or accomplished “y” to be mentored but that’s not true! Anyone can be a mentor or a mentee at any point in their respective careers! What is your most meaningful accomplishment during your career? Why does it mean so much to you? If I had to pick JUST one, it would have to be becoming a Regional Manager at just 25 years old. Having started as a part-time Leasing Agent in college at just 17, I had been told by several bosses, co-workers, etc. that I wouldn’t be able to elevate myself that quickly in my career and that I needed to “pay my dues” by working in set titles/ roles for set periods. I continued to take every opportunity that I was given to show my value: cross-train other Property Managers in multi-site management, tackle every type of property management possible (tax credit, HOA, commercial, 55+, student housing), and said “yes” to even the most difficult of jobs at some of the most distressed properties until my hard work paid off. This meant so much to me because it was a reassurance to me that pushing yourself hard can achieve incredible results. Always trust yourself. You are capable of so much!
Rachel Window Regional Manager
Chantel Wood Senior Area Manager
What advice would you give women just starting in their career in property management? There is one big piece of advice that I think is critical to women starting in the property management field: say “yes” to as many opportunities as possible (no matter how small they may seem). Whether it is cross-training to learn how to do your Assistant Manager’s job if you are a Leasing Agent or traveling to a sister property down the street to help run service, you are opening yourself up to learn about how another property or department works which you cannot learn sitting behind the same desk. Within 6 months of becoming a Property Manager for the first time in 2015, I was asked to spend 15 weeks of my summer 5 hours away from my home property to help finish leasing up/managing a student site in Cleveland, Ohio while still overseeing my home property. I had never had a management role in student housing (only leasing experience from my 3.5 years of leasing in college part-time). I was only 22 at the time and it turned out to be one of the most challenging and rewarding times in my career and also was a key factor in staying in the student housing platform as a Regional Manager in the following years. It was difficult spending weeks away from my home property and driving hours home every other weekend, but it was 100% worth it.
Is there a particular female leader who inspires you or that you look up to? Why? I can think of many such as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, & Jane Fonda. But my biggest day-to-day inspirational leader would have to be Summer Falla. She has taught me to lead by example rather than be a boss. She can see through the chaos and find solutions. She will let you fly and be there when you struggle. She has taught me to take a moment and understand the situation. I am inspired by her and keep those lessons close to me no matter my path or title. What advice would you give women just starting in their career in property management? It is ok to ask all the questions, have a good notebook, find your go-to people for help, tackle the big things in the morning and the little things will fill in the gaps of your day. How do you balance your career, personal life, and passions? Is there such a thing as balance? There is balance and it is up to you to make time for it. As much as it is ok for me to be writing this after-hours, it is also ok for you to find time for team building, volunteer time, vacations, and self-care. We are our best when things are balanced.
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