Katie Harevich
Katie Harevich is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Dahlia Property Solutions, a boutique HOA and condominium management company serving Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She has been working in the property management field for the past five years and launched her company one year ago, building it entirely from the ground up without outside investors or loans. Her business is fully bootstrapped and founder-led, reflecting her commitment to hands-on leadership, operational accountability, and a service model grounded in transparency and responsiveness.
Katie’s professional background is rooted in operations management across multiple industries. Early in her career, she moved into leadership roles starting in high school and went on to manage cafes, occupational therapy office environments, and caregiving roles supporting children with special needs. She later owned an event decorating business before the COVID-19 pandemic shifted her path. She transitioned into operations and compliance management within the Massachusetts cannabis industry, followed by finance and bookkeeping roles in property management, where she eventually became a property manager while also overseeing financial operations. Through that experience, she identified persistent operational gaps in the industry and recognized an opportunity to build a more responsive and structured model.
Today, Katie remains deeply involved in the day-to-day operations of her company. Her work includes managing HOA communities, handling bookkeeping, reconciling accounts, preparing certificates, coordinating vendors, attending board meetings, and overseeing maintenance and emergency requests through a 24/7 support line. She also supports hands-on operational needs when required, drawing on her family background in contracting to assist with unit turns, maintenance work, and property upkeep when teams are short-staffed. She is expanding into Airbnb and short-term rental management for investors with larger portfolios, offering full-service operations including leasing support, rent collection, vendor coordination, and maintenance oversight. Her leadership style is direct and people-focused, prioritizing clear communication and treating clients as partners rather than transactions, with a strong emphasis on community trust and operational integrity.
• Bookkeeping Certification
• Massachusetts Bay Community College - A.A.S. Communication, General
• Special Olympics Massachusetts
• North Pole Bike Shop (family nonprofit providing bikes to children through Patriots Foundation toy drive)
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my family, especially my grandparents John and Barbara Little. My grandfather passed away this past February, and he really, from a young age, instilled these hardworking values in me. We didn't always necessarily agree on how I went about creating my own success, but he remained supportive of me, as does my grandmother, and that's made all the difference. Having someone behind you unconditionally really makes a difference in achieving what you set out to do.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is that you can't make 100% of people happy 100% of the time. That has really stuck with me. I'm a people pleaser, and I definitely have that imposter syndrome, so I just have to remind myself that there's no way to make everyone happy all of the time, all at once. It's something I have to keep in the back of my mind as I navigate my business and work with clients.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say you cannot hold on to those people-pleasing habits that we have. You want to do a good job, but don't try to over-professionalize it. You can be a professional and also still have a personality. People are human beings. These are our clients, but you don't treat them like a number in a spreadsheet. When you bring out your personality and show them that you are a human, it makes them more comfortable too. It's really important to be authentic and connect with people on a human level.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges in my field are that the industry is primarily male-led, so you see all those stereotypical responses when you tell people you're a female CEO. In property management, there's a lot of project management and maintenance work, and I come from a family of contractors so I have pretty extensive knowledge on how physical things work, but it's always assumed that I don't. Then I pull out my toolbox and people are like, oh, she does know what she's doing. Historically, men get more funding than women-led businesses too, so I decided to save myself the stress and bootstrap my company without any investors or funding. As for opportunities, there's a lot happening right now. I'm branching into Airbnb management this year, which has grown pretty exponentially in the past couple of years. A lot of investors buy properties out in the mountains or at the beach, and their portfolio is large and they're trying to self-manage it, and they realize they need help. That's where I step in to do all the management, bookkeeping, rent collection, hire vendors and coordinators for cleanings and maintenance, and provide a 24/7 emergency line.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are community and transparency. I've really based my company around these principles. I don't like to use a lot of corporate jargon and buzzwords because it just feels impersonal. I am very forward and human with my clients. I think being transparent and treating people like human beings rather than numbers in a spreadsheet is really important, and it sets me apart in my industry.