Her Story
About Marina
My first introduction to property management was really in college when I started as an RA, a resident advisor for the dorms. It was really just a way to pay bills and cover rent, but I really enjoyed community activation and bringing the residents together and event planning, and that gave me a baseline foundation for getting into the industry. I grew up with a lot of family members in the industry - my mom and my aunt are both still in property management - and at first I thought I never wanted to do what my mom does. But with this job in college, I got a sneak peek into some of the more rewarding sides of the industry. Post-college, I was coaching gymnastics, which was my summer job, and that could only get me so far. I was working for a mom-and-pop company, 30 hours a week, and it was great, still leading people in a community environment, but it wasn't the same responsibility level as working in this industry. I eventually fell into my first assistant manager role in 2018 and was promoted to community manager within a year, and that's the title I've held at several different assets throughout my career path. The property I manage now is 472 apartment homes with 12 retail spaces that are all food and beverage in the heart of the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles. It's a very busy corner with lots of food and beverage, people walking by looking for homes but also shopping or going out to eat. I have a team of 10 on my staff, as well as a full-time porter and security team. Our job is to not only lease apartments but to create a community that is exciting for people to want to bring their friends and family to. I manage the pricing of apartments every day, write budgets for the property, and work in third-party management, which means we manage somebody else's building - we don't own it, we just manage it. My role is really leading my team to make the best decisions while keeping the budget, occupancy, and reputation in mind.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Marina
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think sharing it with others. It's exciting to have awards and certifications and all those things, but it doesn't really mean anything if you're not using that knowledge to help other people, and I think that's where my passion for leadership comes in. I get just as much, if not more, fulfillment from coaching my teammates and sharing with them what I've learned and watching them grow and promote. I think that goes full circle. Every time that I see one of my team members grow and promote, and maybe they move on and they're not on my team anymore because they've grown out from me, I say, what can I learn next to teach the next person. So it's very full circle, and it doesn't stop with me. I think that's what's made me most successful, is just sharing the knowledge that I have.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think to attend and network as much as you can. We get a lot of opportunities to go visit other properties or attend networking nights, especially in LA, and it's easy to think, oh, these are all the time, who cares, same people. But I feel like attending and going to IREM events and trying a class or trying certification has really brought me out of my shell and introduced me to different opportunities. One of the best things I can say about IREM is that it's not just residential property management, it's also office and retail, so it gets you exposure to things that you may not have considered. I've made so many relationships by attending these things and by taking the courses, and it just makes me so much more confident in my craft. I don't think I would have ever got there if I didn't just show up to that mixer, or that happy hour, or that info session. So that's my biggest piece of advice - if you're interested in getting ahead, or even just getting started, attending those things and putting yourself out there is the first step.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think one of the biggest challenges, especially for Los Angeles, is that being a landlord is not always fun, right? But there's also this other side where homelessness is an epidemic in LA and in California. We're very close to Skid Row, so it's really important that while we strive to please our stakeholders and things like that, that we remember why we're in the industry in the first place, which is to provide housing for people, and that these are people that are our customers for a big part of their lives. They choose to live with us, they choose to share a part of their life with us. And having compassion is going to fill your cup a lot more than just making another dollar. Part of leasing is evicting, and that doesn't feel great. But if you make a great relationship with people and try to look at them as humans and not transactions, it can make the less glamorous parts a little less evil.
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