When I was young my dad would take me to work with him on Saturday mornings. His office would be empty and quiet while he would spend hours working on designing conveyers and catching up on work that had accumulated during the week. While I was there I would pretend to work while actually drawing pictures on my dad’s grid paper with his mechanical pencils. My dad’s work ethic taught me that we should work hard even when no one is watching, success is something that we have to work for not that we wait for.
In middle school I loved to play sports. All year round we moved from one sport season to the next. My parents never missed a game and were always the first ones to tell me great game as we would walk off of the field or court. However, as soon as we would get home my dad would get out the chalk board and draw the x’s and o’s for the teams and give me advice on what to do differently to improve my performance in the next game. These “chalk talks” I shared with my dad made me realize that even if we win a game or work our hardest there are always things that we can improve and do better at the next time we attempt them.
My high school was run and taught by nuns that belong to the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The nuns guided and strengthened my compassion, integrity and desire to serve others. I watched the sacrifice our nuns made to commit themselves to their mission of teaching us to “share the love of the heart of Christ” and to prepare us to become members of society. During these years it because clear to me that I wanted to help others and use my own personal strengths every day to do so.
As I started to apply for colleges I started to think about “what I wanted to be when I grew up”. Even after a lot of thought I really did not have an answer to this question, or maybe I had too many answers that were all in different directions. Throughout college my parents relentlessly supported me, my decisions, my re-routing of life plans, my crazy ideas and always made sure I knew that I had someone there to lean on if I needed it. During this time of my life it became clear to me that my mom was one of the strongest women that I knew. She taught me how to be a determined powerful woman. This helped me to see that I could do anything that I committed myself to.
After college I was presented with an opportunity to work at Deca Realty as an assistant property manager and to work towards obtaining my real estate license to work in sales as well as property management. The company was small and family owned. After spending some time at Deca I found that the company offered me a place to work where I would be surround by people I would soon call my family. I enjoyed helping tenants find a place to live, I felt like I was doing something good for them. Each day I learned more about the business and eventually became a property manager and joined the ownership group of the company. I work hard every day for our tenants and owners and strive to provide them a service that our competitors cannot.
It became clear to me that our company had the foundation for success. The concept of doing the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons, every time is something that is discussed frequently around our office and is exemplified by the service we provide. In the years that followed the company multiplied in size and we work very hard to continually stay ahead of our competitors and at the peak of technology. Our company is truly a united team that works together to do wonderful things for our clients and our community.
While my path was unclear to me for a very long time, I was guided to become a committed, hard-working, open to change and community centered woman. I am fortunate to have found a company that I can be a part of and help sustain development and success.
