Empowering The Multifamily Industry One Education Program At A Time With Joelis Barandica-Rodriguez



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Empowering The Multifamily Industry One Education Program At A Time With Joelis Barandica-Rodriguez

We have here with us, Joelis Barandica. She is the Regional Education Director with ConAm Management. Welcome to the show.

It's a pleasure to be here with you. I thank you for the invitation and the chance to have a conversation with you.

Let's start by introducing yourself to the audience. Tell us a little bit about your background. How did you end up in the multifamily industry? Tell us a little bit about your role as a Regional Education Director.

I started my property management career many years ago. I don't think anyone who's been in this industry just wakes up and says, “I want to be a property manager when I grow up.” Property management just fell on my lap. I was a sales rep for a water treatment company in NYC. I was taking care of the related profile or portfolio in New York City. I worked very closely monitoring their boilers and HVAC systems and created some rapport. In that rapport and through my work ethic, I was asked if I was interested in becoming a property manager. I'll be honest with you. At that time, I didn't know what property management was. No clue. If you had asked many years ago, “What is property management?” I would've looked at you and just given you the emoji shrug.

It fell in my lap. I started the position. It was challenging. It slowly grew from HOA/condo property management to having a portfolio of twelve properties all throughout the New York tri-state. I was very successful. I had a great mentorship and was able to understand property management, the budgeting process, and that customer relationships are what drives this industry. Fast forward, we moved down to Orlando, my family and I many years ago.





When I first came here, no one would give me an opportunity. I could not get a property management job for the life of me. I did not have my CAM license. It wasn't something that I needed in New York City. Hearing that I needed this CAM certification was new to me. At that moment, I honestly didn't have the funds to invest in myself and achieve this license. It was 3 or 4 years after I moved to Orlando that I even had the opportunity to become a property manager here in Orlando.

After that, the world became my oyster. I was introduced to some amazing people who have shaped and changed the way I look at life. I've been very lucky to now be fully engulfed in this industry. A few years ago, I became the Education Director for ConAm Management. It's like a whole new world opened. I did not know what my purpose was. After that position, I fully understand what my purpose is in this world. I have to think that’s the multifamily and all the organizations that support me.

Why don't you share a few great things that are happening at ConAm with us? If someone's looking at this show and they're considering, “Why should we look into this company?” and they're out for an opportunity or maybe there aren't, but I'd like for you to share some great things that are going on within your company. Hopefully, we get some folks out there interested that they want to knock on your door.

I hope they do. I am a very proud ConAm employee. ConAm is a great company. We were established in 1975. We have over 53,000 units throughout the United States. Our main hub is in San Diego, California. We have a big showing of properties in that West region. The region here in the Central Southeast is growing. There are many opportunities. We have a great education and training program. We do an outstanding onboarding for new hires. We try to make you feel like this is where you want to be for the rest of your life.

We have tenured employees. Most of our employees have been with ConAm for over ten years. That gives you a good indication of the culture and the amount of care that ConAm puts out there for every employee. I don't want to give too much away because if I have people from my region reading, I can't give any little tricks and tips away that they should know. There are some great things happening. We have a whole bunch of properties that we are acquiring. We need staff. You get to work with me. I promise you that you'll not regret it and you'll have a great time at ConAm.

I always encourage people to come join my group and my team. We could do a lot of great things together. I was able, for the years, to attract some amazing talent. Some of them, even if we don't work together, we're still in touch. We're very close. I'm assuming that there's the same type of synergy and relationship that you're building out there.

In all reality, we try to create industry leaders. That's what we want. It's important for ConAm and for me to ensure that we do create those industry leaders and provide that impact in this industry that we grow and that we nourish.

I know that you're very involved with the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando. I want to ask you about the facilitator training program that you have developed for the association. Could you let us know how this idea came about, what is the program about, and how can someone become part of the program?

This is a program that is near and dear to my heart. I am a huge fan of AAGO, the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando. It's because they made me feel like I belonged somewhere in a time where I felt I didn't belong. I truly do have a special place in my heart for AAGO. Along with Desiree Starr and Lori Agudo, two of my best friends, we started this facilitator training program. It focuses on equipping our associates and people to equip them with the necessary skills to deliver effective and engaging training. It's about public speaking. It's about getting in front of the table and being able to represent yourself and your company, AAGO. What that facilitator training program is to make you comfortable in a public speaking setting.



It's to ensure that you know how to create content, how you deliver that content, how and you deal with problem students or problem associates. That's what the bulk of that training is. It is a three-day intensive training. It is modeled much after the National Department Association's facilitator training, a little bit of a fraction of the cost. If you are interested, please go ahead and log into the AAGO website. There is a big sign on the facilitator training program and we'd be more than happy to have you.

It is a comprehensive program that goes into detail on training capacities, content creation, PowerPoint, and what we all use to create beautiful designs. I get to do it with Lori Agudo and Desiree Starr, who are two powerhouses in the training world. I'm completely humbled. It's a great opportunity, and I do encourage everyone to take this class. I took the NAAEI Advanced Facilitator training course. It was life-changing. It was so impactful. Unfortunately, not everyone has the ability to cover the cost of these sessions. The apartment association just wanted to do a smaller frame but at a lower cost to entice people to look into the training world.

Thank you for sharing this. I do want to go a little bit practical and ask you to share with the audience right here. What are some things that someone should focus on if they want to start becoming a public speaker? I've done some of that myself, not very extensively, but it's a very difficult thing to do. Part of the reason why I started a show is to get myself in front of a camera and virtual audience and put myself out there, make mistakes, learn from the mistakes, and hopefully do better. Give some tips for those who don't want to step into this public speaker arena.

You have to be bold. Be confident. Create five-minute videos of yourself. Get your phone, set it up in front of you, use three minutes, and talk about something you're passionate about. It could be anything. It could be, “I'm passionate about my kids. I'm passionate about my Jordans.” It could be anything at all. Get in front of that camera, start that conversation, and be confident. It's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to the ums and long pauses. It's okay. It will get better. It's getting that practice in front of the audience. It's like you said, getting in front of that camera and putting yourself out there that's going to make you successful in that public speaking forum.

You said something, “Be confident.” That's why I advise everybody to be confident. You are great at what you do. Get out there and kill it. It's a lot easier to say than do that. How do we jumpstart that? How do we get someone that's in their comfort zone or they're very intimidated? They are not too confident. How do we give them that boost to get in front of people and just get started?

The most important thing right here, especially in my personal experience, has been you got to get started. Once you get started, make mistakes, you're going to learn from mistakes, you're going to get better, and you have to repeat it. It's all like a repetition type of thing more than anything. The more you do, the better you get at it. Most people get stuck into that phase one to where they never get to start. What would be an incentive? What would be a way to treat your mind to make the first step on stage and get on stage?

It's something that's thought-provoking because if you think about it, many of the obstacles that we have in front of us are self-created. Our own mind is creating this obstacle before it happens. It's starting to change your mindset. It's meditating and ensuring that you are self-aware of those things that make you take that step backward. It's becoming self-aware. It's being just bold and courageous, and knowing that there is nothing you can do that is going to stop you from succeeding. Everything that you do, every step forward is exactly a step forward.

There is no way once you start that journey that you're going to go backward. It's okay that you make mistakes. It's okay that you are not aware of every single topic in the world and are a genius who knows everything. It's your discipline, positivism, and enthusiasm. Everything that you put out there is going to be received when you're authentic. You need to be yourself. As long as you have authenticity and a little bit of boldness, and if you need someone to give you a push, please reach out to me. I promise you, I will give you a big push.

The next I want to touch on what you do on a daily basis is on your day job. What are some challenges that you're facing in implementing company-wide training programs and how do you overcome those challenges?

In the training or education field, I'm going to say that our biggest issues or challenges have to be the buy-in from our onsite teams as well as our upper management. It is the buy-in of that implementation of new training or policies. In that, when I go onsite and I'm speaking to my associates and I'm asking those open-ended and provocative questions that are shifting their minds where they're turning some gears, I look into what exactly their need is. Everyone in the multifamily industry has some sort of need. I try to decipher what those needs are and start creating policies and procedures that are going to help alleviate some of those needs.

That's how we develop our training programs. When we do that, we go ahead and try to become as extensive as possible and try to provide those associates the most comprehensive up-to-date material to help them achieve better day-to-day, help them go from the beginning of their day where they come in and clock in, to feeling fulfilled at the end of the day when they're clocking out and not feeling that they're burned out or their mind is overstimulated. It's about that buy-in. It's about learning exactly what your company needs, what your associate needs, what those training demands are, and what are the differences that don't allow you to achieve what you want to achieve. That's what we focus on.

It's, “How are we going to make our associates stay better? How are we going to make customer service better? How are we going to make our guests, residents, and the people whom we collaborate with feel like ConAm is their home?” That implementation or buy-in from our onsite associates sometimes can be a little difficult because they already have so much training. They already go to all these training classes. What's one more training class? We try to shift their mind and focus on this training is going to help you in X, Y, and Z ways. We always give the why behind the what, so that our associates and our upper management are aware exactly of what they're investing in because time is an investment.

I love the fact that you're stressing on buy-in from a beneficiary perspective. I see this in a tech world a lot where a lot of product is being developed out there, but I'm not seeing that piece where the end user is being involved. There's a lot in common with training as well. I do want to stay on the topic of training a little bit more. My background is in maintenance. Specific to maintenance, what do you find to be the most effective ways to provide training? What does it seem to be the best and most effective training from your perspective and also from the end user perspective, from those who benefit from the training? What would the ideal training for maintenance look like in your vision?

In my vision, the ideal maintenance training is something that's hands-on. I am a person. I learn through doing. Most of us are that way. When we do our onboarding, there's a lengthy process of how to log in. I'm not going to show it to you on a compute. I'm going to give you a laptop and walk you through those steps because once you leave that facility training with me, you're going to forget how to do it. You're going to get to your computer, “I can't remember. Let me reach out to Joelis.” No, “I want you to be able to go ahead and do these things without me.” It's empowering our associates to know that they have resources. It's hands-on training. It's continuously checking in on them and ensuring that the information that you're giving them is being received.

Sometimes it's not only the message but how it's being received. It's asking questions while in that training and having open forums. Polls are a great way. Sometimes our people can become a little intimidated in education forums or a training setting. They sit in the back of the classroom. They don't want to raise their hand, “I don't want to be embarrassed.” A facilitator is asking thought-provoking questions at that moment that are going to help me achieve full acceptance of my training program. I leave there knowing that you took in the information and processed it, and now you can go ahead and share that information with the rest of your team or your maintenance team. That's important. The asking questions, doing it yourself, and follow-up.

Polls are one of the best, if not the best ways to learn what your customer wants because, at the end of the day, your maintenance employees are your internal customers. They are customers too. I've seen this so many times where someone is trained to design a training program for a group of employees. They don't reach out to get any type of feedback. They're trying to imagine in their own word how this work for someone with no maintenance background, for example, to put together a maintenance training program without any input from a group of maintenance professional. It's very counterproductive. I do want to share my vision of maintenance training and what it should look like in 2023. It’s a big one, but it also needs to be mobile. It needs to be right here on this device.

It has to be mobile. The days when you will sit people down on the computer are very counterproductive, especially for maintenance personnel because when you think about it, it's something that they might get for a minute, but when they're out in the field, if they don't have this permanent support right there with them to be able to put it on an app on their phone so they could play a how-to video for three minutes and help them troubleshoot, it's a waste of resources. I also think that training should be applicable. Wherever we're training, our maintenance professionals have to be able to go out in the field and apply.

I also don't believe in blanket training. When it comes to a training curriculum, we know that preventive sexual harassment and the other required by law training classes had to take place for all employees. We should have a mandatory, like a core number of classes then the other classes that professionals should be taking. It should be a combination of what the employees want. We give them a range of ten classes. They got to pick 3 out of the 10. Their supervisor has to step in and pick another three. I'm just making up some numbers. It could be 1, 2, or whatever. That's a matter of strategy. What do you think about this way of looking at maintenance training?

I’m glad that you mentioned that because that's the way ConAm’s trainings are put together. It's a selfless plug on ConAm because it is a great company. We do that exactly. We assign training based on your position and your skillset. That's important because a maintenance technician doesn't want to know anything about leasing. If they do, then I want you to tell me that I can help you in that career path and start shifting your maintenance mindset to an office leasing mindset. It's important to survey your associates and see exactly what they're looking for. I know for a fact I have a wonderful groundskeeper who started with us, a wonderful lady and a single mom. She started as a groundskeeper. She didn't want to do leasing. She wasn't good with customer service so she wanted to be out in the fields.

She started and she got involved with the maintenance personnel there. They started grooming her and teaching her how to look at an AC and how to fix plumbing issues. This slow fire began in her. She reached out and said, “I want to become a technician. It's going to help me in life. It's going to put me in a different pay bracket. I am a single mom. I'm looking for more.” My first question to her is, “Are you interested in taking an EPA Certification? You can't do anything in maintenance without being universally EPA. We need that universal EPA for you to work with HVAC and refrigerants.” She's like, “I don't know anything about this test.” I said, “Don't worry, we'll start working together.” I sent her the workbook and we did sessions.

I am not EPA-certified. I wish I had an extensive maintenance knowledge. I am not that well equipped with maintenance. I could do the basics, but there's no way I'm going to change. I'm not going to put refrigerant in a unit. Her maintenance supervisor supported her. I'm so proud to say that within three months, she achieved that EPA certification. That small little journey or that small conversation that she and I had changed her life. She's in a different position and pay bracket. The possibilities that she has now are endless, not only with ConAm but with other companies. My purpose is to ensure that you as a person are developed. That's the most important thing.

My little purpose in life is to ensure that I open some doors for other people. It's important to understand the people that you're dealing with, your associates, and what their needs are because not everybody's needs are the same. We tend to create and craft our training based on your positions, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and also the leadership path that you want to take.

I love the fact that you said, “Whether you work here or not,” and I'm saying this with my words, “We want what’s best for you.” That's what I always tell my teammates, “Our company would benefit from it, too, but if you at some point decide that this is not the place for you to be, I'm still going to wish you the best of luck. I'm still going to make a commitment to invest in you with no guarantee that you're going to be here for 3 or 4 years or for whatever period of time. If I'm going to do a good enough job in helping you grow and have enough opportunities for you to stay, I don't have to worry about anything. If, at some point, our path had to become different, it's okay. I still want to wish you the best of luck and I'm still going to invest in you regardless.”

I love that. I mean that wholeheartedly. That's my purpose, to ensure that everyone whom I come across leaves with a positive impression with a fire to want to do something else and to do something that's going to progress you forward. It's opening doors for people that, “I'm not the only one sitting in this room. I don't want to be lonely. I want people with me. In fact, I want you and other people with you. We can all be in this great grand ballroom and have a great time together.”

That is a commitment that I've always had with my teams. I've been lucky enough when I was on-site and a property manager, many of my teammates now are in regional positions, community managers, maintenance supervisors, or maintenance regionals. Continuing to invest and pour into the people that you meet with and deal with on a day-to-day basis is going to make you feel fulfilled. It's not a title. It's not a pay bracket. Although pay is great and everyone wants to be a millionaire, though it will make you a little happy, it's not going to fulfill you. Internal fulfillment is what's important when you're traveling this long path of life.

I want to switch gears a little bit and go outside your day job and talk about Joelis outside of her day job, from 9:00 to 5:00. My next question is, as an officer of the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando Board of Directors, what are some key responsibilities that you have in this role?

As an officer of the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando, which is something that was a career goal of mine, and I have a very soft spot for ego, there is strategic planning and ensuring that the association is going to be running for a long term. We are advocating for the interests of our multifamily professionals in our region. It's just getting involved with our local resources and being a resource to those politicians who aren't involved in multifamily. It's being an advocate for affordable housing, for residents, and for the people who work in this industry and who give it their all. That's what my portion of being an officer in the apartment association is all about. It's a responsibility for strategic planning and advocacy for multifamily.

Another project that you're involved in is being advisory board at Entryway, also known as Shelters to Shutters. Tell us a little bit about your role and what you are trying to accomplish out there as being in this role.

This role is special to me for different reasons. As part of the advisory board for Shelters to Shutters or Entryway, it is providing guidance and support in its mission of helping individuals transition from homelessness to sustainable living or housing, which aligns perfectly with my values of community empowerment. Shelters to Shutters is a new nonprofit organization that has become nationwide.

What they do is that they take formally homeless individuals, train them, and provide them with job opportunities in the multifamily or property management field. Honestly, they have great partnerships within the industry. People who are experiencing situational homelessness went through a pandemic and many people lost their jobs. Going through that situation and where you're losing your job, and I see it on LinkedIn all the time, we have people that are being laid off, left and right.

It's important to understand that things happen. We're not always going to be in the position that we are nowadays. We have ups and downs. In order for you to move forward, having that resource and a group that's going to support you, train you, and allow you even job placement will enrich the community so much that there's no way I could say no. I recommend anyone who is interested in making a difference to go ahead and reach out to Entryway. We have opportunities for sponsorship.

We still need more people on the advisory board. We need partnerships within our industry. Please feel free to reach out. I'd be more than happy to connect with anyone. I've been situationally homeless in the past. If I had a corporation or someone just guide me, take me by the hand, and say, “It's okay. You made some bad decisions, but you're going to be okay on the other side,” would've helped me tremendously with my mental health.

That's exactly what Entryway is doing. It's providing you resources, mental health, job opportunities, and you're being trained. Many of these Entryway associates are coming out with CMT licenses. I have one that's taking a CAM license. I have one who's graduated that we just hired at ConAm with her Leasing degree. We have people that we've enrolled in Valencia College with their Property Management degree. It's connecting the dots and ensuring that people will be okay. For me, it's one of the most important jobs I have.

I want to go next to another project that was your own baby. Let's talk about Latinas in Multifamily, which is your baby, and tell us about that project. How did it come about and what type of impact has this organization made so far?

Latinas In Property Management is my baby. It's still my baby. We're still in the diaper phase, but it's something that we're passionate about. What Latinas In Property Management is giving Latinas an opportunity for growth and empowerment. As you mentioned in the beginning, how do we push that person to get out of their little shell and ensure that they're successful? That's what we're here for, to empower you, help, guide, and be that mentor. I'm lucky enough to have partnered with some amazing women who are part of my little advisory board as I like to call them. We have created a website. It's about networking, and that's what Latinas is all about. It's about networking, creating opportunities, and ensuring that, as a minority, you feel like you have a voice and you're heard.

How this all started was I've been in property management for about 12 to 14 years on and off. We have tons of Latinos in the onsite field. We have a ton of community managers. Many of our maintenance personnel are of Hispanic descent. When you start going up that ladder, you start seeing less and less of us. Why? We're capable. We're community managers, “Why can't I be a regional? What's holding me back from being a regional for the same company? I've been a community manager for 10 or 5 years.” Sometimes it's self-confidence. Sometimes, you don't have a mentor. Sometimes, you don't have someone who's going to push you and say, “I'm sick of you being stagnant. Let's move on.”

That's what Latinas is here to do, to empower, guide, and give you resources. We have some amazing mentors under our belt, Lori Agudo being one of them. Dania Rosario is an up-and-coming young lady that I am so impressed with. She's one of our mentors now in the Future Leaders Program through the Apartment Association. I have Laura Vargas. She was Community Manager of the Year for AAGO.

I have a powerhouse of women who want to make an impact and are looking to make an impact. We're super proud to be here. We're creating a dictionary. I'm still trying to find out the right name for it, but it's a dictionary that will give our leasing professionals the capability of translating things instantaneously into English, Spanish, Creole, and even Portuguese. Those are languages that we have a lot of migration from.

I'd walk into a leasing office and hear a Spanish-speaking leasing professional. They don't know how to say check in Spanish. They'd be like, “You need a cheque.” That's not how you say it. The person behind that desk or that prospect would be like, “I have no idea what you're talking about.” We want to empower our associates and all these Latinas to move forward. We want to be a part of their growth. That's what Latinas In Property Management is all about.

I love the empowerment part and the fact that you are not looking at this from a victimhood perspective. There's way too much of that society, and it's detrimental to anyone in any particular group. If you just tell anyone you've been victimized for this long, that's not helping them because the victim mentality is not a winner mentality. Help, support, and empower. People who are going to grow win. They're going to be out there. They're going to overcome any challenges. I applaud you for doing that. It's an amazing thing. Can the show do anything to help you with this initiative?

We'll be in contact soon when we do our soft launch. Be on the lookout.

I'll be here for you. You have my entire support with your initiative.

I appreciate that so much. That's what we're looking for. It's for support, exposure, and networking opportunities. It's creating a path for not only Latinas but just minorities in general. I've been lucky enough to also meet Monica Frazier. She runs Melanin In Multifamily. She's creating a pathway for her people. It's empowering to hear about these women and how they get together, form affinity groups, and represent their culture. It's important for me. I'm Colombian. I was born in Columbia. I wasn't born here in the United States, but I came here when I was a small child.

I served in the military. I am a very proud American, but my Colombian roots are my number one priority. Ensuring that my children know where they come from, where their parents come from, what their grandparents believe, and what our culture is like is so important in my home. We want to continue that in the multifamily industry, being our authentic selves. It's okay for you to be a Latina in property management. It's going to be even better when you are in the regional, representing our culture and a vice president. The world is our oyster, and that's what Latinas is here to do to provide that.

Next, I want to switch to a topic that I know is very close to your heart, mental health. I want to talk about mental health awareness in the workplace. Let's talk about burnout. How do we identify and how do we avoid before we even get to the point of burnout?

Multifamily or property management is one of those industries that you need to have a very tough skin for. Unfortunately, I wish I could tell you that you can avoid job burnout or mental burnout. Immediately, I would be lying to you. Fortunately or unfortunately, property management is a very in-demand field. When you're a property manager, the demand for you to file reports, take care of residents, the staff, leasing, and maintenance, it's a lot.

As a maintenance supervisor, it's a lot to deal with and have staff under you and ensure that they're doing their job every day. You are meeting budgets that the property looks great and curb appeal. There is so much in this field that we need to worry about that it can easily become very overwhelming and create job burnout. A good way to overcome that obstacle is self-care. I will always vouch for self-care.

Self-care can mean different things to different people. It might be, “I'm going to the salon and getting my nails done. I'm going to go play baseball. I'm going to go to a stadium. I'm going to go to a concert.” It all depends on what takes you out of that stressed-out forum and puts you in a better mental health spot. That's what self-care is about. Another way is knowing exactly what your roles and responsibilities are and that you cover those roles and responsibilities. If you have a little bit of extra time, then go ahead and do that extra that you want to do. You have to be very transparent about what your goals or responsibilities are, what your expectations are, and what the expectations are of those around you.

Communication is a key intricate part to that job burnout. It's communicating that you are tired, that you do need time off, and, “I do need you to do this for me because I'm overwhelmed.” It's that communication piece. It's not creating guilt for others. As a community manager, it's very easy to give you the day off and then make you feel guilty about it. “You were off for two days. This didn't get done. I was busy.” You come back to me with a mind framework, “I don't want to be here anymore. I can't even leave for two days because the world is falling apart.”

It's ensuring that you make others feel that they deserve that self-care day and that they can come back to you and give you that 101%. It's also communicating what your expectations are. Some people sometimes need you to do something for them and they expect you to do this every day, but if I don't know that this is your expectation and I don't do it one day and you're mad at me, I don't know why. You never told me that this was your expectation.

You never told me that you wanted me to look at the tour path every day, “I'm used to doing it, but I don't want to do it today.” If you don't tell me that's your expectation, we're both going to be pretty upset with each other the whole day. There's some attitude and conflict, but it's that communication that's a great piece and ensuring that you don't make others feel guilty for needing that self-care.

Another topic that is not enough talked about is mental illness. I want to talk a little bit about how we identify and find signs of mental illness and then how we can help when we see those signs in someone's behavior.

I was lucky enough, and I encourage anyone and everyone. I took a mental health first aid class through the National Council of Mental Health Wellbeing. It was a life changer. It made you aware of signs and symptoms. It made you aware of ACEs and how the way we're growing up, we were as children, or that our parents help raise us affects and mold the rest of our lives. If you as a child experience a lot of trauma, later on in life, you're going to carry that trauma with you and it's going to show out in different ways.

It could be a substance abuse problem, an anger problem, or concentration. It does shape your future how you're raised as a child. Mental health awareness is just so crucial and is essential for us to promote work-life balance, encourage open lines of communication, and provide resources for mental health. That is important. I myself suffer from a mental health disability. I have no problem saying it. There's no shame in that. At one point there was a lot of shame in that. There are a lot of biases and stigmas that are attached to mental health.

It's that education piece and educating everybody that mental health isn't a debilitating thing. It can be something that we can share together, and you could help me in this journey and I can help you. It's that education. It's understanding, identifying, and responding to signs of mental illness that involves training and awareness programs, ensuring that your employees know how to seek help and support each other. That's what is going to help you bring some awareness to those stigmas. Addressing those stigmas behind mental health requires creating a culture that fosters understanding and compassion. It's promoting those open conversations about those mental health challenges that are going to produce some end results.

It's an amazing conversation. We could keep going. We can do a second episode here, but because we're about to come to a close, I do want to ask you. Is there a question you wish I would've asked and what would your answer be to that? What is it anything at all that you wish you had an opportunity to say during our conversation and you didn't?

You had great questions. We could do three or more episodes, but one of the takeaways that I want everyone to process is that collaborating with industry influencers can indeed enhance your brand, a company's brand, and your credibility. It allows access to a wider audience and it builds valuable partnerships. For example, the fact that you gave me this platform is amazing. I truly thank you for that. You are an industry influencer. You are someone that can enhance a brand that brings credibility and that allows that access to that wider audience. I'm always proud of you. I want to thank you again for allowing me to be in your space. If there's anything that I can do for the show, I would be honored and thrilled.

Those are very kind words. Thank you for the words. Thank you for taking the time to be here with me and with our audience. If someone wants to reach out to you and wants to get in contact with you, what are some ways they could reach out?

We have the Latinas In Property Management website. That's LatinasPropertyManagement.com. There is a section in there where you can request a calendar invite and we'll have a 30-minute conversation. You can always reach out to me. It's LatinasInPropertyMgmt@gmail.com. Please feel free. My lines are always open, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Any way you can communicate, look for my name and send me a message. I love to collaborate. I'm a door opener because I have people who open doors for me and we want to continue that tradition. Make sure you reach out.

Thank you for taking the time to be here with us. I truly enjoyed the conversation. I'll be on the lookout for bigger and better things that you have in the cooker and works out there. You're always welcome back to the show.

I appreciate that. When Latinas has its own podcast, we're going to bring you in because we want to ask you some questions

I'll be honored to be a part of your podcast.

I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Have a blessed day and continue being great.

Everybody, thank you very much for reading. We hope to see you back here soon. Have a great day.

Important Links

• ConAm Management
• Apartment Association Of Greater Orlando
• Entryway
• Melanin In Multifamily
• Latinas In Property Management
• LatinasInPropertyMgmt@gmail.com
• LinkedIn – Latinas In Property Management
• Facebook – Latinas In Property Management
• Instagram – Latinas In Property Management
• Joelis Barandica-Rodriguez – LinkedIn