The heart of excellent property management boils down to one simple idea — provide excellent service. When Foxy Hudson, senior community manager at Action Property Management, looks at her job, she sees exactly that. Each day is an opportunity to show people that she cares. She sums up her philosophy this way: “When people come away from a conversation with me, I want them to feel as if they have just talked to a family member.” Her goal is that every personal interaction results in the other person feeling that things are a little better because of her.
Foxy’s story is a familiar one. She never set out to become a property manager. It just happened. At the onset of her career, she took a job with a popular local hotel that was suffering from mismanagement and neglected maintenance. She was brought on board as part of a rebranding effort. As the new version of the hotel emerged, Foxy was often involved in helping to host weddings, corporate parties, and other events.
Because of her work ethic and ease around people, one business leader took note of her and asked her to join his small property management firm. Ready for a change, Foxy agreed to his offer. Although she had no experience in the industry, she was given a portfolio of communities to manage and quickly learned the basics. The transition wasn’t complicated. She simply applied her love of helping people to a new situation. Instead of guests in rooms, she was now helping homeowners in houses.
Unfortunately, the small family-owned company eventually merged with a larger firm. As the new company restructured, many employees either voluntarily left or were let go. The close-knit community of colleagues was quickly unraveling, so Foxy made the decision to move on. During her time at that company, she was able to work with Alex Esteves, who is now a regional manager for Action.
At Alex’s urging, Foxy looked into Action. As she scrolled through the website, one phrase stuck out — We Care About People. She also noticed that Action was highly rated in online reviews. Given the high praise for the company, she determined that it must be a place that retains long-term employees.
Mark Holbrook, who oversees the Orange County team, reached out to her and scheduled an interview. After meeting with Mark, Foxy saw firsthand Action’s commitment to caring about people. “I was taken aback by how genuine he was,” she said as she reflected on that day.
Foxy Hudson
”Each day is an opportunity to show people that she cares.
After accepting an offer to join the Action team, Foxy started meeting her new colleagues and was again impressed by the quality of each person she met. Action quickly began to feel like home. As she settled into her new role, Foxy couldn’t help but feel she was finally where she belonged.
Mark’s instincts about Foxy proved to be correct as he watched her settle into the new role. “She builds strong relationships,” was his first response when asked about her strengths. He should know. As one of the primary instructors in Action’s internal leadership development program, Leadwell, Mark has seen her skills sharpen even more.
In addition to graduating from Leadwell, Foxy has also earned the industry designation of CMCA, or Certified Manager of Community Associations. Each of these accomplishments has only increased her love for what she does.
A few years ago, Foxy realized that her passion for gardening closely resembled her passion for people. While looking for inexpensive gifts to use as party favors, she stumbled across succulents. Though she is an avid gardener, Foxy had never been a fan of that particular genre of plant, but something about it caught her attention. The plants, she realized, could teach her a lot about people. The first thing she noticed was that one gives life to others by giving of itself. Succulents are hearty and resilient, but they also let you know immediately when something isn’t right. The metaphors for life represented in these plants have become an inspiration for her, not only professionally, but also as she nurtures her growing collection of succulents.
We Care About People is more than just a phrase Foxy Hudson saw on a website. It’s a principle that’s ingrained in the very culture of Action Property Management. Beyond that, it’s an idea that makes Foxy the kind of person people hope to meet.
