Upgrading to Action: Kristen Saucedo

Astute observers often come to life-changing conclusions based on the evidence they see. Kristen Saucedo, Action Property Management’s General Manager at Elleven, a residential high-rise in Los Angeles, California, is one such observer. While still employed with a well-known competitor, Kristen noticed that when new communities came to her company, they never came from Action in search of something better. As a matter of fact, communities were leaving her company to join forces with Action. She also noticed that applications from former Action employees never crossed her desk.

While this realization played a role in her eventual transition to Action, Kristen’s career started long before she had ever heard of a homeowners association. She actually entered the workforce after cutting her college career short. With two years of study at Texas A&M University under her belt, Kristen began to feel that her course of study sounded better on paper than it did in real life.

When her mom was hit with a cancer diagnosis in 2010, she felt the time was right to drop out and head back home. In addition to supporting her mom through her grueling treatments, Kristen took a few more classes at the local community college.

Eventually, she moved from Texas to Southern California, landing in the growing city of Temecula. It was while she was there that she put her artistic eye to work at a local florist. Her skills were highly valued and the owner of the store offered to sell her one of the other locations. Though tempted by the offer, Kristen’s real desire was to find a job that didn’t require late nights and weekend deadlines.

As a new mom, she set out to find something closer to a typical nine to five schedule. The HOA where she lived had posted a job opening that intrigued her. Though she didn’t take that position, Kristen did start looking into property management and eventually landed an entry level position with a large company.

As a rookie manager assistant, she again caught the eye of both her bosses and clients. At the request of a board member, Kristen was fast-tracked into a full portfolio manager role, where she jumped head-first into every training opportunity that came her way. Her efforts paid off and she gradually worked her way up to the role of Division Manager.

As she promoted, the conspicuous absence of movement from Action began to intrigue her. Though she was not yet actively seeking to make a move, she was growing increasingly dissatisfied with her employment situation. Aware of Kristen’s position, a Board Member and prior HOA attorney she knew mentioned that Action was one of his favorite companies to work with. He told her about the work-life balance the employees enjoyed, the competitive salaries, and the competence of the employees. He specifically made note of how quickly mangers replied to any inquires he sent their way. To Kristen, these were all indicators that something at Action was going right.

In November of 2024, she completed the upgrade to Action and began her new role as GM at Elleven, quickly enjoying the fact that she could report to work at the same beautiful building every day instead of traveling extensively to attend different board meetings each week.

As a front line employee, Kristen values Action’s small business feel while also appreciating it’s big business perks. “It’s big enough to offer support, but not too big to forget where the work takes place,” she said referring to the job managers are tasked with as the face of the company.

Now that she has had a full year to settle into her new position, she’s encouraged by Action’s emphasis on celebrating victories, both big and small. Some companies limit their celebrations to token acknowledgements on birthdays or employment anniversaries, but at Action, Kristen enjoys celebrating the big wins that benefit a whole team or even a community as well as the small things like simple notes and phone calls that offer her encouragement on a tough day.

Outside of the office, Kristen takes pleasure in gardening. Though she doesn’t always make a purchase, she finds enjoyment browsing around local nurseries or even visiting curated gardens and museums. Now that she calls Los Angeles home, she also enjoys exploring the wide variety of restaurants and cultural areas that the city has to offer.

Back in her teen years, it was not uncommon to see Kristen in an athletic environment, having participated in both cross country and competitive swimming. She also played soccer throughout high school, though she graduated a semester early to get a jump start on college and begin her path to Action.

Sometimes moving up can also mean moving on. Kristen saw an opportunity to do both when she joined the team at Action. With a full year under her belt, one thing is clear — making that move was indeed an upgrade worth celebrating.