2023 President Stephanie Graves

StephanieGraves 2023 HAA President StephanieGravesplans to bring a bit of her magic touch to HAA leadership.

Interview by Madison O’Bar, HAA Communication Manager Portrait by Mark Hiebert, Hiebert Photography

The Houston Apartment Association is honored to recognize Stephanie Graves as our new 2023 President. Stephanie served as a vice president-at-large for HAA from 2019 to 2020. She has served on the HAA Board of Directors for 10 years and is a graduate from the HAA and Texas Apartment Association Leadership Lyceum programs. She also served as a National Apartment Association delegate, secretary/treasurer in 2021, chaired the HAA Investment Committee and the HAA Strategic Outreach Committee.

Stephanie is a sought-after speaker for the apartment industry nationwide. She has spoken for the TAA and NAA conferences on multiple occasions, and she is recognized as a NAA Education Faculty member. She is an active volunteer instructor for the Houston Apartment Foundation and Education Committee leader.

Stephanie was recognized in 2009 and 2011 as Marketing Director of the Year and in 2019 for Executive of the Year. TAA selected her as MVP Volunteer of 2022 for her leadership as the TAA Lyceum chair.

Stephanie Graves grew up in El Paso, Texas where she graduated from Andress High School. (Go Eagles!) She moved to Austin, Texas after graduation to attend St. Edwards University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications and started working as an office assistant for a real estate developer. She soon was taking over properties in Houston where she tackled redeveloping property-based Section 8 housing into low-income housing tax credit properties.

After learning the ropes of affordable housing, she found herself pursuing a passion for education and sought out a training manager position for CnC Investments. This start of her Houston multifamily career has lead her to now have more than 25 years of experience in real estate, working in roles ranging from director of business development, vice president of training and marketing, as well as senior vice president of operations for a portfolio of over 30,000 units in eight states throughout the country.

In 2015, Stephanie started her own company, Q10 Property Advisors, with partner Ginger Bernstein, who has since retired. In July of 2015 they acquired a 276-unit community and today Q10 manages 35 properties, 5,700 units and employs 150 employees. As CEO of Q10, Stephanie claims she is the “facilitator of management services,” and “handles client relations, pushes growth within the company and educates and advises.” But what you will learn during our interview with our new president, is that Stephanie is more than just a facilitator for Q10 and an amazing volunteer for HAA, she is an entrepreneur, a business owner, started a non-profit, built a Montessori preschool, is an avid poker player and is a mother to an amazing daughter, ‘Smilin’ Rilynn.

What motivated you to start your own management company?

I left multifamily operations in 2014, intended on pursuing training and educational speaking, even working on a minion comic book character dubbed “Stephanie G, Professional Me.” All while working on breaking ground on a Montessori preschool. I received a call from an ownership group that was unhappy with their current management and they urged me to manage for them. “It will be easy,” they said, “you can keep it small and it will be great.” I finally caved and, at about the time the school was finished, we were up and running with Q10. So Q10 world headquarters was run out of our preschool in Spring, Texas. We had four accountants and three supervisors working for Q10 from the break room and six of the employees had their kids attending. We even had supplier meetings in the lunchroom with mini forks and spoons. I interviewed one of my best employees while cutting fruit in the kitchen. When she picked up a knife and a hairnet, I knew she would fit in just fine. It was a crazy ride, as we were growing enrollment at the school and at the same time we were acquiring properties and growing Q10, all pre-Covid of course.

Has it been everything that you expected it to be?

Well, I expected the calls at four in the morning, the green pools and people not reporting to work on time, but didn’t expect the immense amount of responsibility that I feel daily. My goal was to provide a more femalefocused working environment with more flexibility and empathy for the struggles women face in this industry.

What were or are some of your biggest challenges?

I have a motto that I teach in every class, property management is easy, people management is crazy hard! So, the people challenges have been what keeps me up at night, whether it is people that work for me, residents or ownership groups. Handling people’s emotions, needs, desires and frustrations are the biggest challenge in our business and in life overall.

What were some of your biggest strengths?

The ability to motivate people and help them see things that they didn’t see before. I am patient when it comes to training people, and I am good at finding efficient ways to get things done.

What is the best advice you have received?

Debbie Sulzer gave me great advice when I started. She told me to broaden my scope of knowledge, learn as much as you can about EVERY aspect of our business, not just the task I’m assigned to do at the time, that makes someone employable on all levels. I started in the training and marketing department, so when times were tough, I would be looked at as the first to be downsized. She said to make sure and know all that you can in all levels of this business so that you would not be laid off, but repositioned. That single piece of advice led me through everything I have accomplished. It made me aware of all aspects of our business and made me feel more confident that I could tackle owning Q10.

More recently, Ken Bohan has been a sounding board for my business. He has helped me understand the legacy parts of HAA, and the challenges that could come in the next generations. He is wise and so generous with his feedback and time.

And of course, my mom, Anita. She has been an instrumental mentor for me. She taught me that anything was possible, which I know sounds cliché, but it is true. She always found a way! If something seemed impossible, my mom taught me to be creative and figure it out. She does the same with my daughter. When someone puts a challenge down because they said they can’t do it, my daughter picks it up and figures it out. That tenacity will serve her well, as it has me.

What advice would you give someone that is just starting?

If you want to learn you have to show up and follow the people who are where you want to be. Ask questions, get connected with others and learn how they make decisions. More than once I have seen talent in people and tried to push them or point them in the right direction and they have resisted because it requires them to show up in ways that make them uncomfortable. You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable if you want to continue to grow, challenge yourself and pursue greatness.

Have you reached success?

Have I reached success? hat is so hard to say. Success for me would involve more me time and less everyone else time. As we age and grow, success changes. My 30-year-old self would answer this question, “yes.” My almost 50-year-old self says, “no, give it a few more years lady – you are still a work in progress!”

But in 2022 NAA recognized Q10 as a NAA Top Employer in the industry and in 2016 and 2017 we were Top Employer for Multifamily Leadership, so those are certainly indicators of some success.

What does being a female owner, female president and female boss of a female company mean to you?

I don’t know the statistics or anything but I’m certain that women make up more than 50% of this industry, yet it was not until the last 10 years or so that we have had a seat at the table for decisions and leadership. I do consider female leadership as a driving force for me starting Q10. I was the one staying back and working when the gentlemen went hunting or golfing. My female supervisor and myself were walking up the ramps of the parking garages when the men were pulling up to the first floor reserved spots.

So, I do see it as an accomplishment that Q10 is 100% female owned and I have amazing females leading the team and driving the business. I have seen more females raise to leadership positions as I have grown in my career and I know we will continue to do so, and to seek more equality and recognition in our value to

How are you active in HAA?

Education and outreach to grow HAA has always been and will continue to be my focus. I am specifically excited about HAA’s revitalization of the Education and Outreach Department. HAA is the largest apartment association in the nation and our education should speak to that power and responsibility. I try to instill education in everything I do. It is the key to growing our association and maintaining its quality of leaders in multifamily.

I also try to be active in growing the HAA Political Action Committee. Strong membership is key in educating politicians on the importance of housing, and how partnering with housing provides for the challenges our industry and world will face with maintaining affordable housing.

What are you most excited about in this upcoming year?

2022 was a welcome back year, where we were able to come back together after the Covid break. Christy spoke about connection and that really resonated, and I think 2023 will be record setting for engagement, building connections, and attendance. I’m excited about it all and just so proud to be able to say I’m the president of HAA. It is an honor and I do not take the responsibility lightly.

What do you hope to accomplish as HAA’s President?

My Executive leadership team is amazing, and this year will be a challenge as we are starting to see some financial obstacles to maintaining the level of service we want to maintain for the HAA membership. I anticipate we will have to make some hard decisions and I am certain we will develop a solid plan for growth and ensure the continued benefit of HAA membership for property and supplier partners.

John Boriack did a great job of developing volunteer job descriptions for leadership, which set expectations. Christy Rodriquez really worked on communication between the Executive Board and building those connections. So the path has been set for this board to continue that work.

What is your motto for this year?

“Ask not what HAA can do for you, but what you can do for HAA.”

We need to work together to ensure HAA continues into the future, as many associations are feeling a lack of engagement. It is each of you, of us, that makes this organization so special and we have to work to preserve that.

What do you hope people remember about your time as President?

I hope people remember that I was present, focused and supporting the efforts of our organization and that I represented the overall membership professionally and honorably.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not at work or at an HAA event?

I love traveling and work to travel! It’s harder now than before with Rilynn in school, but I also have projects I like to work on in my ‘free time.’ As we are getting this magazine to press, I am working on my first Multifamily Education Cruise, Multifamily Immersion Summit (an intimate and upscale networking and training event) and have another one planned for 2023.

I try and make time for poker when I can and, of course, want to spend as much time with my daughter as I can as she is about to enter her teenage years and who knows if she will like me anymore. I also am guilty of brunches with my lady friends on Sundays!

Who makes up your family and what are your favorite things to do with them?

My life partner is James, he supports and grounds me, he is the calm of the storm of Stephanie. He is my personal guide in life, as well as my business partner. He has his own IT/computer business and is also active in Q10 and all our other crazy ventures. My amazing daughter is Rilynn, she will be 12 this year and is already the most amazing young lady. She is smart, witty, creative, a fashionista and my truth teller. She is the reason we built the school and through that she developed such an empathy and passion to educate others. My mom and dad live in Corpus and are amazingly supportive of all my ventures, helping put together cabinets for the school and my mom assists with Q10 and all my projects and is a great grandmother. And my Aunt Ruth, who passed last year, and Uncle Charles, who helped raise me and to whom I owe my immense work ethic and love for traveling. We are small but mighty.

What is a fun fact about you that we may have not known before?

I tried out for the second season of the Apprentice! I made it through three rounds of interviews but ultimately wasn’t selected, talk about a different career path.

I also dealt poker in an underground room while working full time in the apartment industry. I would work 9-5, then go deal poker until 2 a.m., sleep for four hours and do it all again. After two years, I realized a felony for dealing poker was not something I was interested in. Another fun fact, I dealt to two previous HAA presidents in my time at that poker room, and I will never tell who, just call me Molly.

How do you balance it all?

I don’t, something is always being sacrificed. I will either be late on a report, or forget I have an event for my daughter and must call in someone to help with it all. I succeed and I fail every day, which is only human, so I just do the best that I can to not disappoint and try and tackle it all.

What is next for Stephanie Graves?

$25,000 keynote speaking for Google would be great. But if that doesn’t pan out, I will continue to work on education, growing Q10 and playing with ways I can help people grow in leadership.