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At Cardinal, our team members are the heart and soul of our culture. A team filled with men and women who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, who go to the extra mile to help change the industry and challenge the status quo. We are so grateful for those efforts and celebrate our team members who have dedicated years of service to the growth of our team. 

Today we celebrate Allison Stroud as the newest Gold Badge Team Member! This month, Allison is celebrating her five-year anniversary with Cardinal Group. To celebrate, we asked her some tough and fun questions. Learn more about Allison’s journey below! 

 

What is your role?

Transitions Manager –  to sum it up, I coordinate transitioning all of our new communities to Cardinal and do the same process in reverse when we disposition a community. (Luckily, we bring on more new communities than we disposition communities) 

 

Describe your Cardinal Journey

I started out working on-site as a Leasing Team Member at one of our most challenging communities called Mint Urban Infinity. (Shout out to Lindsey Bedingfield for taking a chance on me, someone who had ZERO experience in property management.) 

Within my first year, I was nominated for Salesperson of the Year and also selected to attend SDP 2017. After paying some serious dues at MUI, I was promoted to Leasing and Marketing Team Lead at Veranda Highpointe where I had the pleasure of working side-by-side with Erica Moats who had a huge impact on my growth and encouraged me to apply for a position at HQ known as the Transitions Associate. 

During my first two years at HQ, I learned everything about transitions and knew immediately this was the right area for me. (Thank you, Lauren Guthrie!) I was recently promoted to Transitions Manager and love playing such a huge role in the growth of Cardinal! 

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How did you decide to join the Cardinal team?

Prior to starting my journey in property management, I had the most dreadful job of selling advertisements in the yellow pages (yes, those yellow pages in the phone book). I was miserable, cold-calling businesses trying to convince them to buy a medium that no one uses anymore. I also always wanted to be in property management, so when I was offered the job, joining Cardinal was a no-brainer. 

 

What do you find most exciting about your job? Most challenging? 

The most exciting part of my job is getting to work with every department and traveling onsite to our new communities to share with our newest TMs how great of a company Cardinal is to work for. 

The most challenging part of my job is when we don’t get our requests from the outgoing management company in a timely manner. 

 

Who has been influential in your life (professionally or personally) and how have they help guide you?

Personally – my mom is my biggest inspiration and motivator. She managed to be a single mom of four kids while also kicking ass at her job as a nurse manager all while still managing to be the kindest, most caring person to every person around her. 

Professionally – all of my amazing Team Leads I’ve had at Cardinal so far! Danielle, Megan, Keri, Erica, Lauren, Shannon, and Lindsey helped me build a strong foundation to be a leader and continue to inspire me to work hard every single day. 

 

What’s something people may not know about you?   

I managed a taco truck called Cha Cha Chow when I was in college. It was cool to be one of the very first food trucks in St. Louis right when they started to become popular. The job was tough, but I have zero regrets because working there gave me a love for cooking. 

 

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the industry?

The best advice I can give is don’t be afraid to ask questions (no matter how silly or obvious they may seem).

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What is your proudest moment working at Cardinal Group?

Being a part of SDP 2017 and planning the Speakeasy event we had at Leadership Summit in 2019. I also am proud that I was promoted to Transitions Manager. 

 

What has been the most interesting change that you’ve seen in the industry and why? 

How quickly and efficiently communities were able to adapt to working during the pandemic. It’s also interesting to see co-living becoming a thing where conventional communities rent out bed spaces like student communities. 

 

What is your favorite college town in America and why?

It’s hard to pick just one. I love Chattanooga, TN, and Athens, GA. I got to go on transition trips in each of those cities and I love how cute they are, and how they each have attractions and activities outside of what goes on at the university. 

 

Ready to start your Cardinal Journey? See our open opportunities