Multifamily Mentorship Program: Leaders Building Leaders

BH’s DE&I Committee launches first company-wide mentorship program 

BH’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) committee is gearing up to introduce BH’s first company-wide mentorship program. Leaders Building Leaders has been designed in-house by BH employees to train, teach, and develop other employees for positions they are interested in.  

Leaders Building Leaders is inclusive in design. It is a program for everyone, regardless of position, with an emphasis of providing career paths for women and professionals of color. If a groundskeeper wants to elevate to a service technician, they have the option to be paired with a service technician leader. If a community manager is interested in furthering their career in the performance analyst role, they can be paired with a current performance analyst. 

Before joining BH, Deirdre Phillips, a senior community manager overseeing two communities in Atlanta, had to navigate the early days of her career with minimal resources. As she was taking the leap from a leasing role to community manager, there were not any training or mentoring programs to assist in taking the next step. Deirdre is a co-chair of Leaders Building Leaders, and she wants to use this new platform to give those around her opportunities she did not have readily available.  

“Leaders Building Leaders breaks the mold for someone interested in a position, without having to learn and navigate to that position on their own,” says Deirdre. “This program gives that person someone to show them the BH way of doing things.”  

Leaders Building Leaders is an eight-month, cohort-style program with a five-hour monthly commitment. Leaders Building Leaders is set to launch in Q4 of 2022 with a group of 75 BH employees from various aspects of the company, who volunteer as “Leaders” who will each mentor two “Achievers”. 

Leaders Building Leaders will expose Achievers to other parts of the company they may not generally interact with in their daily roles, provide cross-training and training-up opportunities for Leaders and Achievers, showcase other areas of expertise Achievers may have, and strengthen BH’s efforts to promote from within.  

Shay McDuffie is a B.HOM general manager in College Park, Maryland, and serves as a co-chair for Leaders Building Leaders. Shay has navigated her career from leasing consultant, to leasing manager, and now to general manager. 

“I am grateful for every person and program that helped me on my journey,” says Shay. “I needed extra help because of the factors around me, but once I received direction, I was ready to go. Now, all I want to do is give back to others.” 

B.HOM manages 24,000 student housing beds at 24 universities. Some BH and B.HOM employees join the company while they are in college, so Leaders Building Leaders can serve as a stepping stone for an upcoming college graduate currently employed with the company. If a leasing consultant is in school for accounting, Leaders Building Leaders can pair them with a current BH accountant to establish a connection between their education and real-life accounting experience. 

Below are the 2022 Achievers and Leaders: