MHN’s Rising Stars Take the Spotlight
Four young leaders were recognized in our 2025 Excellence Awards. Each is carving their own path to multifamily success.
From a young founder to a 19-year-old leasing professional, MHN’s 2025 Rising Star Excellence Award winners have each forged their own path to early success. But these four professionals share a strong desire to learn and continue growing within their positions.
MHN honored Julie Blanc, CEO & co-founder of Rentana, with Gold; David Rodriguez, vice president at MLG Capital, with Silver; and Misty Haskins, director of operations at RKW Residential, and Nevaeh Arrington, assistant community manager at The Breeden Co., with Bronze awards.
Here’s a glimpse of how these stars are shining in the multifamily industry.
Julie Blanc
The CEO
Julie Blanc, co-founder & CEO of Rentana, an AI-powered software platform for multifamily owners and operators, has gone from partnering with visionary founders to becoming one herself. So this stage of her career feels like a “full-circle moment.”
Blanc’s background in venture capital gave her an early window into how innovation can reshape entire industries. With Rentana, she set out to bring that same level of transformation to multifamily, drawing inspiration from the way artificial intelligence has redefined hospitality, e-commerce and other sectors.
“We’re empowering real estate teams with real-time insights into market pricing, lease durations, concessions and supply-demand shifts down to the unit level,” shared Blanc. “We enable multifamily owners and operators to generate live pricing recommendations, anticipate lease turnover, track emerging public market trends and forecast revenue opportunities.”
Rentana’s tools have already delivered tangible results. Blanc noted that time-intensive tasks like onboarding now take minutes, with customers saving upward of 15 hours a week using the platform. The system’s data capabilities allow owners and operators to make faster, more informed decisions while safeguarding confidentiality.
I’m proud of the path I’ve carved, one defined by innovation, impact and intentionality.
A major milestone came in 2024, when Rentana secured a $5 million seed round from Zigg Capital and Benchstrength, two leading venture capital firms in the proptech space. During the company’s first year, Blanc bootstrapped Rentana before taking any outside investment, one of several challenges she pushed through as she built her company’s foundation.
Blanc credits a long list of mentors with shaping that journey, including Nick Horbaczewski, Martin Toha, Aaron Skonnard, Elliot Burris, John Rothfels, Adam Price, Drew Silverstein, Tara Viswanathan, Nikil Viswanathan, Emily Boschwitz and Cristina Ciaravalli. Their influence became particularly meaningful after Rentana closed its seed round.
Looking ahead, Blanc is focused on the rapid evolution of agentic AI in multifamily. Rentana is now developing a conversational AI copilot designed to allow teams to “talk” to their data.
“This capability will enable operators to redefine how they manage, price and grow their portfolios, not just reactively but proactively and with confidence,” she said. “I’m incredibly bullish on the scale of Rentana’s opportunity to reimagine AI-powered revenue intelligence and allow multifamily operators to make fast, strategic and context-aware decisions.”
David Rodriguez
The golf enthusiast
What began as a summer job as a golf caddy in Dallas ultimately set David Rodriguez, vice president at MLG Capital, on the path to a career in real estate.
While studying general business at Southern Methodist University, his love of golf—and the networking that came with it—led him to switch to a degree in real estate finance.
Rodriguez joined MLG Capital as an associate and rose to vice president before relocating from Dallas to Sarasota, Fla., in 2024 to lead the firm’s Southeast acquisitions. Six years later, his focus spans Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and other Southeastern markets.
Colleagues describe Rodriguez as a natural leader, nicknaming him “The Mayor” and “Momentum Guy.” His love of golf continues to help him build relationships—an ability that has contributed to more than $126 million in business over the past three years.
“I feel that each project and closing pieces together what I would consider a track record that I’d be happy to stand behind any day,” he said.
I wouldn’t do anything differently. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, but I look back on what I’ve done thus far, and I’m happy about it.
One of his most complex acquisitions came in 2024 in Venice, Fla., involving 10 owners and 15 investors as part of MLG’s legacy fund. Rodriguez recalls “a lot of back-and-forth” throughout the process. He was deeply involved in the deal, providing extensive oversight, and credits the legal team with navigating the numerous hurdles and helping push the transaction across the finish line.
Despite the challenges, Rodriguez believes these demanding projects are the ones that catalyze the most
professional growth. Early in his career, he logged long hours to build momentum, and he sees that effort as foundational to where he is today. Looking forward, he hopes to continue contributing to both MLG’s culture and its expansion across the region.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity that’s in front of us over the coming years and would love to continue to just grow with the team and have a lot of fun together.”
Misty Haskins
The team leader
With more than a decade in property management, RKW Residential Director of Operations Misty Haskins was nominated by her colleagues for the impact she has made across her teams and the communities she serves.
Her multifamily career began in 2014 with a local owner in Gaston County, N.C., where she advanced to assistant manager and then property manager, all within her first year. Haskins joined RKW in 2022 and has been promoted three times.
She’s widely recognized for her operational knowledge, professionalism and leadership skills. Now, as a director, she spends less time on day-to-day property management and more time developing the people around her, a shift that aligns with her longstanding passion for education and mentorship.
“I was super excited to be selected for the NAA Leadership Lyceum,” Haskins reminisced. “It allowed me my first opportunity to go to Apartmentalize. Earlier in my career, I was learning so much and I still am. I feel like this industry has given a lot to me and I want to give back to this industry in that same way.”
You’re not going to know it all and you’re just continuing to learn each day.
That commitment to professional development led her to launch a CRM training initiative at RKW in 2024 called Funnel Friday. The idea emerged when she temporarily stepped back into a regional manager role and saw opportunities to optimize the company’s CRM system. After rolling out the training to her own team, she extended it to other regional managers in the Charlotte area, sparking interest from additional markets once word spread.
The program teaches employees to analyze CRM data and make more informed business decisions. In its first year, more than 400 employees completed the training. Today, Funnel Friday continues as a biweekly session with 20 to 25 participants.
“My feet are planted here. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” Haskins said. “I’m very passionate about training and development, making sure that we have a good pathway for new employees in our industry.”
Moving forward, Haskins hopes to obtain her CPM designation, one of the few certifications she has yet to add to her resume. She remains focused on sharing her knowledge with colleagues and developing emerging leaders on her team. For her, leadership means preparing her direct reports to one day step into her role as she continues her own growth.
Nevaeh Arrington
The up-and-comer
At Thanksgiving dinner following her high school graduation, a family friend suggested Nevaeh Arrington might have potential as a leasing agent. Two years, five properties and a certified apartment leasing professional certification later, Arrington is already setting her sights on becoming a property manager.
The awards panel praised her accomplishments, noting how striking her performance was for a 19-year-old at the time of submission. At Lake Taylor Pointe Apartments in Norfolk, Va., Arrington secured 40 percent of the community’s leases within the first 60 days of lease-up. Her first assignment was also a new development, which sparked an unexpected interest in construction and the behind-the-scenes process of bringing a property to life.
As a young professional on-site, Arrington acknowledges that earning respect isn’t immediate. “Some people look at me and they automatically ask for a manager,” she shared. “I had to learn how to show people I can do this, rather than tell them.”
I want to be able to inspire people the same way that my mentors have inspired me.
Arrington values the time she spends face-to-face with residents, and one experience from her first property stands out as defining. She helped a mother and her children secure housing, even organizing a ribbon-cutting and welcome basket for their move-in. When they arrived, Arrington remembers the mother hugging her in gratitude, a moment she considers pivotal in shaping how she approaches her work and the kind of impact she hopes to make on future residents’ lives.
Moments like these continue to shape Arrington’s vision for her career and reinforce her determination to keep growing in the industry. She’s already looking ahead to her next goal: becoming a property manager.
“People just want to be heard,” she believes. “We are dealing with people’s homes, so being able to take the time to build that relationship and understanding with them is extremely important.”
The achievements of this year’s Rising Stars underscore how much emerging talent is transforming multifamily. Submissions for the 2026 MHN Excellence Awards are open now, offering a chance to recognize the next wave of leaders making their mark.
