After 18 years in asset management and operations, Caroline Kovac decided to explore her creative side. Listen now as she shares the story of her unconventional journey with MHN’s Laura Calugar.
![Headshots of Caroline Kovac and Laura Calugar](https://www.multihousingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2024/09/Mission-Success-featured-image-Caroline-Kovac.jpg)
Caroline Kovac was in college in 2000 when she landed her first job as a leasing agent with Fairfield Residential. She later graduated from San Diego State University with a BA in Communications but didn’t give up working in multifamily and ended up staying in operations for 14 years. Then, she decided to explore the financial side of multifamily and went into an asset management role with Raintree Partners, a multifamily investment company that does a lot of value-add work.
Eight years ago, she had an “aha moment” when she realized she was taking over a lot of the marketing, branding and design conversations at Raintree, so she decided to follow her passion for design. Kovac founded Design Identity Group, a firm that recently completed its 90th design project.
Today she leads an all-female team—a coincidence, she believes. Kovac encourages her designers to think differently, helps them understand both financial and design decisions, and ultimately empowers them to become entrepreneurs themselves one day.
In this Mission Success: Women in Multifamily podcast episode with Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Calugar, she reflects upon her professional journey and the mentors who supported her. Today, those same mentors she looked up to throughout her career in operations are her clients.
![Headshot of Caroline Kovac](https://www.multihousingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2024/09/Caroline-Kovac-headshot.jpg)
Here’s what you’ll hear about once you hit play:
- First steps in multifamily (0:52)
- The eye-opening moment (2:01)
- Her competitive advantage against more established design firms (4:03)
- Stimulating creativity (6:08)
- Trends in multifamily she’s happy they went away (7:57)
- The team at Design Identity Group (9:27)
- Her role models (11:00)
- The future of her company (12:33)
- Why she can’t turn off her designer mind (16:05)
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