My name is Alex, I was born and raised in Kensington, near the Fairhill neighborhood. I attended William Cramp Elementary, Julia Burgos Middle School and Central High School on 17th & Olney before graduating and moving on to Penn State Abington. I was heavily involved at Penn State as a mentor to Latino and other intercultural students which I  thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I had to withdraw after four semesters due to a lack of financial aid.

Before coming to work at Shift, I worked part-time at Lowes, and worked with my brothers to help them with their  construction business. We have built around six homes in the area.

Q: What are your roles with Shift?
A: I work with Brent Howard as an Assistant Property manager, which involves providing support with leasing and tenant relationship management for our residential properties. Prior to working with property management, I was a member of the construction team.

Q: How did you transition from construction to property management?
A: I started off working with the construction team after I met Will Rivera through my then part time job in customer service at Lowes. Will offered me a job with Shift on the spot and I started working with construction soon after that. That winter at the company holiday party, I met one of the principals in line for food. We got to know each other and I revealed that I have been performing, choreographing and teaching salsa dancing since I was 16, which has taken me to different parts of the country and given me the opportunity to learn from some of the best salsa dancers in the world. The team was impressed with my communication skills (and moves), and invited me to interview for the position in property management.

Q: What excites you most about your work?
A: Being able to interact with and take care of our tenants. We don’t act like a typical real estate development company in that we want to be part of the community. I enjoy being part of improving the community and am happy to have such a great team to work with.