Last year Blanket teamed up with the NARPM Women’s Council of Property Managers to develop the Leading Women in Property Management program.
This program brings women role models to the forefront of our industry and showcases their leadership abilities and property management expertise. Our goal is to encourage more women in property management to step up and step forward as mentors, leaders, and to invest in their professional skills. 2025’s theme was She Makes The Difference, which emphasizes the indispensable role women play in each and every property management company across the country.
As part of the program, we recorded professional interviews with all twelve LWPM honorees during the 2025 NARPM Annual Tradeshow and Convention in Orlando. The interviews are finally ready, and we’re thrilled to share our conversation with Kelli Segretto, CPM, founder of K Segretto Consulting and a property management veteran with over 25 years of experience helping companies across the country build better processes, teams, and technology systems.
Kelli shared many great insights
- The proactive shift: One of the biggest challenges property managers face today is moving from reactive to intentional business management. Structuring your team and technology around proactive systems is what separates struggling companies from successful ones.
- Team architecture is evolving: Companies are rethinking how their teams are built, whether departmental, hybrid, or remote. Redefining roles and how team members show up is becoming just as important as the technology they use.
- Agentic AI is already here: The next wave of automation is not coming, it is already showing up in day-to-day operations. With hundreds of new prop tech companies entering the market every year, knowing how to evaluate and adopt the right tools is critical.
- Navigating market friction: Longer vacancy times and slower maintenance turnarounds are creating real pressure for property managers right now. Kelli helps companies find meaningful wins and practical strategies that fit their specific market and property types.
- NARPM built her network: Kelli’s first NARPM conference was a virtual one in 2020, and it still led to some of her closest friendships and collaborations in the industry. The openness and willingness to share knowledge in this community is something she points to as a career defining resource.
Our interview with Kelli Segretto
Q: What are the top priorities for your business?
A: Top priorities for K Segretto Consulting are always, always, always elevating the standards of property management and being able to help property managers show up as their best self and really be a contributor to their communities. We do that through helping with process teams and with their technology.
Q: How are market conditions impacting your business?
A: The changing market conditions change the way that we show up for the organizations that we help. So you see higher leasing and vacancy times, you’re having difficulty in maintenance, and the time, the speed to repair. All of these kinds of challenges, that are showing up in the property management companies, are impacting the way that we’re able to engage and help our clients. So we’re able to help them really navigate around those challenges and those changes and find success and small wins and adoption with their teams in a way that is meaningful for their specific demographic of properties that they serve and for their communities.
Q: What are the top challenges that property managers face today?
A: The top challenges that property managers are facing today heavily revolve around how they are utilizing their teams and their technology. Those two pieces are fundamental to having a successful company. And so what we’re seeing is a shift in how people are structuring their teams, whether they’re looking at more of a departmental structure or more of a hybrid structure. They’re redefining the roles and the ways that their team members show up in their organizations – shifting to being more proactive instead of reactive in their businesses.
As we’ve kind of gone through the technology that’s been coming on board the last three to five years, we have seen 300 to 500 new prop tech companies coming on board every year, which is substantial. We’re seeing big shifts in the way that we use technology and the way that our teams are being used. And so the biggest shifts are going to be around Agentic AI, and use of remote team members. We’re seeing a lot of big shifts in technology and how it shows up for our businesses.
Q: Best advice for someone getting started in property management?
A: I would say, engage with your fellow peers, get involved in NARPM, get involved in your local chapter, make sure that you’re staying informed and that you’re staying engaged with the people around you. People are so welcoming here and are really willing to share what they know. And so, learning from others around you and really engaging in your community is a really important part of finding early wins and early success.
Q: What impact has NARPM had on you?
A: The impact that NARPM has had on me has been phenomenal. I joined NARPM in 2020. My very first conference was when we were supposed to be in Hawaii, but were instead on a virtual screen, and so it was a really interesting way to be introduced to this community.
The people that I met on that virtual screen welcomed me at the next conference, and the next conference. The sense of community and the amount of friendships – some of my best friends are the other vendors and the property managers in this space. The way that people collaborate, and they come together, and they share ideas, and they innovate, and they want to really show up as their best selves in their business.
Q: How do you define success?
A: I would say success is reaching your goals and making the impact that you want within your organization. Whether that is on a small scale or a large scale. Everybody has a different vision, a different goal, and reaching that and accomplishing those things for yourself and for your community is really the definition of success.
About Blanket
Blanket is transforming the property management industry with its innovative platform that helps property managers grow their portfolios and retain owners. By combining AI-powered insights, automated lead generation, and seamless integration with existing property management software, Blanket provides property managers with the tools they need to succeed. Blanket is backed by leading Venture Capital Funds like Foundation Capital, Symbol, Operator Partners, RE Angels, and industry-leading Angel investors. Together, we’re shaping the future of property management.
