Krystal Humphrey, 32

Krystal Humphrey has been around the apartment world for most of her life. Her grandmother, Nena Gang, founded GMS Group Consulting in 1989 and at one point was managing a dozen or so associations, all related to the commercial real estate industry. Humphrey joined the family business early on and spent the early part of her professional career planning different events and climbing the ranks. 

One organization managed by GMS was the Bay Area Apartment Association, the largest apartment business exchange in the state. When the two organizations amicably parted ways, the new executive director, Russ Webb, hired Humphrey. 

Photo by Mark Wemple

Together with a team of four others, the organization navigated Covid — a unique era for the world of multifamily housing when everyone was stuck at home. It was during this time Webb taught her the value of flexibility. 

“Naturally, I am very Type A. I'm a planner. I like things done super far in advance. I don't like the surprises and at my core, it's pretty hard to change that about yourself,” Humphrey says, “But I think, because at the time, I was doing mostly just event planning constantly there's so many things that are in the gray area that are out of your control, and I was sort of fixating on those things, like completely dismissing all the things that went right, and only focusing on the negative. And, you know, that eats at you. You're not as confident in yourself. But what Russ kind of came in and taught me is, nobody knows how it was supposed to be, except you.”

The Bay Area Apartment Association pivoted (“the bad word” Humphrey says, given how overused it is) all its training into online webinars. Legal complexities surrounding the newly enacted eviction moratorium resulted in the team hosting legal town halls to help members stay updated and incorporate best practices during that time. 

“You need to be flexible and kind of rebound from that quickly. And I think he's really taught me that. So I've overcome my fixation on the negative, and I've definitely become more flexible and down to earth when it comes to my planning of events,” Humphrey adds with a laugh, “But it's definitely not easy when you're a perfectionist at heart.”