Get to Know Paula Willmore, The Musical Mobile Home Manager

Paula Willmore made a splash aboard the Queen Mary by singing with the mariachi band at our last Gala. Whether she's performing, raising a family, or managing Westland's Pomona Mobile Home Park, Paula does everything with passion.

This year marks Paula's 28th year at Westland. She says her job interview is a day she'll never forget — mainly because she wasn't expecting a job interview. After purchasing a home in the park, Paula came to the office to sign the lease. That's when Westland founder Allen Alevy spotted her potential. Thanks to her bubbly personality, he knew she'd make a great salesperson and manager for the property. "He wanted me to manage his park in Pomona. I said, 'No. I'm not looking for a job.'"

Within a month of moving into the community, Ruth Garcia arrived with an employee contract. "I remember Ruth came to my house with a hiring contract. I thought, I never said I'm going to take the job."

Although she needed convincing at first, Paula is proud to be a part of the Westland family and loved working with our founder. "Mr. Alevy is not just my boss. He wants to know that everything is good with my family and me. I've had nothing but good experiences at Westland."

A major challenge with the newly-owned mobile home park was combating crime. "When I first moved to the community, we had lots of problems with drug dealers, gangs, and vandalism. So I asked the Pomona police department to help me. The chief officer said: "Are you crazy? Do you know who you are dealing with? Get your kids and leave.'

"I was a single mom with three kids, and I'd just bought a home. I had to keep fighting. I said, 'If you guys want to help me, we can do it together, but I'm not moving out.'

"The police sent a couple of patrol cars. Right away, windows got broken and the tires were slashed. It took us a while to clean the park up, but I never gave up. I reported everything to the police, and Westland was able to evict the people that made the park unsafe. Because of that, you can walk the streets in the middle of the night with no problem."

Thanks to her hard work, Paula's five children loved growing up at Pomona Mobile Home Park. When she talked about potentially buying a new house, her children said, "That's nice, but we want to stay here. This is our home. We're happy where we are right now."

As well as cleaning up the park, Paula focused on building a community to be proud of. Every Thanksgiving, the local police and city mayor deliver 100 turkeys for 100 of the park's families. At Christmas, the City Council donates gifts to the park's children. She loves helping with the giveaways. "The community supports me, and I like to support them back. We surprise them with toys and food. It brings people together."

Outside of her manager role, Paula loves to sing. "My passion is my music!" She sang professionally in the '70s but stopped after her husband’s death so she could raise her children. In 2011, Paula returned to her music and loved performing with the mariachi band at the Westland Gala. "I'd do it more if they let me," she said. "I'm recording a CD and hope to have it ready by May."

Westland Team Comes Together for Gala 2019

On November 9th, team members from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Fort Worth came together for the joyous Westland Gala. With our company reaching 500 employees this year, it was our largest Gala to date and required a spectacular venue. The event committee didn’t have to search too far for the perfect location thanks to Long Beach’s The Queen Mary — the world famous 1936 Oceanliner turned hotel. Our team members and their guests filled the Grand Salon, a beautiful art deco ballroom, for a celebratory evening of awards, food, drinks, and dancing.

The Grand Salon, The Queen Mary.

As is tradition, the bi-annual event celebrated the company’s amazing achievements and the many personal milestones of our wonderful team members. Many of our coworkers reached their 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 30th, and 35th work anniversaries. In total 52 people received an award for their years of dedicated service.

10 Year Award winners with Westland President Yanki Greenspan (center).

Westland Founder Allen Alevy took to the stage to share his appreciation for everyone and introduced the 30+ years service awards. Three devoted team members reached this momentous milestone and received a $10,000 bonus for their decades of hard work. Hilda Aguirre and Feleeh Tuazon reached 30 years and Daniel Gonzolas commemorated his 35th year at Westland.

Westland Founder Allen Alevy, 30th Anniversary Award Winner Feleeh Tuazon, Westland President Yanki Greenspan.

The night was an opportunity for team members across all departments — residential, retail, and mobile home communities — to recognize their colleagues with the Allen and Deanna Alevy Award of Excellence. In the month leading up to the Gala, team members were invited to nominate coworkers who demonstrated excellence in their work. We received nearly 100 submissions for 43 nominees, each filled with inspiring and touching testimonials, but there could only be three winners.

As the announcement approached the anticipation was palpable with nominees perched on the edge of their seats. Our Excellence Award winners were Project Administrative Assistant Elisa Avila, Area Manager Wendy Gutierrez, and Maintenance Supervisor Armando Rincon.

Excellence Award Winners: Elisa Avila, Wendy Gutierrez, and Armando Rincon.

Her colleagues selected Elisa because she shows up every day with a smile and takes tremendous pride in her work. She always knows the status of her projects, no matter how big her workload is.

Wendy is a truly inspirational figure at Westland. Initially starting as a Maintenance Clerk, Wendy worked her way up and is now the South Long Beach Area Manager. Her voters commended her for being reliable, trustworthy, and respectful. Wendy's residents regularly sing her praises because they know much she cares.

Speaking after the ceremony, Wendy said, "I had no idea I was nominated until someone at the table showed me the program. It was a total surprise. The award made me feel really special and appreciated. I feel like people see the work that I do."

Armando Rincon received many heartfelt nominations. He started at Westland 5 years ago as a porter. He immediately focused on learning and growing. No task was too small, and every challenge was accepted. He is now an AC certified Maintenance Supervisor. While giving out the award, Westland President Yanki Greenspan told Armando, "You are a shining example of what it means to be on the Westland team."

With magicians, photo booths, caricature artists, desserts, and an open bar — there was no shortage of entertainment options. The night was topped off with dancing as leasing agents, maintenance techs, department heads, contact center representatives, and community managers celebrated together.

Check out the full photo album on our Facebook page HERE.

Get to Know Brielle Cook, the New Contact Center Supervisor

Westland has a long history of recognizing talent and promoting from within. Following that tradition is our newest department head, Brielle Cook, who worked her way up from a Call Center Agent to the Contact Center Supervisor.

Brielle began at the company in 2014. Back then, the Contact Center was a small team of four people taking calls from prospective residents. Five years later, the department has grown into a team of 12 people that receives calls and processes online requests. The team handles a whopping 500 calls a day from both prospects and residents. In many cases, the Contact Center informs people’s first impression of Westland, so it’s a big responsibility.

Brielle previously worked as the Contact Center Lead, which meant she trained new team members. She says, “It taught me a lot about leadership and taking action.” In her new role, Brielle analyses data, sets department goals, and collects statistics to monitor success. “My vision is broader now.”

Brielle’s favorite thing about working at Westland is that it’s a family-orientated company that’s flexible with her parenting schedule. She also appreciates that the company is full of dynamic individuals that she can learn from. “You can pick their minds and everyone is willing to teach.”

The Contact Center has become a tight-knit group thanks to regular parties allowing the team to bond. “Everyone’s birthday is a potluck,” Brielle said. “On most days, someone randomly brings in food. It brings people together and we can enjoy the camaraderie. Asking about how they made it breaks the ice and encourages communicating.”

The new role includes a private office for Brielle, but that hasn’t stopped her from staying engaged with her team. “I like to leave my office door open so that I can hear the voices and the hustle and bustle out there.”

In the future, Brielle hopes to focus on providing more services for current residents. “We want to make sure we retain those people by giving them a voice and making them feel heard and happy.”

Lights, Camera, Action!

This month, Westland filmed a new corporate video with a focus on our Maintenance Department. The four-minute film is a celebration of our maintenance team members, highlighting the important work they do. As the backbone of our business, the maintenance team keep our communities operating and ensure our residents are happy.

The project was shot over four days. Production began with filming at our corporate headquarters and our Inglewood and Long Beach communities. The other three filming days took place in Las Vegas, visiting various Westland communities throughout the city.

Throughout the shoot, the filmmakers filmed and interviewed techs, supervisors, coordinators, managers, leasing agents, department heads, and residents who all shared what they love about the team.

Currently in post-production, the appreciation video will premiere at the Westland Gala in November.

Clean, Safe, and Stable

On March 18th Westland launched Safety Week, a campaign to highlight the importance of injury prevention with an emphasis on creating a clean, safe, and stable work environment.

Throughout the week the Human Resources team toured multiple Westland communities to deliver our new Personal Protection Equipment policy which highlights when and where to wear safety gear like goggles, hard hats, and gloves.

While handing out the policy, HR also celebrated team members who demonstrated excellent safety practices. Each team member was awarded a chocolate bar which entered them into a prize draw for a Home Depot gift card.

Check out our gallery of chocolate winners below:

The response was overwhelmingly positive with many team members stating why safety was important to them. This is the start of a wider campaign to make sure our work environments stay clean, safe, and stable.

See Inside Our New Contact Center

This month we opened our new Contact Center, which offers a new and improved space optimized for productivity.

The Contact Center department has increased in size as Westland’s portfolio of multi-residential properties has expanded. Other new duties such as taking maintenance requests and digital inquiries have also broadened the team’s role, which caused the department to outgrow their original space.

Contact Center Manager Susan meeting with Contact Center Lead Brielle.

Our in-house architectural department designed the new room with a focus on providing ample personal space, a sound-absorbent environment that benefits multiple calls, and eye-pleasing workstations. Built by Westland’s Maintenance Team, the fantastic custom-built wood cubicles were designed to provide space and privacy. The cork partitions and carpet absorb sound so team members will not disrupt each other. A training area where new team members can practice is also placed right by the Contact Center Lead.

Our proud Maintenance Team: Jesus, Rafael, Hector, and Ruben.

The new and improved Contact Center is part of a larger office expansion. Our IT Department was tasked with building new infrastructure to extend the network to that part of the building. With the future in mind, the new network was set up with extra cables for our future needs. As Westland continues to grow, other departments will fill the adjacent space.

IT ensured a smooth transition between the two centers. On the Friday before the move our Contact Center team packed their desks before leaving. The IT department came in on the Sunday to move the computers and test the connections. When Monday morning arrived, all tech had been moved to the new desks and everyone was online without a single hiccup.

The new Contact Center has brought the department together in one space which makes it easier for everyone to feel a part of the team. They’re ready to take your call!